Here's an embarrassing admission: I built property management software for seven weeks without proper landlord management.
Properties existed. Rent existed. Tenants existed. But landlords? Just a name field on the property record. No contact details. No portfolio view. No joint ownership tracking. Nothing.
Why? Because I knew landlord management would be complicated, and I kept finding "more important" features to build instead.
This week I finally tackled it. And within five days, LetAdmin went from "basic name field" to "complete landlord management system that handles everything agencies actually need."
This article explains what we built, why it matters, and how much time it saves agencies managing 50-150 properties.
The Problem I Was Avoiding
Here's what I knew would be complicated about landlord management:
Challenge 1: Joint Ownership Is Everywhere
20-35% of rental properties have multiple owners:
- Married couples owning 50/50
- Siblings with unequal inheritance shares (60/30/10 splits)
- Business partners with varying stakes
- Parent-child gradual ownership transfer
- Ex-partners maintaining joint ownership post-separation
Most letting agent software can't handle this. You get one "landlord" field per property. If there are multiple owners, you either:
- Pick one as "primary" (and everyone else is invisible)
- Create fake joint records ("Mr & Mrs Smith" as if they're one person)
- Track ownership splits in spreadsheets (manual calculations forever)
All terrible options.
Challenge 2: Landlord Information Is Scattered
Agencies need to know:
- Contact details (email, phone, mobile, address)
- Communication preferences ("texts only, doesn't answer phone")
- Complete property portfolio with ownership percentages
- Special requirements ("moving to Spain 2026, accountant handles all correspondence")
- Relationship history
Where is this information currently stored?
- Property management software: basic name, maybe email
- Email history: scattered across years of threads
- Spreadsheets: out of date, conflicting information
- Paper files: buried in filing cabinets
- Staff memories: lost when people go on holiday
Letting agents waste 2-4 hours per week hunting for landlord information that should be instantly accessible.
Challenge 3: Data Migration Blocks Adoption
When agencies switch systems, they need to import hundreds of landlords. Vendors say: "Just create them manually."
347 landlords × 3 minutes each = 17.4 hours of data entry.
This is why agencies delay switching software for years. The migration barrier feels insurmountable.
What We Built This Week
Rather than avoiding these problems, we tackled all three at once:
Feature 1: Joint Ownership with Percentage Tracking
Properties can now have multiple owners with exact ownership percentages:
How it works:
- Click "Manage Ownership" on any property
- Add multiple landlords from dropdown
- Set ownership percentage for each (system validates total = 100%)
- Save
What you get:
- Property shows: "Landlords: Sarah (50%), Michael (30%), James (20%)"
- Automatic rent distribution calculations (£1,200/month = £600 + £360 + £240)
- Each landlord's profile shows complete portfolio with ownership %
- Year-end tax reports calculate correctly per owner
Time saved per jointly-owned property: 12-18 minutes/month
- No more hunting for ownership splits in spreadsheets
- No more manual rent calculation
- No more wrong statements sent to joint owners
- No more embarrassing corrections
For 30 jointly-owned properties: 6-9 hours/month saved or 72-108 hours/year.
Feature 2: Complete Landlord Records
Every landlord now has a dedicated record containing:
Contact Information:
- Full name (properly formatted for individuals, couples, companies)
- Email + phone + mobile
- Full postal address
- Communication preferences
Property Portfolio (automatic):
- All properties owned with ownership %
- Current status of each property
- Total portfolio value
- Total rental income (weighted by ownership %)
Notes & History:
- Free-text notes for important details
- Communication history
- Important dates and reminders
Example record:
- "Sarah Johnson owns 5 properties: 3 wholly owned (100%), 2 jointly owned (50% each)"
- "Total rental income: £4,200/month"
- "Notes: Prefers text for urgent issues, moving to Spain 2026, accountant handles tax queries"
Time saved: 2-4 hours/week or 100-200 hours/year
- No more hunting through emails for contact details
- No more searching filing cabinets for addresses
- No more asking colleagues "do you remember...?"
- Instant access to complete landlord information
Feature 3: Intelligent CSV Import
Agencies can now import their entire landlord database from spreadsheets in minutes:
How it works:
- Export landlord data from old system (CSV or Google Sheets link)
- Upload to LetAdmin
- System validates everything, shows preview
- Click "Import"
- Done
What it handles:
- Messy name formats ("Mr John Smith" vs "Jane Doe" vs "Smith Properties Ltd")
- Mixed individual/company records
- Duplicate detection (prevents creating duplicate records)
- Validation errors (missing required fields, invalid emails)
- Google Sheets URL direct import (no download/upload cycle)
Result:
- 347 landlords imported in 35 minutes (vs 17+ hours manual entry)
- Zero data entry errors (validation catches everything)
- Zero duplicates (automatic detection)
- Saves £2,500 (typical professional migration service cost)
Real-World Time Savings
Let's be specific about what this saves a typical 150-property agency:
Monthly Time Savings:
Joint ownership management: 6-9 hours/month
- 30 jointly-owned properties × 12-18 min/month
- Automatic calculations, no spreadsheet lookups, accurate statements
Landlord information access: 8-16 hours/month
- 2-4 hours/week × 4 weeks
- Instant contact details, no hunting through files/emails
Total monthly savings: 14-25 hours
One-Time Migration Savings:
CSV import: 16-50 hours saved
- Vs manual data entry for 300-500 landlords
- Plus £2,500 saved (vs professional migration service)
Annual Time Savings:
168-300 hours per year (ongoing landlord management efficiency)
At £25/hour agency staff cost: £4,200-£7,500 saved annually
What Makes This Different
Most letting agent software treats landlords as an afterthought:
- Basic name field on property record
- One landlord per property
- Minimal contact information
- No portfolio view
- Manual data entry only
LetAdmin treats landlords properly:
- Dedicated landlord records with complete information
- Joint ownership with percentage tracking
- Automatic portfolio calculation
- CSV import for instant migration
- Built-in duplicate detection and validation
This isn't a feature we bolted on. This is core architecture done right.
The Lesson: Stop Avoiding Complicated Features
I avoided landlord management for seven weeks because:
- Joint ownership seemed tricky
- CSV import seemed boring
- I thought properties were "more important"
What I learned:
- Avoiding complexity doesn't make it go away
- Every day delayed = agencies managing landlords in spreadsheets
- The "boring" features often save the most time
- Getting fundamentals right unlocks everything else
Landlord management isn't flashy. It won't win innovation awards. But for letting agencies, it's absolutely essential.
And now it works properly.
What This Enables Next
With landlord management foundation in place, we can now build:
Landlord portal: Direct access for landlords to view their portfolio, statements, documents
Automatic statements: Rent statements, year-end tax reports, maintenance summaries (all calculated correctly for joint ownership)
Communication templates: Pre-written emails/texts with auto-population from landlord records
Landlord performance scoring: Track payment speed, response times, property maintenance quality
Relationship management: Last contact tracking, check-in reminders, at-risk identification
The foundation is solid. Now we build on it.
For Agencies Still Using Spreadsheets
If you're currently managing landlords with:
- Spreadsheets for ownership percentages
- Email history for contact details
- Paper files for important information
- Manual calculations for rent distribution
- "Ask Sarah, she knows that landlord"
You're wasting 14-25 hours per month on manual landlord admin that should be automated.
LetAdmin solves all of it:
- Complete landlord records (contact details, portfolio, notes)
- Joint ownership tracking (automatic percentage calculations)
- CSV import (migrate your entire database in minutes)
- Searchable, accurate, always accessible
The time savings pay for the software in the first month.
We'd Love to Hear from You
How do you currently manage landlord information? (Spreadsheets? Old software? Paper files? Email history? Staff memories?)
How many of your properties have joint ownership? (Most agencies: 20-35%)
How much time do you spend each month on:
- Hunting for landlord contact details?
- Calculating rent splits for joint owners?
- Creating separate statements for multiple owners?
- Fixing errors in landlord information?
Have you avoided switching letting agent software because of data migration concerns? (The #1 reason agencies delay switching.)
Get in touch: paul@letadmin.com
LetAdmin is built by letting agents for letting agents. Landlord management is being used at Phillip James (370+ properties, 95+ landlord relationships including complex joint ownership structures) and refined based on real-world agency needs. If you're tired of spreadsheets and manual landlord admin, we'd love to show you how it works.