Owner approvals for repairs and new tenants

Who this is for

Property managers whose owners want a say on costly repairs or on who moves in. Owner approvals exist only in Property Manager mode. Owners answer in the owner portal. Only the account owner can recommend an applicant to the owners.

Before you start

• For repairs: on the owner's profile (Rentals → Owners, then the owner), enter a Maintenance Approval Threshold and click Save. Leave it blank if the owner doesn't want to approve repairs.
• For new tenants: on the same profile, switch on Approves new tenants.
• The owner needs an owner portal login to answer. See Invite tenants, owners, vendors and your team.

Steps

Repairs

1. A repair needs approval when its cost is above the threshold: a tenant's estimate, a cost you enter on the request, the Estimated Cost you enter on Create Work Order, or a quote you click Accept on. The request moves to Pending Approval and the owners are told. From Create Work Order, no work order is made yet. On a property where an owner has a threshold, Create Work Order always asks for the Estimated Cost.
2. You can also send any quote to the owner yourself: while the request is waiting for quotes, click → Owner on a submitted quote. While the request is Pending Approval, Accept and → Owner are gone from the quotes: the owner picks one.
3. The owner opens Maintenance in the owner portal. When the request has submitted quotes, the owner clicks Select on one: that vendor's work order is created and the request is In Progress. With no quotes, the owner clicks Approve or Reject.
4. After Approve, the request goes back to Open: click Create Work Order again and pick the vendor. The cost the owner approved is filled in; a higher cost goes to the owner again. A rejected request is Rejected and final: it takes no work order or quotes. If the repair is needed after all, make a new request.
5. The approval covers the final cost too. When you click Confirm Completion (or Update Status → Resolved) with an Actual Cost above the threshold and above what an owner approved, nothing is recorded: the request goes back to Pending Approval at that cost and the owners are told. The work order page says "Waiting for the owner to approve the final cost."
6. The owner sees the Final cost in the owner portal and clicks Approve or Reject. Either way the request is In Progress again. After Approve, click Confirm Completion at that cost and the repair is recorded. After Reject, settle the price with the vendor: a cost up to what the owner approved before completes, a higher one goes to the owner again.

New tenants

1. Open the application under Leasing → Applications. In the Owner approval section, click Recommend.
2. Optional: write a Note to the owners, then click Send to the owners.
3. Each owner who approves new tenants sees a summary in Applications in the owner portal and approves or declines it. The section shows each answer: Approved, Declined or Waiting.
4. Once every one of them has approved, approve the application as usual.

Example

Maple Court is owned by Dana Whitfield (threshold $500) and Luis Ortega (threshold $750). When a property has several owners, the lowest threshold counts: $500.

• A plumber quotes $850 to replace a water heater. You click Accept. Because $850 is above $500, the request moves to Pending Approval.
• Dana approves in the owner portal. The first answer from any owner of the property decides, so the request goes ahead.
• A $300 faucet repair is under $500. You click Create Work Order, pick the vendor and enter an Estimated Cost of $300, and the work order is made straight away.
• A roof repair you'd give straight to a roofer for $1,200: you click Create Work Order and enter $1,200. It's above $500, so no work order is made; the request moves to Pending Approval. Once Dana approves, you click Create Work Order again and the work order is made at $1,200.
• The plumber's invoice for the water heater comes in at $1,100, more than the $850 Dana approved. You click Confirm Completion with $1,100; nothing is recorded and the request goes back to Dana. She clicks Approve on the Final cost, you click Confirm Completion again, and the $1,100 is recorded once.

What happens next

• Repairs: while a request waits for the owner, you can't change its status except to Rejected, and you can't assign a vendor. The timeline shows "Owner approved" once they do.
• New tenants: owners see a summary only: move-in date, monthly income, people in the household, pets, screening and other applications for the unit. They never see the files, phone or email. Recommending one applicant clears the recommendation on any other applicant for the same unit.
• An owner who declines must say why. You read the reason; the applicant is never told an owner declined.

If something looks wrong

• "Recommend this applicant to the owners first." An owner of the property approves new tenants, so you can't approve until you recommend.
• "Waiting for an owner to approve." At least one owner hasn't answered. Ask them to open Applications in the owner portal.
• "An owner declined this applicant." Recommend someone else, or deny the application. Recommend again clears every owner's answer and asks again.
• "No owner of this property approves new tenants, so there is no one to recommend it to." Nobody needs to approve. Approve the application directly.
• A vendor can't be assigned and you see "Owner approval required before assigning a vendor." The request is waiting for an owner to approve its cost. Nothing was saved. Once an owner clicks Approve in the owner portal, assign the vendor.
• "Enter the estimated cost. An owner of this property approves repairs above an amount." Create Work Order needs the Estimated Cost on this property. Enter it and click again.
• You clicked Create Work Order and no work order was made. The cost was above an owner's threshold, so the request went to the owner for approval. Create the work order once an owner clicks Approve.
• "This cost is above what the owner approved. It was sent to the owner." The Actual Cost you entered on Confirm Completion or Resolve is above what an owner approved. Nothing was recorded. Complete the repair once an owner clicks Approve on the final cost.
• You want the owner to approve a repair under the threshold that has no quote. There is no button for this yet; send them a message instead.