Professional Landlord Turns to Alphaletz to Simplify the Management of his Property Portfolio and Save 20% of his Time
Alphaletz provided Alistair Abbot with an efficient way to manage 29 residential units, helping him stay in control and sleep easy.
Like many landlords, Alistair found that running a multi-property business was complicated. With both tasks and time slipping through his fingers, he began searching for a new way to manage his property business. His goal was to find a solution that could provide the ‘comfort factor’ of knowing his properties were running properly, his finances were up-to-date, and his landlord compliance requirements were in place.
“Ultimately, I wanted a solution to manage my properties that gives me good financial accountability and keeps me compliant.”
Getting in Control
To improve control of his business, Alistair needed a solution that would replace his spreadsheets.
The new system would need to keep track of income and expense for year-end taxes and remind Alistair of up-coming landlord certificates, such as renewing the HMO licence, and compliance renewals. Alistair reviewed around 4 different solutions before settling on Alphaletz.
Staying Organised while Saving Time
A new system would-have to be cost-effective whilst also providing an at-a-glance snapshot of the property portfolio.
“I want to be able to open an app and see my business with what I need to do today. I want one place to go to keep me organised.”
The highly visual dashboard within Alphaletz makes it easy for Alistair to monitor his business and pro-actively work through a daily to-do list based on automated and self-created reminders.
“Being able to work more efficiently has allowed me to save around 20% of my time. This means I have more time to enjoy my sporting passions.”
Supporting Shared Ownership Tracking & Reporting
With joint ownership on some of the properties, Alistair also needed to be able to share his income and expense information.
As an early adopter of the app, Alistair was able to give helpful feedback to the Alphaletz product development team. Within a few weeks, Alphaletz updated the app with the ability to add multiple owners to properties. In addition, the app’s Smart Reporting feature means Alistair can now export details of each property unit in just a few minutes.
Getting an Instant Snapshot of Income
For most landlords, tracking rent payments against tenants is a time-intensive exercise. But with Alphaletz, Alistair can now quickly see outstanding rent by property or unit. The tenants’ contact information is also linked to each property, so Alistair can easily contact tenants to remind them about unpaid rent.
Less Stress, More Sleep!
Alphaletz has provided Alistair with a single place to track his business information. Not only is he more knowledgeable about his business, but he is also ultimately able to provide a better service to his tenants.
“Being able to sleep at night is a huge thing. A niggling problem like a leaky shower in an apartment can affect other people and I don’t want that to happen. By using Alphaletz I had the shower history at hand and could see what had happened before. Rather than resealing the shower again, I identified that there was a more serious problem and dealt with it straight away, rather than letting it become a bigger issue.”
Challenges
- Trying to keep on top of upcoming issues such as lease renewals, compliancy certificates & insurance
- Maintaining accounts for year-end tax reporting
- Finding it increasingly difficult to manage information stored across different systems
- Managing time-consuming day-to-day tasks
- Ensuring rent payments are kept up to date and contacting tenants for arrears
Solution
- Alphaletz.com Smart Landlord App
Benefits
- Ability to quickly submit annual accounts to his accountant
- A single cloud-based place to store all property, tenant, income, and expense information
- Full property history with notes functionality
- Time savings of around 20%
Landlord Q&A
How did you manage your business before using Alphaletz?
A mix of system such as:
- Excel spreadsheets
- Emails
- Calendar reminders
- Sage accountancy package
Do you use an agent?
- Yes, for managing new tenant sign-ups
What are you looking for in a solution?
- To be able to run my end of year income and expense report with minimal effort
- Ability to track compliancy and stay on top of renewals
What features do you like in Alphaletz?
- Option to track information for the whole buildingor by each individual unit
- The daily task list to stay organised
- Easy lease renewals (automated reminder to renew or end)
