Maple Residential User Manual

What the system does

Maple Residential runs a rental business from one place: the public website where people find a home, the resident portal where residents pay and ask for repairs, and the staff area where your team leases homes, keeps them in repair, collects rent and pays the owners.

Everything shares the same records. A tour booked on the website appears on Showings, an application becomes a lease in one step, a payment made in the portal shows on Rent and payments at once, and a repair request becomes a work order.

Signing in

1. Open your site and click Staff in the footer of any public page, or go to /AdminLogin.
2. Enter your user name and password and press Sign in.
3. If your account was just made, or a manager reset your password, choose your own password now (at least 8 characters).

The first sign-in on a new site

On the very first start the site creates the manager account admin with a password made only for your site. The sign-in page shows it on the computer the site runs on, and it is also written to appConfig/initial-admin.txt. Sign in with it and choose your own password.

Signing out

Use Sign out at the top right. Changing your password signs you out on every other device.

The staff menu

The menu on the left lists only the pages you are allowed to see, in sections: Properties, Leasing, Maintenance, Money, Ownership & payouts, Website and Admin. Dashboard and My account are always at the top and bottom.

• Click a section name to open or close it. The arrow points down when it is closed and up when it is open.
• Sections start closed. The section of the page you are on opens by itself, so you always see where you are.
• The sections you open stay open while you move between pages, and the browser remembers them next time.
• On a phone, the menu opens from the button at the top left.

View site opens the public website, and Sign out ends your session.

Dashboard

The dashboard shows what needs attention today for the properties you work on. Tiles with a red top edge need action.

Below the tiles you find the showings of the next 3 days, the moves of the next 14 days and the units of each property with their rent.

The public website

The website has eleven pages: Home, Available units, each Unit, Properties, each Property, Apply, Owners, Residents, the Resident portal, Contact and Policies. Their words and pictures are edited on Pages.

• A unit appears on the website when its property is shown on the website, the unit is marked Show on the website when it is free and it is vacant, being made ready or on notice. Its ready date is shown; for a home on notice that is the day after the move-out.
• The footer of every page has the office address and hours, and the links Resident portal and Staff.
• Every form saves for real: tour requests go to Showings, applications to Applications, owner inquiries and contact messages to Messages. Each one shows a confirmation to the visitor.

Finding a home

Visitors filter units by property, bedrooms, highest rent, move-in date and pets. Each card shows the real rent, the deposit and the date the home is ready.

The unit page

• Gallery: the unit's photos and videos, then the property photo. Click a small picture to show it large; a video plays in place.
• Slide show: the Slide show button on the large picture, or a click on the picture, opens a full-screen slide show.
• Floor plan: click the plan to open it full size.
• Book a tour: pick a day (Monday to Saturday) and a free time. A time already booked for that home cannot be taken twice.
• Apply for this home opens the application form for this unit.

Applying online

One form covers the whole household: up to four adults, each with date of birth (18 or over), employer, monthly income, current address and landlord, plus pets and consent. The applicant gets an APP- reference at once and the application appears on Applications as New.

Owners page

Property owners can ask for management on the Owners page. Their inquiry arrives in Messages as an owner inquiry.

Resident portal

Getting access

1. When a lease is created, every resident on it gets an activation code. You see the code on the lease and on Residents, where you can also make a new one.
2. Give the resident the code. On the portal they choose Activate your account, enter the email on their lease and the code, and choose a password.
3. From then on they sign in with their email and password. Forgot your password emails a reset link once email is set up in the site settings; without email, give them a new activation code.

What residents can do

Properties

Each property has its address, leasing phone and email, year built, a summary for the website, amenities (one per line), pet and parking rules, a main photo and a gallery. Untick Show this property and its units on the website to keep it private.

• Main picture: a photo. It is the picture on property cards.
• More photos or videos: up to six photos or MP4 videos, shown in the gallery and the slide show. In the picker, use All, Photos or Videos to narrow the list, or Upload new to add a file to the media library.
• Order on the website sets the order of the property cards.

Units

Each unit has its number, floor, bedrooms, bathrooms, size, rent, deposit, ready date, features and pictures.

• Photos and videos: the first one is the main photo of the unit and must be a photo, because it is the picture on unit cards everywhere. The others can be photos or MP4 videos.
• Floor plan: a photo or drawing; on the website it opens full size when clicked.
• Show on the website when it is free controls whether the unit is offered online.

Showings

Tour requests from the website arrive here as Requested. Tabs: Coming up, To confirm, Past and All.

• Open a showing to confirm it, change the time or the agent, mark it Done or No-show, or cancel it.
• Add a showing books a tour taken by phone. The same rule applies: one booking per home and time.
• Open the application form takes the visitor's details to a new application.

Applications

Tabs: New, Reviewing, Approved, Leased, Declined or withdrawn and All.

1. Press Start review.
2. Tick the six checks as you complete them: photo ID, income proof, credit check, background check, landlord reference and application fee paid. The household income is compared with the income rule in Settings.
3. Approve, or Decline with a reason. The applicant can also be marked Withdrawn; a closed application can be reopened.
4. For an approved application, Create the lease sets the start date, rent and deposit. Every applicant becomes a resident with a portal activation code, and the deposit and the first month (prorated) are charged on the start date.

Leases

Tabs: Active, Upcoming, Notice, Ending in 90 days, Month to month, Ended and All.

Residents

Everyone on a lease, with phone, email, home, lease and portal access. Tabs: Living here, Moving in, Past, No lease and All.

• Code to reset password makes a new activation code for a resident who lost access.
• Remove access stops a resident from signing in to the portal.
• Contact details, emergency contact and staff notes are edited here.

Work orders

Requests from the portal and jobs staff add, for a unit or a common area. Tabs: Open, New, Overdue, On hold, Done and All.

• Assign a team member or a vendor and book the visit time.
• Updates can be visible to the resident in the portal, or staff-only notes.
• Mark done with the final cost and who pays: the owner (it becomes an expense by itself) or the resident (it is added to their balance).

Make-ready

A move-out starts a make-ready list with a target date and these steps: move-out inspection, repairs, paint, deep clean, carpet or floors, change locks and final walk-through. Tick the steps as they are done, see the unit's work orders, and press Unit is ready when the home is ready to rent. Stop this list ends a list that is no longer needed. Start make-ready begins a list by hand.

Inspections

Move-in, move-out, routine and annual inspections. The checklist is built from the rooms of the unit, with a condition and a note for each item.

• Items in poor or damaged condition become work orders in one step.
• Finishing a move-out inspection ticks its step on the make-ready list.
• Every inspection can be printed.

Vendors

Your trades with contact person, phone, email, hourly rate and insurance date. Insurance ending soon or expired is flagged. Each vendor shows open jobs and the total paid. Untick Active to stop choosing a vendor on new work orders.

Rent and payments

Tabs: Balances (every lease with aging 0 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90 and over 90 days), Payments, Charges and Online (card payments from the portal).

Rent posting

Rent is charged on the due day of each month and the late fee after the grace days, by themselves once a day. Post rent now does it at once. Posting twice never charges twice.

A lease account

Expenses

Utilities, insurance, property tax, landscaping, cleaning, repairs, supplies and more, for a property or a unit. Filter by month, property and category; the tiles show the totals.

• Covers from / to: a bill that pays for a period (insurance, property tax) can carry the dates it covers. It is then spread over those days in owner statements and reports.
• The cost of a finished work order billed to the owner becomes an expense by itself, linked to its work order.

Reports

Choose the report, property and period; Download spreadsheet saves a CSV file and Print prints it.

Owners

Each owner has a name, company, email, phone, mailing address, management fee (leave it empty to use the company fee in Settings), pay-to details and a note. The window also lists the properties the owner holds and since when. Shares are changed on Ownership.

Ownership

For each property the list shows the owners today, the date each one started and their share. When part of a property has no owner, a No owner line shows that part. Under the property name you see a coming change and the last paid month.

Change ownership

1. Press Change on the property (or Change ownership in its history).
2. Choose the date the change starts.
3. Set each owner's new share. Use 0 to end an owner's share, or add another owner. The total cannot pass 100%.
4. Add the reason (sale, purchase, inheritance) and press Save the change. The old shares end the day before; the new ones start on the date.

History

Click a property to see every share it ever had. Click a row to correct the owner, share, dates or reason, or to delete it. Rows of paid months show Paid and cannot be changed.

How money is split between owners

• Rent collected is spread over the days its charge covers, and each day goes to the owners of that day by their share.
• Expenses go by their date, or by day over the period they cover.
• The management fee is taken from the rent each owner earned, at that owner's rate.
• Rent collected ahead for a later month waits for that month.
• Bills paid ahead from an owner's share are held back until the days they cover come.

Payouts and statements

To pay lists every owner statement of a complete month that is not fully paid. History lists the payouts recorded. Both are ordered by statement month, newest first.

• Search by owner or company, and choose the statement months from and to.
• Statement opens the owner statement: each property with income, expenses, the fee, held amounts, payouts and what is still to pay. Print it or send the payout from there.
• Record payout records the amount, date, method and reference in one step.
• Download spreadsheet saves the list as a CSV file.

Pages

Choose a page at the top, then click any text or picture to change it. Drag a block by its handle, or use its arrows, to move it. Save page publishes the change, View page opens it on the website, and Versions keeps earlier versions you can bring back. Company facts such as phone and address come from Settings.

Media library

Every picture and video on the website comes from here. Upload photos (JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF) or MP4 videos, up to 20 files at a time. Give each one a description for people who cannot see it. Replacing a file changes it everywhere it is used; the library shows how many times each file is used.

Messages

Messages from the Contact page and owner inquiries from the Owners page. Mark them New, Read, Replied or Archived; Reply by email opens your email program.

Notices

Notices appear in the resident portal for the properties you choose, between the start and end dates. Tick Important to show a notice first and highlighted. Tabs: Showing now, Scheduled, Ended and All.

Staff and permissions

There are no fixed roles. Each person gets View, Add, Edit and Delete per area, and either all properties or the ones you choose. Save common combinations as permission sets (for example Leasing agent, Property manager, Accountant, Website editor, Maintenance technician) and start a person from a set.

• Manager gives full access to every area and every property, including Settings.
• New people get a temporary password and choose their own at the first sign-in. A manager can reset anyone's password here.
• Untick Can sign in to stop an account without deleting it.

Settings

Activity log and My account

The Activity log lists every change and every refused request with who, when and what; search it by action or name. My account shows your details, your rights and properties, and lets you change your password.

Setting up the site

1. Make sure app.app.runmode in appConfig/application.cfg is 1 (Production).
2. Start the site and sign in as described in Signing in.
3. Fill in Settings: company facts and leasing rules.
4. Add your properties, units, owners and their ownership, vendors and staff.
5. To send email, fill in app.mail.server, app.mail.port, app.mail.addr, app.mail.id and app.mail.password in the same file.

Online rent payment

1. In the Stripe dashboard open Developers, API keys and copy the secret key.
2. Open Developers, Webhooks, add an endpoint at the address shown in Settings for the events checkout.session.completed and checkout.session.async_payment_succeeded, and copy its signing secret.
3. In Settings, Online rent payment paste both keys, tick Turn on online payment and save. Residents then see Pay online in the portal.

Questions