Setup guide
How to set up your properties
Six steps, from adding a property to your tenant confirming their documents. Each one says where to go, what to do and how you know it's done.
New to HouseFile?
Step 1: Add a property
Start with the address and a few details. You can add as many properties as your plan allows.
- Go to Properties and click Add property.
- Enter the address. If it's an HMO, tick HMO Property and add its rooms.
- Leave Add document slots from your checklist ticked. Open the list if this property doesn't need some of them.
- Add a photo if you like. Once the property is saved, the cog at the top of its page opens Property Settings, where you can add a Tenant Welcome Message with things like the WiFi password and how to reach you.
Done when the property's page opens, with a slot on its Documents tab for each document on your checklist.
Step 2: Check your default checklist
Do this before you upload any documents. The default checklist decides which document slots each property gets and which ones count towards its compliance status, so a minute here saves tidying up every property later.
- Open the default checklist and look down the Standard Let list.
- Switch off anything that doesn't apply to your lets, and add any documents you always keep. For example, the Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet only applies to written tenancies that began before 1 May 2026.
- If you let HMOs, check the HMO list too, then save.
Done when the lists show just the documents you want on every property.
Step 3: Add your documents
Fill each slot with its document. HouseFile reads what you upload, so you don't need to rename files or type in expiry dates.
- Drag your files onto the Documents tab, or click Add documents. On a phone, tap Take photo to photograph a paper certificate.
- HouseFile reads each one, names it, puts it in its slot and finds the expiry date. Check the details, then confirm.
- Tick Requires agreement on a document if your tenant needs to confirm they've received it.
Done when the required slots are filled and the property's status isn't red.
More you can do · links, contacts, templates and tidying up
- Add a link, a note or contacts from the Link, Note and Contacts tabs in Add documents, such as emergency contacts and utility suppliers.
- Upload appliance manuals, or link to them online, and several labelled photos for the inventory and check-in record.
- Use the More menu for Copy from property, Add from a template or Add manually. When a slot has the same or a similar name, a template goes into that slot, and you're asked first.
- An empty slot with a template of the same name shows Use a template. Any empty slot can be filled from a template when you open its details. The slot keeps its name.
- Set expiry dates on certificates and you'll get an email before they run out.
- Select several documents to delete them, or to change their category, expiry date or room at once. The Select all link on a category picks the whole group.
- Drag to reorder documents or whole categories. Your tenants see them in the order you set.
- When you replace a document with a newer version, the old one stays in its history.
Step 4: Start a tenancy
Record who lives there. HouseFile adds slots for that tenancy's documents to your Documents tab.
- On the Tenancy & sharing tab, click Start a tenancy.
- Add everyone on the tenancy under Occupants. Each person gets their own document slots.
- Upload the tenancy agreement, deposit protection certificate and inventory, which you can share with your tenants, and each occupant's Right to Rent check and proof of ID, which tenants never see.
Done when the tenancy lists its occupants, and their documents show under Current tenancy on the Documents tab.
Right to Rent
More you can do · HMO rooms, rent reviews and moving out
- In an HMO, each room has its own tenancy with its own records.
- Add a Rent review date to the tenancy for a reminder 30 days before. Rent reviews show in your calendar.
- When tenants move out, open Actions on the tenancy and choose Archive tenancy. Their documents move to Past tenancies, so you keep them. Leave Also expire the tenant links ticked and their old link stops working.
Step 5: Share with your tenant
A tenant link opens the property's documents for your tenant, and records what they confirm.
- Starting a tenancy makes a link for your tenant, which is waiting on the Tenancy & sharing tab. For anyone else, click Create another link and give it a label, like “Move-in pack”.
- Click Send link to email it to your tenant. If the link has no email yet, add one with Edit in its menu. Or use Copy link to send it yourself, or Show QR code in the menu to print one for the property.
- When you update a document or add a new one, choose Send the link again in the link's menu.
Done when your tenant has opened the link and started confirming their documents.
More you can do · filters, property links and expiry
- Tick Only some categories to make a link that shows only some documents, such as just appliances, for a contractor.
- Use Property links for links that belong to the building rather than a tenant, like manuals and emergency contacts. They show the property's documents and nothing from a tenancy, don't track acknowledgements, and keep working when tenants change, so a printed QR code never needs replacing.
- Set an expiry date on a link under Expires.
- Choose Duplicate in a link's menu to make a new link with the same settings.
- With lots of documents, your tenant can search, collapse categories or jump to one.
Step 6: Stay on top
Your dashboard shows how each property stands and the one thing to do next, and HouseFile emails you before anything expires.
- Follow the Next step on your dashboard. The Compliance overview and Needs attention list show what's expired, missing or waiting on a tenant.
- Open a property's Tenancy & sharing tab to see whether each tenant has opened their link and which documents they still need to agree to.
- Download the Compliance report from a property, or the Portfolio report from Properties, when you need a record.
Done when every property is green and your tenants have confirmed their documents.
Your tenant's confirmation is your record
More you can do · calendar, emails, search and exports
- The Compliance report asks which tenant links to include. Untick them all to download the documents only, with nothing about any tenant.
- The Calendar shows certificate expiry dates and rent reviews. A certificate gets an email 30 days before, 7 days before and on the day, and a rent review gets one 30 days before.
- Updates are grouped into fewer emails. Choose what you get in Where to find it: Settings › Notifications.
- The Renters' Rights Act tracker on your dashboard shows which parts of the Act are in force and which are still to come.
- Search everything with Cmd or Ctrl and K.
- Add HouseFile to your phone's home screen and it opens like an app. On an iPhone, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android, open the menu and tap Install app.
- Download your properties, documents and acknowledgements as CSV files from Where to find it: Settings › Your data.
When you need it
HMOs and rooms
In an HMO you can set up each room and decide whether a document is for the whole property or one room.
- Click Manage rooms on the Documents tab to add, rename or delete rooms, and use the room filter beside it to see one room's documents.
- Property-wide documents, like the Gas Safety Certificate and EICR, go to every tenant. A room's own documents, like tenancy agreements and inventories, are only shown to the tenant in that room.
- When you add documents, leave the rooms unticked under Assign to rooms to keep them property-wide, or tick the rooms they're for.
- Start a tenancy for each room and it gets its own link. Each tenant sees the shared documents plus their own room's.
- A Communal link opens just the documents the whole house shares, such as the HMO licence and house rules. Nothing is recorded, so a printed QR code can stay on the wall. Each tenant's own link keeps their record.
Example
Several properties and templates
You don't have to set up every property from scratch.
- Duplicate in Property Settings makes a new property with the same document slots, and the same rooms if you choose. Files, links, contacts and expiry dates aren't copied, so you add each property's own.
- Copy from property in the Documents tab's More menu brings over the documents you pick. Documents the property already has are skipped.
- Your default checklist gives every property the same starting slots.
Document templates
A template is one document you add to lots of properties, like house rules or a list of emergency contacts. It saves the title, category and type, whether the document requires agreement, and the content for text and link documents.
- Add one to a property with More, then Add from a template, on its Documents tab, or put it in a slot with Use a template.
- In your default checklist, choose a template under Starts filled from and that slot arrives filled on every new property.
- Turn on Keep linked to template and a change to the template updates every property that uses it. You see which properties it affects before you confirm, and can ask tenants to look at the updated document again.
- Linked documents show a link icon and are edited through their template. Unlink one at any time if a property needs something different.
Your letting agent
Give a letting agent or property manager access to your properties. They don't need a subscription of their own.
- Click Invite, enter their email, choose their role and which properties they can see. They get an email asking them to accept.
- Viewer can see properties and documents. Editor can also add and update documents. Manager can do everything except delete a property: tenancies, tenant links and, with access to all your properties, adding properties for you.
- Only you can delete a property, or anything a tenant has opened, since that's your record of what they were given.
- Give access to All properties, including future ones, or to Only the ones I choose.
- Anything they change is logged with their name, and they work within your plan's property limit.
If you're a letting agent
Which documents to include
HouseFile splits them into property documents, which stay with the property, and tenancy documents, which are added when you start a tenancy. Your default checklist decides which of these every property starts with.
Legal requirements
- Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
- Gas Safety Certificate (CP12)
- Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)
- Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, tested on the first day of each tenancy
- Property or HMO licence, where the council requires one
- Renters' Rights Act Information Sheet, for written tenancies that began before 1 May 2026
Safety
- Legionella risk assessment
- PAT testing certificate
- Fire safety risk assessment (HMOs)
- Fire escape routes (HMOs)
Utilities and contacts
- Emergency contacts
- Gas, electricity, water and broadband suppliers
- Meter readings and where the meters are
Appliances
- Boiler manual and service history
- Washing machine, oven and hob instructions
- Manuals for any other appliances
Tenancy documents, added for you
- Tenancy agreement
- Deposit protection certificate
- Inventory and condition report
- Right to Rent check (each occupant)
- Proof of identity (each occupant)
Other useful information
- Check-in photos
- Bin collection days
- Parking permit details
- Local shops and services
- House rules
See HouseFile in action
Here's what it looks like once your properties are set up.
All properties compliant
Every required document is in place, valid, and shared. Nothing needs your attention.
Needs attention
View calendarDashboard
See every property on one screen
You can see straight away if anything needs sorting, whether that’s a certificate running out, a document that’s missing, or a tenant who hasn’t opened theirs yet. No spreadsheet to keep updated.
Documents
A folder for each property
Your documents are kept together and you get a reminder before anything expires. When the new certificate arrives, upload it and HouseFile picks up the new expiry date for you.
Compliance Report
Document Delivery & Acknowledgement Record
Every document, provably delivered.
Sunnyside House
42 Meadow Lane, Bristol
| Document | Status |
|---|---|
| Deposit Protection Certificate | Valid |
| Gas Safety Certificate (CP12) | Valid |
| Electrical Report (EICR) | Valid |
| Energy Performance Certificate | Valid |
| Carbon Monoxide Alarm Statement | Valid |
| Smoke Alarm Statement | Valid |
Proof of delivery
Download the proof when you need it
It shows which documents each tenant was sent and when they opened them. Now that Section 21 has gone, possession claims depend much more on showing you did things properly, and this is the record that helps you do that.