System Documentation

The CRM (Customer Relationship Management) module is the heart of PropLease. Every person interacts with the software through a specific, strictly defined role profile.

The Lead Pipeline:

• Viewing Requests: Prospective tenants request viewings via the marketing site. Agents log these, schedule dates, and mark them as "Completed" or "No Show".
• Applicants & FICA Vault: Once a viewing is successful, the prospect becomes an Applicant. Here you capture their FICA details (ID, Payslips, Bank Statements) into the encrypted vault for vetting.

Active Profiles:

• Tenants: Created when an applicant is approved. They require a linked User Account to access their portal.
• Landlords: The property investors. You must load their Tax Number and Bank Details to ensure automated monthly statement payouts process correctly.
• Agents: Your staff. Each agent must have their valid PPRA FFC (Fidelity Fund Certificate) number and base commission percentage loaded for the Trust Accounting module to calculate their earnings.

Before you can sign a lease or bill a tenant, the physical asset must exist in the system.

1. Navigate to Properties -> Add Property.
2. Assign the Landlord: Select which investor owns the unit. This strictly binds all future rental income to their specific Landlord Ledger.
3. Base Water Deduction: If the unit is part of a Body Corporate that charges a fixed water levy (e.g., R 350) that the landlord must pay, enter it here. The Utility Engine will automatically split municipal bills based on this deduction.
4. Management Fee: Set the agency's commission percentage (e.g., 10%). The system uses this to automatically deduct your fee before paying the landlord.

The Lease is the legal bridge between the Tenant and the Property. It dictates the automated billing cycle and CPA compliance.

Creating a Lease:

When adding a lease, you specify the exact Start Date and End Date. You must also specify the Damage Deposit Required. The system will hold this amount as a "Trust Liability" until the lease ends.

Lease Statuses & Automation:

• Active Normal billing operations occur.
• Notice The tenant has given notice. This flags the property on the "Lease Expiry Forecast" report.
• Expired Automated billing stops immediately.

CPA Letters of Demand:

If a tenant breaches their lease by falling into arrears, navigate to the Legal & Compliance tab. You can instantly generate a fully-compliant, ready-to-sign 20-Day Section 14 Letter of Demand injected with their exact arrears logic.

The system provides a fully paperless, Rental Housing Act (RHA) compliant inspection workflow to protect against damage disputes.

1. Take a tablet or smartphone to the property.
2. Go to Inspections -> Log Digital Inspection.
3. Build the checklist dynamically room-by-room (e.g., "Kitchen -> Oven -> Good").
4. Upload photos directly from your device's camera.
5. Click "Finalise Signatures". The Agent and Tenant will draw their digital signatures directly on the screen. The system instantly seals the document into an immutable PDF.

A "Snag" is a minor defect reported by a tenant usually within the first 7 days of moving in (e.g., "Scratch on the bedroom door"). It is not an emergency maintenance issue.

When a tenant logs a snag through their portal, it appears on your dashboard. You have two options:

• If the snag requires fixing, click "Convert to Ticket" to push it into the Maintenance workflow for a contractor.
• If it is purely cosmetic, mark it as "Noted for File" to ensure the tenant is not unfairly billed for it during their outgoing inspection.

The Billing Engine automates the heavy lifting of invoicing tenants and recovering complex municipal utility costs.

The Municipal Stepped-Tariff Workflow:

1. Set the Tariff: Go to Billing & Utilities -> Tariff Engine. Load the council's stepped-tariffs per Kilolitre/Kilowatt.
2. Capture the Bill: Go to Capture Utilities. When the municipal bill arrives, enter the Total Bulk Water and Electricity consumption.
3. The Auto-Split: The system checks the property profile. If the property has a "Base Water Deduction" (e.g., for the landlord's garden), it subtracts that amount from the total bill. The remainder is automatically pushed through the tariff steps and queued to be charged to the Tenant!

Generating Invoices (FPDF & VAT):

Go to Tenant Invoices. You can manually generate an invoice, or rely on the Cron Job. The system natively generates a professional PDF combining Base Rent, pending Utilities, and Sundries. If your agency is VAT registered, simply toggle VAT on in the settings, and all documents legally transition to "Tax Invoices".

PPRA regulations strictly dictate how Trust money is handled. A "Receipt" is the official record of money clearing your Trust bank account.

The Atomic Receipt Transaction:

When you log a receipt (either manually or via Bank CSV Import), the system executes an atomic database transaction. It instantly:

• Marks the tenant's oldest invoice as "Paid".
• Credits the Landlord's ledger with the yield.
• Deducts the Agency's management commission.
• Calculates the specific Agent's commission split.

The Smart Wallet System:

At the end of the month, you must pay the property investors. This is done via the L/L Statements module.

The Ledger Math:

Once you verify the statement is correct on screen, click "Finalise & Payout". This seals the statement, emails the PDF to the Landlord, and gives you the exact figure to load into your banking app for the EFT.

SARS IT3(b) Tax Reporting:

The South African tax year runs from 1 March to 28/29 February. PropLease features a built-in Tax Engine that automatically aggregates all income and deductible expenses across the portfolio for that exact window, generating a single PDF for the landlord's accountant.

Once landlords are paid, the agency holds its gross revenue (the Management Fees). Now you must pay your Agents their split.

• Navigate to Trust Accounting -> Commissions.
• The system automatically looks at every property the agent manages.
• It calculates: Total Rent Collected × Agency Fee (e.g., 10%) × Agent Split (e.g., 50%).
• Click "Mark as Paid" once you transfer the funds to the agent's personal bank account. This locks the record into the immutable agent_commissions_history ledger for the Principal to track business performance.

The Reports & Analytics dashboard is restricted to authorized personnel. It provides real-time, print-optimized PDFs driven by interactive Chart.js graphs.

Tenants receive a dedicated, secure login to manage their tenancy autonomously.

• Dashboard: View live account balances, wallet credits, and a countdown timer to lease expiry.
• Invoices & Payments: Download itemized PDF invoices and view payment history.
• Maintenance Logs: Tenants can log detailed issues directly to the agency dashboard, categorizing urgency and tracking the ticket status from "Open" to "Resolved".

Investors require transparency. The Landlord Portal provides a high-level view of their entire portfolio's performance.

• Performance Matrix: Charts a rolling 12-month ROI (Income vs Maintenance Expense) for every active property.
• Documents: Instantly download monthly statements, digital property inspections (with photo evidence), and annual tax certificates.

Magic Link Maintenance Approvals:

To prevent bottlenecks, landlords do not need to log in to approve maintenance. The system generates a cryptographic "Magic Link". The agent sends this link via WhatsApp. The landlord taps it on their phone, views the contractor's quote, and hits "Approve", which acts as a legally binding digital signature.