Tenants calling and emailing for information -- rent balances, maintenance updates, lease copies -- that a portal could answer instantly?
Property managers spending hours each week on inbound tenant queries instead of managing the portfolio?
Tenant Portal and Resident App
Tenants expect the same self-service experience from their landlord that they get from their bank or food delivery app. When every interaction -- a rent query, a maintenance request, a lease renewal question -- requires a phone call or an email, tenant satisfaction drops and property manager time disappears into inbound traffic that should never have arrived.
We build custom tenant portals and resident apps for build-to-rent operators, multi-family landlords, serviced apartment companies, and residential property managers. Rent payment, maintenance tracking, lease management, and community features -- all in one place, under your brand.
Tenants pay rent, view statements, and download receipts without calling the accounts team
Maintenance requests submitted with photos and tracked in real time by the tenant
Lease documents, renewal offers, and digital signatures handled without printing or scanning
In-app messaging between tenant and property team linked to their unit and tenancy record
A custom tenant portal gives residents self-service access to rent payment and statement history, maintenance request submission and tracking, lease documents and digital renewal signing, building announcements and parcel tracking, direct messaging with the property team, and move-in and move-out workflows. RaftLabs builds tenant portals and resident apps for build-to-rent operators, multi-family landlords, serviced apartment companies, and residential property managers -- delivered in 12-14 weeks at a fixed cost.
100+Products shipped
·24+Industries served
·FixedCost delivery
·12-14Week delivery cycles
When every tenant interaction requires a phone call, the property team is the bottleneck
A tenant who wants to know their rent balance has to call the office. A tenant who wants to log a dripping tap has to send an email and then chase it. A tenant who wants to renew their lease has to wait for the property manager to send a PDF, print it, sign it, scan it, and email it back. Multiply those interactions across a portfolio of 100 or 500 units and the property management team spends the majority of their day on information exchange that a self-service portal could handle automatically.
The wider damage is to tenant retention. Residents who experience friction at every touchpoint -- slow maintenance responses, no visibility on their rent history, paper-based lease renewals -- look elsewhere when their lease comes up. In build-to-rent and multi-family portfolios, where occupancy rate is a primary business metric, the cost of poor resident experience is real and measurable. A well-designed tenant portal is not a convenience feature. It is an operational infrastructure investment that reduces inbound contact volume, improves response times, and gives tenants the experience they compare you against every time they open their banking app.
What we build
Rent payment and statement access
Tenants pay rent directly from the portal by card or bank transfer, with the payment applied to their tenancy record automatically and a receipt generated on confirmation. The payment history view shows every transaction, the date it was received, and the balance on the account -- so tenants can verify a payment has cleared without calling accounts. Late payment reminders are sent automatically before the due date, reducing arrears without requiring the property manager to chase. Tenants can download a statement for any date range in PDF format for their own records or for a mortgage application. All payment activity is visible to the property team in the management dashboard with the same information the tenant sees, eliminating discrepancies between what a tenant believes they have paid and what the system shows.
Maintenance requests and tracking
Tenants submit maintenance requests from the portal or mobile app with a category selection, a written description, and photo or video upload -- no phone call required. The request lands in the property management team's queue with all the information needed to assess urgency and assign a contractor. Status updates are pushed to the tenant at each stage: received, assigned, scheduled, in progress, and completed. The tenant receives a notification when the contractor is booked and a reminder of the appointment time. Once the job is marked complete by the contractor, the tenant is asked to confirm the work is satisfactory from the portal. The full request history per unit is retained, giving the property team a maintenance record that covers every job ever logged for that unit.
Lease management and digital signatures
Tenants view their current lease from the portal at any time -- start date, end date, rent amount, and any special conditions are all visible without calling the office. When a renewal is due, the property team sends a renewal offer through the system and the tenant receives a notification. The tenant can review the new terms, ask questions through the messaging channel, and sign digitally from their phone or browser without printing or scanning. Signed documents are stored against the tenancy record and available to both the tenant and the property team immediately. The system tracks document status -- sent, viewed, signed, or expired -- and the property manager can see which renewals are outstanding across the full portfolio in one view.
Community and building features
The building notice board gives the property team a direct channel to residents for planned maintenance announcements, building updates, and community events -- replacing the printed notice stuck to the lift door. Parcel tracking integration lets tenants log expected deliveries and receive a notification when a parcel arrives at the concierge or mailroom. Visitor pre-registration allows tenants to register a guest in advance, giving the front desk or access control system the visitor's name before they arrive. Building-wide alerts, such as water outages or lift maintenance, are pushed to all residents as in-app notifications and optionally by SMS. Each of these features reduces the volume of calls and emails the front desk or property office receives about routine building information.
In-app messaging and communication
The in-app messaging channel gives tenants a direct line to the property team linked to their unit and tenancy record -- so every conversation already has the context the property manager needs to respond. Messages are threaded by topic, so a conversation about a maintenance issue stays separate from a conversation about a rent query. The property team responds from the management dashboard and can assign conversations to specific team members. Automated acknowledgement messages confirm receipt when a message is sent outside office hours, setting expectations without requiring a manual reply. All message history is stored against the tenancy record as a communication log, giving the property team a full record of every interaction with each tenant for reference and dispute resolution.
Move-in and move-out workflows
The move-in workflow guides a new tenant through completing their digital move-in checklist from the portal: room-by-room condition report with photo upload, confirmation that all appliances are working, meter reading submission, and key receipt acknowledgement. The signed checklist is stored against the tenancy as the baseline condition record. When a tenant gives notice to vacate, the move-out workflow is triggered: notice confirmation, move-out date selection, deposit expectations, and a pre-move-out checklist of what to clean and check before handover. On the day of move-out, the property manager completes a digital inspection report with photos referenced against the move-in baseline, giving both parties an evidenced record if deposit deductions are disputed. Key return is logged in the system with a timestamp.
Frequently asked questions
We integrate the tenant portal with your existing property management system so that tenancy records, rent ledgers, and maintenance queues stay in one place rather than duplicating data across two systems. The integration approach depends on what API or data export capability your current system provides. Common integrations include Yardi, Re-Leased, Arthur Online, Propertyware, and custom-built systems. Where a direct API is available, data flows in real time -- a payment made in the portal posts to the tenancy ledger in the management system immediately. Where API access is limited, we use scheduled sync. The integration scope is confirmed during discovery based on your current system and what data needs to flow in each direction.
This depends on your requirements and is agreed during discovery. A progressive web app covers most use cases -- it works in any browser on any device, can be added to the home screen on iOS and Android, supports push notifications on Android, and avoids the cost and delay of App Store and Google Play submission. A native iOS and Android app delivers a fuller mobile experience including home screen push notifications on iOS, deeper device integration such as camera access for photo upload, and a presence in the app stores that supports brand visibility. Many clients start with a web app and add native apps once the portal is live and tenant adoption patterns are clear. We scope both options and give you the cost and trade-off of each before you decide.
Yes. The tenant portal is built to carry your brand -- your logo, your colour palette, your domain name, and your app name in the App Store and Google Play if you choose a native build. Tenants see your brand at every touchpoint: the invitation email when they are onboarded, the portal login page, the in-app experience, and any notifications they receive. There is no RaftLabs branding visible to tenants. The white-label setup is part of the build process and is included in the fixed cost. If you manage properties on behalf of multiple landlords or operators who each want their own branded experience, we can build a multi-brand configuration where the portal adapts its branding based on the property or building the tenant belongs to.
A core tenant portal covering rent payment, maintenance requests, lease document access, and in-app messaging typically delivers in 12-14 weeks from kickoff to go-live as a web app. Adding a native mobile app extends the timeline to 16-18 weeks to cover iOS and Android development and app store submission. Adding community features, parcel tracking, visitor management, and move-in and move-out workflows adds scope and extends the timeline accordingly. All builds are priced at a fixed cost agreed before development starts -- no hourly billing. We run a discovery session to agree the feature set, integrations, and branding requirements, then give you a fixed number before any code is written.
Talk to us about your real estate software project.
Tell us how many units you manage, what your current tenant communication process looks like, and which self-service features matter most to your residents. We'll scope the right portal and give you a fixed cost.
