What is the tenancy setup process?

Step 1: Tenancy Setup

Before you can start, your proof of ownership and your photo ID both need to be uploaded and verified by our team — the tenancy agreement can't be created until they are.

Once that's done, you'll set up your preferred terms of tenancy on PropertyNow, including rent amount, lease type, frequency of rent payments and so on. Once you've completed tenancy setup, we'll send two emails to your tenant:

1. An invite onto the PropertyNow platform containing an automatically generated password for their tenant account
2. A request for confirmation that they'd like to accept your tenancy terms

Step 2: Tenant Accepts or Declines

After they receive their invite email, your tenant will be able to log in to our tenant area and accept or decline the tenancy terms you've offered.

Step 3: Landlord Signs

You can't sign the agreement directly from within your account, or before the tenant has accepted your terms. Once the tenant accepts the terms you've offered, we'll generate your tenancy agreement for signing and send it to you via email. You'll be able to click the link in the email to review and sign your tenancy agreement.

Step 4: Tenant Signs

Once you have signed the tenancy agreement, we will automatically email it to the tenant to review and sign. Similar to step 3, tenants can't sign the agreement before you do, and the agreement can only be signed after clicking the secure link in the email notification.

Keeping track of where it's up to

Your Tenancy Agreements page shows a status against each agreement. Click the status badge, or the explainer link in the Status column heading, for a short description of the main stages, from Draft through Invited and Accepted to Completed. Once your tenant has accepted, open the agreement and go to the Review step to see the Tenancy Agreement Signing Steps: each e-signature event so far, with the time and who signed.

Step 5: Agreement Complete!

Now that both parties have signed, it's a legally binding agreement. From here, the tenant will be prompted to set up a payment method in their tenant portal so that we may begin processing rent per the agreement. They can choose direct debit (add their bank account, confirm the small verification transactions we send, then sign the direct debit authority and agreement) or PayTo (enter their PayID or bank details and approve the PayTo agreement in their banking app). As soon as their payment method is set up, we will immediately debit the first period of rent in advance.

Renewals work a little differently. There's no bond or rent in advance on a renewal, and the first payment under the new agreement is due the day before it starts. See How do I renew a tenancy or update the agreement?.

Updated on: 11/09/2026