How we work
One route, then you choose who runs it.
The same four steps for every landlord, from a first buy-to-let to a portfolio of forty. What changes is the size of the plan, not the process. At the end it's yours either way. The only decision is who looks after it.
- 1
Free call
Where you are, what eats your time and what you'd like to hand off. Twenty minutes. If you don't need us, we'll say so.
- 2
Plan
A short written list of exactly what we'll build, in your name and your accounts. No surprises later.
- 3
Build
We build it with you, one piece at a time, using your real properties and tenants, not a demo.
- 4
Handover
A walkthrough of how it runs, a written guide and a recorded video, so you're never dependent on us.
You run it
It's yours and it keeps working without us.
- Everything stays in your accounts
- Guide and video to refer back to
- Ask us for a one-off change whenever you like
We keep it running
Optional monthly upkeep. Stop any time and nothing breaks, because it's already yours.
- Fixes when portals, WhatsApp or email change
- Templates and reminders updated when the rules change
- One small change a month, bigger ones quoted
- A check-in every quarter
- We reply within two working days
Usually one piece: the deal finder on your numbers, so the first purchase stacks up.
A dashboard and tenant messages first. Most of the admin disappears with those two.
Dashboard first, then spreadsheets moved across, access for your team, and the pieces that replace what an agent does.
Want another piece later? We go back to step 2 and add it. Whatever your size, most people start with one.
A worked example
Six months, four flats, one system
A made-up landlord, so nobody's real tenants are on show, but every piece below is one we build. Four flats across Newcastle and Whitley Bay, an agent on 12%, and three months of travel booked for the winter.
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Month 0
The free call
Twenty minutes on what the agent actually does for the money: forwards messages, chases rent, books the gas engineer. The plan comes back as a one-page list: a dashboard, rent matching, tenant messages, repairs, compliance dates and paperwork. One extra line because of the travel: build it as an app on the phone, with notifications on the watch.
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Month 1
Dashboard and rent, live
Four flats on one screen: rent due, rent in, certificates, deposits, who's on what tenancy. Rent is matched from the bank feed on the day it lands, and a polite nudge is drafted for anything late. Added to the home screen, so it opens like any other app. The first monthly summary email arrives on the 1st.
Hours a week on admin6 to 3 -
Month 2
Tenants get a number
A WhatsApp Business number in the landlord's own name. Rent reminders and receipts send themselves. A repair comes in with a photo, the system asks the usual questions (is it leaking now, have you tried the stopcock, when are you in), and drafts a reply for approval. Nothing goes to a tenant without the landlord tapping yes.
A real notification from the system we run on our own homes. Business name changed. Flat 3, Whitley BayBoiler not firing. Photo attached. Tenant home after 5pm. Gas engineer has Tue 9am or Wed 2pm.
Book TueBook WedCall themWhat arrives on a watch. One tap books the engineer and tells the tenant. -
Month 3
Dates and paperwork
Gas, EICR, EPC, alarms, licence and insurance renewals all on the calendar with reminders six weeks out. The tenancy renewal for Flat 2 goes out as a branded agreement for e-signature and comes back signed the same evening. The old folder of PDFs moves into a document store, one per property.
A move-in meter reading from one of our own homes, photographed and logged against the tenancy. Hours a week on admin3 to 1 -
Month 4
Handover, and notice to the agent
A walkthrough on a call, a written guide and a recorded video. The landlord gives the agent notice (notice periods vary, so check your own agreement) and picks We keep it running, because the winter trip is four weeks away and they'd rather someone else watches for WhatsApp changing its rules.
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Month 5
On a chairlift in Val d'Isère
Phone in the locker, watch on the wrist. Rent day: four payments matched, no action needed, one line on the watch. Thursday: Flat 3's boiler. The tenant has already answered the questions and the engineer's slots are in the message. The landlord taps Tuesday. The tenant gets a confirmation, the engineer gets the address and the job sits on the dashboard as "booked". Total time: about eight seconds.
Our own trades and tenants, tagged by area in WhatsApp. Names removed. The system picks the right trade for the right house. - Rent collected4 of 4
- Repairs1 booked, £140
- Certificates2 renewed
- Messages handled23, 2 needed you
- Time you spentunder 1 hour
The summary that arrives on the 1st, whether you're home or not. -
Month 6
Home, and the agent's gone
The last agent statement arrives. Nothing it did is missing. Everything the system does is in the landlord's own accounts: their WhatsApp number, their bank feed, their document store, their calendar. If they stopped the monthly upkeep tomorrow, all of it would still run on Thursday.
Hours a week on adminunder 1
Example figures for a made-up landlord, rounded, with the agent fee shown before VAT. Your rents, fees and hours will differ, and we'll work them out with you on the call.
A year on
What the same landlord adds next
Each of these is a step 2 conversation and a short build. None of them means starting again.
The fifth flat
A deal finder on their own numbers watches the portals every morning and emails the two listings that stack up. No sourcer, no finder's fee.
A partner and an accountant
Read-only access for a partner, and a year-end pack that goes to the accountant in April with one click instead of a weekend of spreadsheets.
Voice notes into tasks
"Remind me to check the damp in Flat 1 after the roofer's been" becomes a dated task on the dashboard, with the roofer's visit already in the calendar.
The rules change
When tenancy law moves, the templates, notices and reminders move with it, once, for every property, without the landlord reading the legislation.
Their own to-let page
A simple page in their own brand for the next void, with the application form and viewing bookings feeding straight into the system.
Running it from anywhere
Three months abroad a year becomes six. Tenants notice nothing, because the number, the replies and the engineers all work the same from a ski lift as from the sofa.
Start with the call
Tell us where you are and what eats your time. If one piece would do, we'll say so.
Book a free callFree, no obligation. Browse the seven blueprints first if you'd rather see complete builds.