Simple software. No rent skimming. No lock-ins. We’ve built Landlord Cart to be a platform you can trust.
Landlord Cart is designed to be easy to use with the majority of the things you need found in the left menu.
Desktop vs. Mobile
Desktop: You will get the best experience on desktop. This is where you can see Graphs and other key details that just don’t display well on mobile.
Mobile: Mobile is great for quickly logging rent payments and other quick tasks while you are on the go.
The Properties section is the foundation of your management workflow. In Landlord Cart, data flows in a specific order to ensure accuracy across your records:
Account > Properties > Tenant > Lease > Payments > Expenses
Because every tenant, lease, and financial transaction is linked to a specific property, setting these up correctly is the essential first step.
Key Property Details:
Property Address & Description: Enter the legal address and physical details of the unit.
Friendly Name: Assign a recognizable name (e.g., “South Florida Condo”). This name is used throughout the system and will appear on receipts and tenant communications, so choose a name that clearly identifies the property for both you and your tenants.
Tenant Applications:
You can manage the entire intake process from this screen, including accepting new applications and configuring custom applicant questions.
Owner Management:
If you manage properties for others, you can link a property to a specific Property Owner. This is a paid feature that provides the owner with their own access to the system, allowing them to view data and reports specifically for their property.
The Tenants section provides a comprehensive overview of your resident relationships and their portal activity.
Tenant Monitoring & Financials:
Balance Snapshot: View a real-time summary of each tenant’s current balance to track outstanding dues at a glance.
Late Payment Tracking: Monitor the number of late payments recorded for each tenant to identify payment trends.
Portal Access Logs: See the exact date and time of the tenant’s last login to confirm they are staying engaged with the system.
Admin Oversight:
View as Tenant: Use the “Tenant’s Portal” link to see exactly what the resident sees. This allows you to verify information or provide direct support by viewing their account activities and payment history from the admin perspective.
Tenant Onboarding:
Welcome Letter Template: Download a customizable Word template to introduce your tenants to Landlord Cart. You can add your company logo to maintain a professional brand image.
Portal Invitations: Every tenant has a unique invitation code. Direct your tenants to selfservice.properties—the same professional URL used for your login—to create their account.
Critical Information Requirements:
Valid Contact Data: Ensure you enter a valid email address and mobile number for every tenant. These channels are used for automated alerts, receipts, charge notifications, and replies to maintenance requests.
Efficiency Tools:
Quick Filter: Instantly find specific tenants by name or filter by property. This is especially useful for Pro Plan users managing up to 30 tenants.
The Leases screen is the financial engine of the system. All automated calculations—including total amounts owed and late fee applications—are derived directly from the data entered here.
Lease Configuration & Financials:
Core Details: Enter the lease start date, monthly rent amount, and the “late after” grace period.
Financial Overview: The system displays three key figures:
Monthly Rent: The base recurring charge.
Total Lease Value: Calculated as the monthly rent multiplied by the number of months in the term. This helps you visualize the total projected revenue of the contract over time.
Current Balance: Shows exactly what the tenant owes. If the account has a credit, the balance will appear in green.
Friendly Name Referencing: For quick identification, this screen identifies units by the Friendly Name you assigned during property setup rather than the full legal address.
Lease Lifecycle & Renewals:
Status Tracking: The Status column automatically updates to show if a lease is Upcoming (future-dated), Active, or Completed.
Cloning Feature: When a tenant renews, use the Clone button to copy existing details into a new lease record with ease.
Renewal Offers: If a lease is within 90 days of expiration, an Offer to Renew button will appear, allowing you to send a formal renewal offer directly to the tenant.
Document Management & Compliance:
PDF Uploads: Upload your signed lease agreements so they are stored securely in the cloud.
Tenant Access: Once uploaded, tenants can view their lease details and download the PDF directly from their portal.
Lease Generator: Landlord Cart provides a 100% state-compliant Lease Generator. You can access this tool via the link on the homepage or directly from within the Lease screen.
The Payments screen is the primary tool for tracking income and is optimized for mobile use to allow for real-time data entry while you are on the go.
Automated Stripe Integration:
Instant Credit Card Logging: If you use our integrated Stripe service, credit card payments are automatically recorded in the system the moment they are processed.
ACH Processing: For payments made via ACH, the system will automatically log the payment as soon as the funds have cleared.
Recording Manual Payments:
Timely Logging: For payments received outside of Stripe, it is important to log them on the day they are received. This ensures the system recognizes the account as current, preventing automated late fees or tenant reminders from being sent.
Payment Cloning: Use the Clone button to duplicate a previous payment entry. This feature copies all details except for the date, allowing for rapid data entry for recurring monthly rent.
Tenant Notifications: When logging a payment, you have the option to send a confirmation receipt to the tenant via email or SMS (if enabled in your settings).
Security Deposits:
Correct Categorization: When receiving a security deposit, you must select Security as the payment type. This ensures the accounting system attributes the funds toward the security deposit ledger rather than applying them to regular rent.
Privacy and Documentation:
Internal vs. External Notes: * Reference ID: This field is private. Use it for internal notes, check numbers, or transaction IDs that only the landlord should see.
Payment Description: This field is visible to the tenant on their portal. Use this for notes intended for the resident.
The Charges screen is designed for non-recurring fees and one-time financial adjustments. Use this section to manage transaction exceptions that fall outside of your standard monthly rent.
Exceptions and Extra Fees:
Ad-hoc Charges: Use this to apply one-time costs such as late fees, key replacement charges, or non-refundable pet fees.
Rent Adjustments: You can easily add or remove amounts from a tenant’s balance. For example, entering a value of -$25 will apply a discount and instantly reduce the total amount the tenant owes.
Automated Rent Comparison: You do not need to manually enter monthly rent here. The system’s internal calculator automatically handles recurring rent based on your Lease settings. Think of the Charges screen strictly for exceptions and supplemental fees.
Tenant Transparency:
Portal Visibility: All entries made here appear in the Tenant Portal so residents can track their specific balance adjustments.
Documentation: You can upload one attachment per charge (such as a photo of a repair invoice or a signed addendum) to provide the tenant with supporting evidence for the fee.
Common Use Case:
If you decide to allow a pet mid-lease, you can log a $300 non-refundable pet deposit here rather than rewriting the entire lease agreement.
he Expenses screen is used to document all outflows related to your properties. Proper recording here ensures your portfolio remains organized and simplifies your end-of-year tax preparation.
IRS Compliance (US Customers): Landlord Cart is designed to help you stay IRS compliant by recording payments and expenses in the calendar year they occur. Following standard guidelines, all tenant payments—with the exception of security deposits—are recorded as revenue, while entries in this section are recorded as deductible expenses.
Recording an Expense:
Property Linking: Every expense must be linked to a specific property (referenced by its Friendly Name) to ensure accurate property-level financial reporting.
Expense Categorization: Assign each entry to a specific category to track where your money is going. Available types include:
Operating: Service, Repair, Utility, Supplies, HOA.
Financial: Mortgage, Tax/Insurance, Bank Expenses, Professional Fees.
Capital: Capex/Improvements.
Reference ID: Use this field to track check numbers or invoice IDs. Tip: If the expense is related to a specific maintenance request, enter the Message ID from the Message Center to link them together.
Tenant Communications: For transparency regarding property upkeep, you can share specific details with your tenants:
Display to Tenant: If set to “Yes,” the tenant can see the Expense Description in their portal. This is useful for showing them that a requested repair has been paid for and completed. This is limited to Service and Repair types only.
The Importance of Vendors:
Detailed Reporting: Entering the specific name of a vendor for every transaction is highly recommended. This data populates your End of Year (EOY) reports and budget summaries, allowing you to see exactly how much you paid to specific contractors or utility companies over the course of the year.
Vendor Filtering: The system allows you to filter your expense list by vendor name. This is a powerful tool for quickly auditing past payments to a specific plumber, electrician, or supplier without searching through your entire history.
Documentation:
Attachments: Upload digital copies of receipts, invoices, or work orders directly to the record to maintain a paperless audit trail. 3 Documents max.
The Settings section is where you manage your account security, professional branding, and automated tenant features. Keeping this information current ensures your communications and financial processing run smoothly.
Company and Account Information:
Profile Details: Update your company name, contact person, and physical address. This information is used for system records and professional correspondence.
Account Security: Change your login email address or update your password to maintain account security.
Units Managed: Track the total number of units currently active under your subscription.
Branding:
Custom Logo: Upload your company logo to personalize the platform. We recommend using a transparent PNG file (max 320px wide and 70–100px high). This logo will appear on tenant portals and communications to maintain a professional brand image.
Online Payments & Processing Fees:
Payment Configuration: Enable or disable online rent collection via our integrated services.
Fee Management: You can choose whether the Tenant or the Landlord pays the bank processing fees for ACH transactions.
Note: Tenants are always responsible for any fees associated with Credit or Debit card payments.
✨ AI Virtual Agent:
Instant Tenant Support: You can enable the AI Virtual Agent for the Tenant Portal. This provides your tenants with 24/7 instant answers regarding their payments and account inquiries, and assists them in submitting maintenance requests automatically.
Additional Administrator Access:
Secondary Users: You can grant “Full Admin” access to a second person (such as a partner or property manager) to help manage the portfolio.
Notifications: Secondary administrators will receive copies of system notifications via Email and SMS if their contact details are provided.
Management: As the Superuser, you retain control over their access level and are responsible for resetting their credentials if they are forgotten.
Landlord Cart utilizes advanced AI to streamline communication and financial data entry for both you and your tenants. These features are designed to save time by handling routine inquiries and automating record-keeping.
Tenant AI Virtual Agent (Available via Subscription):
When enabled in your settings, tenants have access to a 24/7 Virtual Agent within their portal. This agent can provide immediate answers to common questions without requiring your manual response, such as:
Lease Inquiries: “How long is my lease for?”
Financial Status: “What is my current balance?”
Move-out Procedures: “I need to move out early!”
Maintenance Reporting: “How do I report an issue?”
AI Message Revisions:
Both landlords and tenants can use AI-powered message assistance. This tool suggests professional revisions for communications sent through the Message Center, ensuring all correspondence remains clear and professional.
Admin Expense Assistance (Paid Feature):
For landlords, the AI Virtual Agent simplifies bookkeeping by allowing you to log expenses using plain English. Instead of filling out every form field manually, you can simply state the details of the transaction.
How it works: You provide the vendor, amount, date, and property in a single sentence.
Example: “Paid $500 to NextEra Energy on April 5th for 123 Maple Way, reference ID 1235.”
The AI will parse this information and automatically populate the relevant fields in your expense ledger.
For most DIY landlords, tenant turnover happens infrequently—hopefully every couple of years or more. When it’s time to find a new tenant, you don’t need expensive listing services to get started.
We typically start working with landlords after they’ve already begun marketing their property on free platforms like Zillow and Facebook Marketplace. These sites give you excellent exposure to potential tenants without any upfront costs.
Need help getting started with free advertising? We have a comprehensive guide: How to Advertise Your Rentals for Free
While you handle the initial marketing and showings, Landlord Cart helps you with:
Once you’ve found your tenant, Landlord Cart becomes your complete property management solution. Here’s what you can do:
Your tenant gets their own dedicated portal where they can:
Say goodbye to text messages and lost emails. Tenants can submit repair requests through their portal, complete with photos and descriptions. You can track the status, assign vendors, and maintain a complete history of all maintenance issues.
Store your lease agreements securely in the cloud. Both you and your tenant can access and download the lease whenever needed—no more searching through filing cabinets or old email attachments.
Landlord Cart makes tax season painless:
Instead of juggling spreadsheets, payment apps, email folders, and paper files, Landlord Cart gives you a single dashboard to manage your entire rental operation. You’ll have a complete audit trail, professional documentation, and peace of mind.
Ready to get started? Let’s walk through how to manage your applicants and screen potential tenants.
Since applicants are tied to specific properties, you can manage everything directly through the Properties screen.
Many of our landlords follow this straightforward workflow:
Once you’ve received applications and narrowed down your prospects, it’s time to conduct thorough tenant screening. We’ve partnered with TransUnion to provide comprehensive credit and background checks.
Start Screening with TransUnion
Don’t ask every applicant to pay for screening. First, review all applications and narrow down to your top 2-3 candidates based on their application information, employment, and references.
Let applicants know upfront that shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a background check at their own expense (typically $30-40). This ensures serious applicants only.
Always complete the screening before making a rental offer or signing a lease. This protects you from potential issues and ensures you’re selecting a qualified tenant.
Look beyond just the credit score. Review:
Once you’ve selected your tenant, you can use our free AI Lease Generator to create a legally compliant lease. From there, manage the entire rental lifecycle within Landlord Cart, where both you and your tenant will have dedicated portals.
Introducing your tenants to a professional management portal isn’t just a benefit for you—it’s a major upgrade for them. A portal reduces friction and gives them transparency over their residency.
Key Benefits for Tenants:
Real-time Balances: No more “did you get my check?” questions. They can see exactly what they owe 24/7.
Instant Support: Maintenance requests can be submitted with photos directly from their phone.
Online Payments: Secure, fast rent payments (if you have Stripe enabled).
Document Access: They can view their lease and addendums anytime without asking you for a copy.
The Welcome Template: To make this transition easy, we provide a pre-written Tenant Introduction Letter.
Resource: You can download the Word Doc template in the Tenant Management Section. This is fully editable so you can customize it to your property.
The Self-Service Domain: To keep your management professional and separate from the marketing of our software, all users (Landlords, Owners, and Tenants) manage their business at selfservice.properties. This white-labeled experience makes your operation feel like a dedicated management firm.
To ensure high adoption and clear expectations, we recommend adding a specific “Communication Clause” to all your future lease agreements. This establishes the portal as the official legal channel for your business relationship.
Recommended Lease Language: Copy and paste the following into your lease under a “Communications” or “General Administration” section:
COMMUNICATION: Tenant(s) agrees to direct and accept all non-emergency communication regarding repair, maintenance, payment, or general administration of this agreement through a secure web portal and/or SMS text messaging from Landlord and/or their assignees such as a property manager.
By setting this standard early, you ensure that all history, payments, and repair requests are stored in one central database.
Once you have created the Tenant record and verified that their lease dates and balances are accurate, it is time to give them access.
The Invitation Process:
Unique Invitation Codes: Every tenant is assigned a secure code unique to their email address.
One-Click Invite: Inside the Tenants screen, simply click the “Send Invitation E-mail” link.
Tenant Setup: The tenant will receive an email with their unique link. Once they click it, they will create their own password and gain immediate access to their ledger.
Onboarding Pro-Tip: Before sending the invite, ensure you have uploaded a digital copy of their current Lease Agreement to their record. When a tenant logs in for the first time and sees their documents and accurate balance already there, it builds immediate professional trust.
To receive rent payments directly to your bank account, you must connect a secure Stripe account. Stripe is our industry-leading payment processor used by companies like Amazon and Shopify. By law, Stripe must verify your identity to prevent fraud and comply with federal financial regulations.
What you will need for setup:
Bank Info: Routing and account number.
Tax ID: Social Security Number (for individuals) or EIN (for LLCs/Corporations).
Personal Details: Date of birth and home or business address.
Verification: This is a one-time process that typically takes 5–10 minutes.
Why is my SSN/EIN required? The IRS requires processors to collect tax identification for anyone receiving $600+ per year to generate 1099-K tax forms. Your sensitive data is never stored on Landlord Cart servers; it is handled exclusively by Stripe using bank-level 256-bit encryption.
Once your account is verified, you are ready to collect rent. Here is what to expect regarding the flow of money and associated costs.
Deposit Timelines:
Standard Payouts: After a tenant pays, funds are typically deposited into your bank account within 7 business days.
Why the delay? This period protects you and your tenants by ensuring funds are cleared and resolving any initial issues before the transfer is finalized.
Transaction Fees:
Credit/Debit Cards: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
ACH (Bank Transfer): 0.8% per transaction, capped at a maximum of $5.00.
Note: These fees are deducted automatically from the payment before it reaches your bank account.
Business vs. Personal Accounts: You can use either account type, but we recommend a business bank account if you operate under an LLC for cleaner accounting and tax reporting.
We take your financial security seriously. Neither Landlord Cart nor Stripe will ever sell or share your information for marketing purposes.
Handling Disputes: While rare, if a tenant disputes a payment with their bank, Stripe will notify you immediately via email.
Evidence: You can provide your lease agreement and payment history from the dashboard to resolve the dispute.
Support: Our team is available at rent@landlordcart.com or 877-887-9482 to guide you through the resolution process.
Updating Your Information: If your bank account changes, you can update it at any time via Settings → Payment Account. Stripe will verify the new account through micro-deposits or instant verification via your online banking login.
Communication is the most important part of property management. Our system ensures your messages are never missed by using a dual-alert approach.
How it works:
Simultaneous Delivery: Whenever you send a message or update a ticket, the system automatically sends both an Email and an SMS Text Message to the tenant.
No App Required: Tenants don’t need to be logged in to know you’ve contacted them. The SMS goes straight to their phone’s messaging app.
The Tenant Side: This works both ways! When a tenant sends you a message, you receive an Email and SMS alert instantly, so you can stay on top of your business from anywhere.
Every repair or maintenance requests starts with a ticket. This keeps your records organized and your tenants informed without manual follow-up.
Automatic Notifications:
New Ticket Alerts: The moment a ticket is created (by you or the tenant), both parties are notified via SMS and Email.
Documented History: By keeping all repair and maintenance talk inside the ticket, you create a legal “paper trail” that text messaging alone can’t provide.
Centralized View: See every active maintenance issue across your entire portfolio in one screen.
Tenants can report issues directly from selfservice.properties. This ensures you get photos and clear descriptions without the back-and-forth phone calls.
The Submission Flow:
Photo Support: Tenants can upload photos of the issue from their phones.
Instant Confirmation: As soon as they hit “Submit,” the system sends them a confirmation and alerts you via SMS and Email.
Professional Boundaries: This system keeps your personal phone lines clear for emergencies while ensuring all routine maintenance is handled professionally.
Landlord Cart is built to grow with you. We offer straightforward, no-nonsense pricing with zero hidden fees, zero upsells, and zero binding contracts.
Our Plans:
Free Forever: Perfect for getting started with up to 2 units. Includes tenant portals, maintenance tracking, and manual expense logging.
Starter Plan ($99/year): Ideal for managing up to 10 units. Adds AI-powered late fees, SMS reminders, professional lease templates, and custom branding with your logo.
Professional Plan ($249/year): Full automation for portfolios up to 30 units. Includes a dedicated Owners Portal, white-glove migration, and AI auto-entry for expenses.
The Landlord Guarantee: You keep 100% of your rent. Unlike other platforms, we don’t take a percentage of your cash flow. You can upgrade, downgrade, directly from your dashboard.
To cancel your account, contact support so we can ensure your billing is cleared out from our secure payment processor.
We are a team of real landlords based in the US. When you need help, you don’t have to navigate a maze of robots—you get real human assistance.
How to Connect:
Talk to Us: Click the “Talk to Us” button located in your dashboard. This is the fastest way to get a response from our technical team as it automatically links your request to your account.
Call or Text: You can reach us at (877) 887-9482. We actually answer our phones and respond to texts during business hours (9am–5pm EST).
Moving from another software or a spreadsheet? We make the transition seamless so you don’t have to spend hours on data entry.
Onboarding Resources:
Free Data Migration: On our Professional plan, our team will handle the heavy lifting. We’ll import your properties, tenants, and lease data for you.
Live Training: Schedule a live walkthrough with our team. we’ll show you the ropes and ensure your first rent collection is set up for success.
Bank-Level Security: Your data is hosted on AWS with 256-bit encryption. We perform automatic daily backups, ensuring your property records are secure and accessible whenever you need them.