Moving from a spreadsheet to Rentap in 30 minutes

Moving from a rent spreadsheet to Rentap takes about 30 minutes for one house: create your account, choose how many rooms you want to cover, add the house and its rooms, add each tenant with their rent, then record a payment and an expense and set your reminders. You don't need to copy your history across. You start from today's balances and carry on.

Here is each step, in the order the app asks for them. Keep your spreadsheet open; you'll copy a few numbers from it.

Before you start (2 minutes)

From your spreadsheet, note down for each room:

• the tenant's name, and an email address or phone number;
• the rent, and whether it's paid weekly or monthly;
• the date the tenancy started;
• when the next rent is due; and
• what the tenant owes today, or how much they're in credit.

That's all you need. Old payments stay in your spreadsheet.

Step 1: Create your account (3 minutes)

Go to the sign-up page and enter your name, email address and a password. Then enter your business name; you can use your own name, for example "Elm Road Lettings" or "J Smith". Select Create account.

We'll send you an email with a link to confirm your address. Open it when it arrives. The help centre covers creating your account, including how to turn on two-step verification.

Step 2: Choose how many rooms (2 minutes)

Rentap then asks how many rooms you want it to cover. Enter the number of rooms you actually let. This is the number you pay for after the free months, whether the rooms are let or empty, so don't round up.

The page shows what you'll pay, and confirms that your trial doesn't need a card. Tick to confirm you understand and continue. You can change the number later on the Subscription page, and Rentap won't let you add more rooms than the number you chose without showing you how to raise it first.

Step 3: Add the house and its rooms (5 minutes)

Your dashboard shows a short Get set up list. The first step is Add your house.

1. Find the address. Enter the postcode and select Find, then pick or type the street address and give the house a name, such as "12 Elm Road". Rentap is built for England, so it tells you if a postcode is elsewhere.
2. Rooms. Enter the number of rooms, choose what most of them are (single, double, en-suite, studio or mixed) and how to name them: Room 1, Room 2, or Room A, Room B.
3. Check and add. Check the summary and select Add property. Nothing is sent to tenants.

Your house and its rooms are created straight away. If you'd like to, open a room and add its size in square metres, a short description and photos. Room sizes are useful later if you split a bill by room size. There's more detail in add your first house.

Step 4: Add your tenants and their rent (10 minutes)

This is where most of your 30 minutes goes, and where your spreadsheet earns its keep one last time. From the Rooms page, choose Add a tenant next to a room. For each one:

1. Enter the start date, the rent and whether it's paid weekly or monthly. Rent is due in advance on the same day each period, counting from the start date.
2. Enter the tenant's full name, and their email and phone if you have them. If two people share a room, use Add another tenant.
3. Choose how they usually pay, if you like.
4. Because the tenancy is already running, tick This tenancy started before I used Rentap. Enter when the next rent is due and the balance today, choosing whether they owe it or are in credit. Leave it empty if they're up to date.
5. Select Create tenancy.

Repeat for each room. For a house of eight rooms, this takes most people about ten minutes.

The set-up list then asks you to record the tenancy agreement. Open the tenancy and use Add document under "Documents given to the tenant" to note when you gave it, and upload a copy if you like.

Step 5: Record your first rent payment (3 minutes)

Open Rent in the menu. It shows what was due this month, what came in and who still owes. Choose Record received, type each amount from your bank statement next to the right tenant, choose the date paid and how they paid, and confirm.

You can also add a single payment from a tenancy's page with Add a payment, including the reference from the bank statement. Each tenancy has a Balance & statement showing how its balance adds up.

Step 6: Add an expense (2 minutes)

Open Expenses and choose Add an expense. Enter what it was for, the amount and the date, then choose the house (and the room, if it belongs to one) or Business for costs that aren't tied to a house. Add who you paid, choose a category and attach a photo or PDF of the receipt.

When the year ends, you can download your expenses as a CSV file for your accountant.

Step 7: Set your reminders (3 minutes)

Two kinds of reminder are worth switching on now.

Dates on your certificates. Open Compliance and choose your house. Rentap suggests common checks for a house let room by room; add the ones that apply. For each one, record when it was last done, using the date on your own certificate, and upload the certificate. The next due date is filled in from the interval, which you can change to match your certificate. Rentap reminds you before each due date (by default 60, 30 and 7 days before) and flags anything overdue.

Overdue rent. On the house's page, tick Send automatic reminders when payments are overdue. Tenants with an email address are then reminded when a payment is past its due date. You choose this house by house.

You can choose how you receive your own reminders in your notification settings.

What you have after 30 minutes

• Every room, tenant and rent in one place.
• Today's balance for every tenant, and the Overdue list working from now on.
• Your first payment and expense recorded, with the receipt.
• Reminders for your certificate dates and for overdue rent.

From here, the monthly checklist for landlords who let rooms shows how to keep it up to date in about an hour a month, and how to track rent in a house let room by room covers the rent routine.

What you can do later

There's no need to do these on day one:

• Invite tenants from the People page, so they can see their rent and balance and report problems with photos. See invite tenants to Rentap.
• Split a shared bill between the rooms from the house's page.
• Add inventories for each room, with photos.
• Look at analytics once a month or two of payments are in.

What it costs

1 month free, no card needed. Add a card during your trial and get 1 more month free. Then £2 a room a month. You pay for the number of rooms you choose. See the pricing page, or read our honest comparison of Rentap and a spreadsheet first.