Signing new leases is the ultimate goal of a landlord. The lease is the most important document between you and your tenants, as well as the authority on your agreement.
However, traditional leasing has several flaws. Paper leases can be insecure, inconvenient, and ultimately more trouble than they’re worth. The traditional leasing process may have worked in previous generations, but online leasing is a newer, more efficient method.
For many, online leasing is a necessity. In addition, due to pandemic regulations and safety concerns, remote lease signing is more important now than ever.
Online leasing is now vital to your business. Here are five reasons why.
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Security
The ESIGN act passed as a federal law in 2000. This law means eSignatures are fully recognized as legal signatures, despite some landlords’ doubts about them.
Electronic documents are protected by encryption and much more secure than traditional paper documents. Digital signatures are not vulnerable to forgery, misplacement, or destruction. They also provide more information than “wet” signatures. For example, eSignatures collect data on the signer’s email, location, and timestamp, while wet signatures are far more ambiguous.
Digital signatures are a safe, secure approach to leasing.
Convenience
For many landlords, the biggest draw of online leasing is its convenience. If you want to sign a lease online, all you need is a computer to access your property management software. You can upload, edit, and share existing leases with a few simple steps. Your tenants can then sign that lease instantly from their computer, laptop, smartphone, or tablet.
Later, after the lease has been signed, you can always go back and reference the signed lease to clarify terms or resolve disputes. So your online leases are always at your fingertips.
Flexibility
Another benefit of online leasing is flexibility. For example, if you decide to change or add an addendum to your original lease, property management software makes it easy to do so. Simply log in to your software account, open the document, and make the necessary changes.
From there, you can easily share the new additions with your tenants for their approval. No need to track them down individually to sign in person!
Bonus tip: if you add addenda to a lease in the middle of a lease term, remember that your tenants will need to approve and resign the additions before you can enforce them.
Safety
Safety is a pressing public concern during the pandemic. If you’re actively acquiring new tenants this year, you should take all the steps possible to ensure that you and your tenants are safe. This means offering remote options whenever possible.
Fortunately, property management software makes meeting in person entirely unnecessary. Instead, you can complete the entire leasing process—applications, communication, and signatures—fully remotely.
When you use online leasing, your tenants will appreciate your concern and care for their physical safety during a challenging time.
Sustainability
Alongside protecting people, many landlords are concerned about protecting the environment. One way to do this is by eliminating waste in your business model.
Paper leases are long documents. If you have a lot of tenants, you have many printed leases to sign and store. On top of that, if you want to change, revise, or alter the lease terms, you’ll need to print additional pages of addenda.
All that paper adds up, both in your bank account and the environment. Save money and resources at the same time by switching to a completely paperless online leasing process.
Save Time, Energy, and Resources with Online Leasing
Paper leases and wet signatures are a long-held tradition. Many landlords are reluctant to surrender their tried-and-true manual methods for a technological solution they may or may not trust.
However, any software review site will tell you how many landlords love their property management software. Technology may seem overwhelming, but software developers have made it as simple as possible to successfully manage your rental properties digitally. Online leasing is just one of the many features software can offer landlords looking to maximize their rental business.