It's 3:42pm on a Tuesday. You've just completed three property inspections—mid-tenancy check-ins at Oak Street, Elm Avenue, and Market Square. The inspections went smoothly: you captured photos on your phone, noted observations, got tenant signatures.
Now comes the part nobody enjoys: creating the landlord reports.
Open Word. Type the property address. Copy observations from your phone notes. Export photos from your camera roll. Insert photos into Word (why are they 8MB each?). Resize each photo manually. Format the headings. Add your agency logo. Save as PDF. Name the file correctly. Attach to landlord email.
45 minutes later, you've created one professional-looking report. You still have two more to do. And tomorrow's inspections haven't even been scheduled yet.
This is the reality for most letting agents: the inspection itself takes 40-60 minutes, but turning it into a professional PDF takes nearly as long as the inspection. You're spending half your inspection time doing document formatting.
This week, we solved this problem in LetAdmin. Inspection reports now generate as professional PDFs automatically—complete with photos, signatures, observations, and maintenance issues—in under 10 seconds. This article explains why PDF reports matter, how the automatic generation works, and what it means for agencies drowning in post-inspection admin.
The Problem: Manual Report Creation Steals Hours Every Week
Landlords expect professional inspection reports. Not email summaries. Not phone updates. Proper formatted documents they can review, print, and file. This creates a bottleneck:
Problem 1: Reports Take Nearly as Long as Inspections
For a typical letting agent conducting inspections:
- Inspection itself: 40-60 minutes (property walkthrough, photos, observations, signature)
- Creating the PDF report: 30-45 minutes (Word formatting, photo insertion, layout adjustments, PDF export)
Total time per inspection: 70-105 minutes, with 42% spent on administrative formatting work.
For an agency conducting 5 inspections per week:
- Inspection time: 200-300 minutes (3.3-5 hours)
- Report formatting time: 150-225 minutes (2.5-3.75 hours)
- Total: 5.8-8.75 hours per week
Nearly 40% of inspection time is spent formatting documents.
Problem 2: Quality Varies by Who's Rushing
When report creation is manual, quality suffers:
- End-of-day reports: Agent rushing to finish before heading home, minimal detail
- Monday morning reports: Catching up from Friday inspections, can't remember details
- Trainee reports: Inconsistent formatting, missing sections, unprofessional appearance
- Busy period reports: Photos not resized, observations abbreviated, typos not corrected
Landlords notice. "Why does this report look different from last time?" "Where are the bathroom photos?" "This formatting looks unprofessional."
Problem 3: Photos Are a Pain
Property photos create specific headaches:
- File size: Phone photos are 3-8MB each. Insert six photos into Word, document becomes 30MB+ (too large to email)
- Resolution: Full-resolution photos make PDFs huge, but reducing resolution makes photos pixelated
- Layout: Photos break page layouts unpredictably. You spend 10 minutes adjusting page breaks so photos don't split awkwardly
- Captions: Adding captions to each photo manually takes 2-3 minutes per photo
For inspections with 15-20 photos (standard for move-in/move-out), photo management alone takes 20-30 minutes.
How LetAdmin Solves This: One-Click PDF Generation
We built a system that takes your completed inspection and generates a professional PDF report automatically—formatted consistently, photos optimized, all details included, ready to send to landlords.
Here's what happens when you click "Generate PDF":
Step 1: You Complete the Inspection (Mobile or Desktop)
Conduct the inspection as normal in LetAdmin:
- Walk through property, add observations per room
- Capture photos on your phone
- Note maintenance issues
- Capture tenant signature digitally
- Mark inspection as complete
Step 2: Click "Download PDF Report"
On the inspection detail page, click the "Download PDF" button. Within 10 seconds, a professional PDF downloads to your device.
Step 3: Review the Professional Report
The generated PDF includes:
Header Section:
- Agency name and branding
- "Property Inspection Report" title
- Property full address
- Inspection date and type (mid-tenancy, move-in, move-out)
- Conducted by (agent name)
Property Details Grid:
- Property reference
- Landlord name
- Tenancy start date
- Current tenants
Room-by-Room Observations:
- Each room as separate section (Kitchen, Living Room, Bedroom 1, Bathroom, etc.)
- Your observations formatted clearly
- Photos for that room displayed in grid layout (2 per row)
- Photo captions if you added them
Maintenance Issues Highlighted:
- Maintenance alerts in color-coded boxes
- Priority level indicated (High, Medium, Low)
- Description and recommended action
Digital Signature:
- Tenant signature image
- Signed by name
- Signature date/time
Professional Formatting:
- Consistent typography (readable on screen and print)
- Sensible page breaks (sections don't split mid-observation)
- Photos optimized for file size (clear quality, but PDFs stay under 5MB)
- A4 page size, proper margins for printing
Step 4: Send to Landlord
Attach the PDF to your landlord email. Done. Total time from inspection completion to PDF ready: 10 seconds.
Real-World Example: Three Inspections in One Day
Before automatic PDF generation (typical letting agent workflow):
Inspections:
- 9:00am-10:00am: Oak Street mid-tenancy (inspection: 60 min)
- 11:00am-12:00pm: Elm Avenue move-out (inspection: 60 min)
- 2:00pm-3:00pm: Market Square move-in (inspection: 60 min)
Total inspection time: 3 hours
Report creation (back at office 3:30pm):
- 3:30pm-4:15pm: Oak Street report in Word (45 min)
- 4:15pm-5:00pm: Elm Avenue report in Word (45 min)
- 5:00pm-5:45pm: Market Square report in Word (45 min)
Total report time: 2 hours 15 minutes Total day: 5 hours 15 minutes Efficiency: 57% inspection, 43% admin formatting
With LetAdmin automatic PDF generation:
Inspections (same):
- 9:00am-10:00am: Oak Street mid-tenancy (inspection: 60 min)
- 11:00am-12:00pm: Elm Avenue move-out (inspection: 60 min)
- 2:00pm-3:00pm: Market Square move-in (inspection: 60 min)
Total inspection time: 3 hours
Report creation (back at office 3:30pm):
- 3:30pm: Click "Generate PDF" for Oak Street (10 seconds)
- 3:31pm: Click "Generate PDF" for Elm Avenue (10 seconds)
- 3:32pm: Click "Generate PDF" for Market Square (10 seconds)
- 3:33pm: Review all three PDFs, attach to landlord emails (15 minutes)
Total report time: 16 minutes Total day: 3 hours 16 minutes Efficiency: 92% inspection, 8% admin
Time saved: 2 hours per day (or 10 hours per week for an agent doing 5 inspections/day).
What This Means for Your Agency
Time Savings That Actually Matter
For an agency conducting 5 inspections per week:
Annual time savings:
- Old method: 150-225 min/week formatting reports = 130-195 hours/year
- New method: 15-20 min/week reviewing PDFs = 13-17 hours/year
- Time saved: 117-178 hours per year per agent (nearly 3-4 weeks of full-time work)
For a 2-agent agency conducting 10 inspections/week:
- Time saved: 234-356 hours/year (6-8 weeks of full-time work)
Consistent Professional Quality
Every report looks the same:
- Same header format
- Same section structure
- Same photo layout
- Same professional appearance
No variation based on who conducted the inspection, how rushed they were, or what time of day they created the report. Landlords receive consistent quality every time.
Photos Automatically Optimized
The system handles photo management:
- Photos automatically compressed to optimal file size (PDFs stay under 5MB even with 20 photos)
- Photos automatically arranged in clean grid layout
- Photos automatically associated with correct room sections
- Photos automatically embedded (no broken image links, no "file not found" errors)
No manual photo export, resize, insert, caption required.
Same-Day Turnaround Becomes Realistic
When report creation takes 45 minutes per inspection, same-day turnaround is impossible if you conducted 3+ inspections. You either stay late or send reports the next day.
With 10-second PDF generation, same-day becomes easy:
- Complete inspections in morning/afternoon
- Generate all PDFs in 2 minutes
- Review and email to landlords before end of day
Landlords get reports the same day as the inspection. This looks professional, responsive, and proactive.
How It Works: Behind the Scenes
The technical implementation is invisible to you, but here's what happens:
Setup (None Required)
There's no setup. If you can complete inspections in LetAdmin, you can generate PDF reports. Click the button, get the PDF.
What Happens When You Click "Generate PDF":
- LetAdmin reads your inspection data: observations, photos, signatures, maintenance issues
- Formats everything as professional document layout: headings, sections, photo grids, page breaks
- Optimizes photos for web/print: compresses to reasonable file size, maintains quality
- Renders as print-ready PDF: A4 page size, proper margins, embedded photos
- Downloads to your device: ready to attach to emails or upload to landlord portal
Total time: 8-12 seconds (slightly longer for inspections with many photos).
Mobile-Friendly PDFs
Generated PDFs work everywhere:
- Desktop/laptop: Print, email, save to network drive
- Mobile phone: View on landlord's phone, clear and readable
- Tablet: Perfect for landlord review during property visits
- Email attachments: File size optimized for email (under 5MB)
Landlords can open and read reports on any device without special PDF readers or apps.
What We're Building Next
PDF inspection reports are the foundation. Next steps:
Branded templates: Customize PDF appearance with your agency logo, colors, and contact details
Automatic email delivery: Option to email PDF directly to landlord when inspection completes (you review, we send)
PDF archiving: Automatic storage of all inspection PDFs for historical records and compliance
Portfolio reporting: Generate summary PDFs for landlords with multiple properties ("Your 5 properties inspected this quarter")
Digital landlord portal: Landlords log in to view/download all their inspection reports (no email attachments)
The goal: Eliminate all manual report formatting work, deliver professional reports same-day, maintain perfect quality consistency.
We'd Love to Hear from You
How do you currently create inspection reports? Word templates? Excel? Third-party software? Manual formatting?
How much time do you spend per report? Be honest—most agents spend 30-60 minutes when they count photo handling and formatting.
What would make inspection reporting easier for your agency? We're building this based on real agency workflows.
Get in touch: paul@letadmin.com
LetAdmin is in active development, built by letting agents for letting agents. This automatic PDF generation system is being used at Phillip James (370+ properties) and refined based on real-world usage. If you're interested in seeing how it works or want to join the priority list, we'd love to hear from you.