Creating a New Lease
- Navigate to the Leases dashboard from the top menu.
- Click on the New Lease button top right.
- Search for the Asset name.
- Select the lease Type - either Fixed OR Month to Month.
- Select the Legislation Category - Available options are CPA and Non-CPA. Leases that typically fall under the Consumer Protection Act are residential leases that have been concluded in the normal course of business. CPA however does not apply to leases concluded with a Company, Trust or Close Corporation with an annual turnover or net asset value of R2,000,000.
- Complete the Start Date - the system will auto-complete the End Date as 12 months onward, but this can be edited.
- Edit the Lease Fee and Lease Renewal Fee if required
- Complete the Rent Amount as per the Lease Agreement - If it is Commercial then the amount is excl VAT.
- Amend/Complete the Renewal Increase % and Deposits if required
- Click on Next at the bottom.
- Link Existing Contact or Create New Contact for the Tenant
- Click on Create at the bottom
The lease records will now be created in the system and the lease record will open on screen.
The lease will become Active as soon as you have selected the Finalize Terms button.
Adding Mid-Term Escalations
What are Mid-Term Escalations? - this refers to an increase in the monthly rental that needs to be implemented anywhere between the Start and the End Date of any specific lease.
Important to note that Mid Term Escalations can ONLY be added before finalizing your lease (Draft Status) and that details will be included on the Lease Addendum and Lease Renewal Addendum.
To add any Mid-Term Escalations for the lease, click on the Add Escalation button to the right of the Mid-Term Escalations block.
- Select the date when Rent or Deposits need to escalate
- Select the Escalation Category - Rent / Damage Deposit / Service Deposit / Key Deposit
- Select the Escalation Type - Choose from % Increase / Rand Increase or specify the Next Amount
Add any Special Conditions for the lease agreement by clicking on the Add Special Condition to the right of the Special Conditions block
- Special Conditions are also included on the Lease
The options drop-down button has the option to compile Lease Addendum.
Finalise Lease
User that has the permission to “Finalise Terms” now has the ability to automatically invoice the tenant for Deposits and Lease Fees.
When clicking on “Finalise Terms”, a pop-up will appear confirming the finalisation and suggesting to automatically bill the tenant for the relevant fees and deposits
- In case of a new lease, suggested billing transactions involve Deposits and Lease Fees
- In case of a renewal of the lease, suggested billing transactions involve Deposits top-up and Renewal Lease Fees
- The pop-up will display any historical billings against the lease fees and deposit categories so that the user doesn’t accidentally bill the tenant twice if the transactions were previously created directly on the tenant account.
- Users can “unselect” all or some of the transactions before finalizing the terms
- For the lease renewals, the system will calculate the deposit top-ups in accordance with the escalation rules
- E.g. if the current terms deposit is R10,000, and there was a mid-term escalation of the deposit by R1,000, then for the renewal terms deposit requirements of R15,000 the system will suggest invoicing the tenant R4,000 which is calculated as R15,000 - R1,000 - R10,000.
- An audit Trail record is automatically created indicating if there was billing associated with the finalisation of terms.
