Leads and rental applications

Who this is for

Landlords and property managers who take rental applications online. Only an account owner can invite a renter to apply, record the fee, approve, deny or convert an application. Other members can see leads and applications but can't act on them.

Before you start

• Write your rules in Settings → Applications: Rental criteria (every renter sees them before they start) and How to pay the application fee. The fee amount is set on each listing. See List a unit for rent. A denied renter's email says the application did not meet the rental qualification criteria, so write them before you deny anyone.
• eSamaHomes doesn't collect the application fee. The renter pays you directly, and you record it.
• eSamaHomes doesn't run background or credit checks, and the application doesn't ask for a Social Security number or date of birth.

Steps

1. Get the renter a link. A renter who clicks Apply on your public listing page gets the link by email. For a lead on the Leads screen, open the lead with View (on a phone, under ⋯) and click Invite to Apply.
2. The renter fills it in. No account is needed. The steps are About you, Where you live, Work and income, Household and pets, Documents (a photo ID is required) and Review and submit. Answers are saved as they go. The link lasts 14 days, and only the newest link works. About you has a Middle name (optional) box.
3. You're told. When the renter submits, every member gets a notice, and the application shows Submitted on the Applications screen.
4. Record the fee. Open the application and, under Application fee, click Mark fee received. Enter Date received, Method and an optional Note, then Save.
5. Screen the renter outside eSamaHomes. The Screening section says "Screening is not connected yet." Run any check you use with your own provider and keep the result in your own records.
6. Decide. Click Approve, or Deny and give a reason (in the list, on a phone, under ⋯). The reason is kept for you and is not sent to the renter.
7. Close the others. After an approval, eSamaHomes asks whether to close the other open applications for the unit. Close them emails those renters that the unit has been rented.
8. Make the tenant and the lease. On the approved application, click Convert to Tenant (in the list, on a phone, under ⋯). The tenant is made from the application's name, email and phone, shown with nothing to edit (if a tenant with that email already exists, that tenant is used); to change one, edit the tenant afterwards. Mark anyone in the household as a co-tenant or an occupant, fill in the lease terms, and click Create Lease & Activate Tenant (or Save Draft for Signing). See Create a lease. The application then reads Lease created, View lease opens the lease, and it can't be converted again.

Example

Omar Velez applies for 40 Cedar Street, Unit 3. The listing's application fee is $45.00, and Lena Park's fee instructions say "Zelle to rentals@cedarhomes.example". Omar pays by Zelle on October 2.

Lena opens his application, clicks Mark fee received, enters October 2 and Zelle, and the section reads "Received Oct 2, 2026 · Zelle". She checks his references by phone, clicks Approve, and closes the one other open application for the unit. Omar gets an email that his application was approved. She then clicks Convert to Tenant and creates his lease.

What happens next

What each status means on the Applications screen:

The Waiting for a decision filter shows Submitted and In review together. The renter sees only that the application was sent, never its status.

• Approve doesn't make a tenant or a lease. It marks the application approved and emails the renter. Convert to Tenant is the next step.
• A denied renter gets an email saying the application did not meet the rental qualification criteria. Your reason is never sent. You can write the opening and closing of that email yourself; the decision sentence stays as it is. See Email templates.

What happens after you deny, from the listing to the renter's email:

- PM mode: if an owner approves new tenants, you recommend the applicant first and the owner approves before your Approve goes through. See Owner approvals.

• The renter's answers and documents are deleted after 90 days. The application then reads "This application's details were deleted after 90 days."
• Middle names: a middle name the renter gives, or you enter under Middle Name (optional) on Add Lead, goes to the tenant on Convert to Tenant. It is printed on the lease and used for online signing, and nowhere else: everywhere else in eSamaHomes shows first and last name only.
• Leads from Apartments.com and Dwellsy come by email to your lead email (Settings → Company), not to the Leads screen. To track one, an account owner adds it with Add Lead: pick Apartments.com as the Source, or Other for Dwellsy, which has no source of its own. See List a unit for rent.
• Came from on an application or lead says which listing site the renter used. See Post a listing on Facebook.

If something looks wrong

• "A lease has already been created from this application." Someone made its lease already, perhaps in another tab. Click View lease on the application to open it.
• You need to convert it again. Open the lease and click Delete draft: the application reads Approved again. Only a draft lease can be deleted.

• "Started, not submitted." The renter hasn't sent it yet, so it can't be approved or denied.
• "This application link is not valid or has expired." The renter can ask for a new link from the page with Email me a new link, or you can click Re-invite on the lead.
• "The renter's link has expired. Invite them again to reopen their application." Reopen only works while the renter's link is still valid.
• "Renters will be told they did not meet your criteria. Write them here." Your Rental criteria are empty. Fill them in under Settings → Applications.
• There's no place to record a screening result. That isn't built yet. Keep the result with your own records.
• You can't see the buttons. Only an account owner can act on leads and applications.