You can use Roof as a landlord, a roommate, or a tenant. On the next page, choose “I’m a Landlord” to begin setting up your landlord account.
If your teammates have already created a landlord account, you can join on the next page.
II. Create a landlord account
Your landlord name. This could be the name of your rental company, or your own name if you manage as an individual. Your tenants will see both your name and your organization name when interacting through the app.
If you have team members, you can invite them later. They’ll join with their own Roof accounts.
After entering your newly created organization, you’ll see some links to help you get started. Start by adding your first Home.
III. Adding your portfolio
1. Add a Home
Your rental properties are called Homes, and you’ll need to add at least one before you can do much else.
Homes will be named by their street address.
You also have the option to add tags to your homes to sort them as you see fit.
The bank account you select is where all rent paid to this home will be deposited. If you haven’t added a bank account yet, choosing “default” will link this home to the first bank account that you add later.
If you have multiple tenants at this home and need to receive rent payments from them at multiple accounts, you’ll be able to set that up later when creating Leases.
2. Add a Lease
You’ll need to add a Lease to the Home in order to invite your tenants and collect rent.
A home can have any number of leases—each with its own start and end date, rent configuration, and tenants. This allows you to create a lease for the duration of a tenant’s contract, which can then be replaced by another lease once that time is up, either with the same tenants or with new ones.
Two ways to organize Leases and tenants:
Create one Lease for all the tenants who live at the Home. This allows your tenants to split up the rent however they see fit, though you’ll still be able to see individual payments by everyone. This is usually best for tenants who know each other and move in together.
Create a unique Lease for each individual living at the Home. This is more useful if you want to rent out individual rooms or units within a home, or if your tenants aren’t interested in sharing a rent obligation.
Creating leases
Choose how frequently you’ll charge rent. You have options—leases can be monthly, weekly, or even tri-weekly.
Decide the rent amount and which day of the month or week rent is due on.
Set a lease start date. To create a lease that renews automatically as month-to-month (or whatever interval you’ve chosen) just leave the end date optional.
Name the lease, if you’d like. Otherwise a generic name “2018-2019 Lease” will created for you, though you can change it anytime.
Select the bank account used to receive rent payments. Leaving it to default will use the first bank account that you add later.
You can also add a late fee if you want. Choose an amount that will be charged after a set number of days after the due date has passed.
If you need to, now is a good time to go ahead and create an invoice for a security deposit, or any other fees related to move-in.
IV. Add tenants
Once you’ve added a lease, you can add your tenants. If you’re still trying out Roof and aren’t ready to actually invite your tenants yet, you can just add their names for organization purposes and invite them later when you’re ready.
Your tenants will receive key to join in a message that looks like this:
See how easy it is for your tenants to get setup after they receive their key.
V. Verify your identity
Next, update your personal information. You can add a bank before this if you’d like, but you won’t be able to collect rent until your identity is verified, so you might as well do it now.
VI. Add a bank
You can add a bank in just a few steps from the Banking page under Settings.
Add a bank by logging into your account by clicking “Find your bank”, or by entering your accounting and routing number.
Use Roof for free
Remember—you can add as many homes, leases, and tenants as you’d like for as long as you want without paying anything! Nobody will pay transaction fees until a payment is made.
Managing your properties
After you’ve added your portfolio and begun renting with Roof, you’ll always be able to return to your dashboard to see whatever needs your attention.
If you’re still curious, check out what some other landlords are saying:
