Municipalities that manage rental units through the use of rental permits or licenses and rental unit inspections can track those items within CSDatum Permits software. The following notes provide some thoughts and guidance on tracking these items.
Identify Properties with Rental Units
The firm foundation that any rental program should be built on is identifying the properties that have rental units. On a property record, go to the Property Info tab and use the Rental checkbox to identify the properties that are rentals. Click Save after checking or unchecking the box.
The article Identify Rental Units on a Property provides additional information about how to identify the individual rental units on a property, whether it's one or many.
Issue Rental Permit or License
Many municipalities that track and manage rental units require an annual permit or license. CSDatum staff can create a permit with a name like "Rental Permit" or similar.
Create a rental permit on each property that contains rental units. Typically, all rental permits expire on the same date, such as December 31st. If you need assistance creating the permits, the CSDatum staff can bulk-create the permits for you with a "Pending" status. Set the permits to "Active" status when the applicant pays the required fee.
Many municipalities create a new permit sub-type for each year, to help differentiate permit year. The sub-type is typically something like "Rental Permit 2026"
You can use the the reporting tools of Report Builder to create mailing lists for reminder letters and violation letters.
Rental Unit Inspections
Rental inspection records can be attached to either a Permit or a Tenant space.
Reasons to Attach Inspections to the Tenant Space
Desire to create an individual inspection record for each tenant space.
Reasons to Attach Inspections to the Permit
Prefer to see all inspections for a property for one year consolidated into a single list under the permit.
Only plan to create one inspection record per property instead of one for each tenant space.
Plan to issue a certificate of compliance or similar certificate after all tenant spaces on the property have been inspected.
No matter which inspection scheme chosen, it should be consistent going forward.
If inspections are to be attached to a permit, create a separate permit sub-type named "Rental Inspection" or similar. It should have a default expiration timeframe that matches the inspection frequency, e.g. every 2 years, every 3 years, etc.
Rental Inspection Tasks
At a minimum, you'll need an inspection task called "Rental Inspection" or similar. If desired, you can create additional tasks to cover tenant changes and re-inspection after a failed inspection, such as:
Rental Inspection
Tenant Change
Re-Inspection
Related Articles
Settings and Set Up
Properties
Rental Units and Tenants