Property management, in plain English.
89 terms you’ll meet in leasing, pricing, accounting and operations, with how each is worked out and why it matters.
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- 10DLC Compliance
- The US registration system for businesses that send text messages from ordinary 10-digit phone numbers.
- 1099 reporting Accounting
- Filing IRS Form 1099 information returns for payments made to vendors and, in many cases, rent paid to property owners.
A
- Accounts payable Accounting
- Money a property owes to vendors and suppliers for bills received but not yet paid.
- Accrual basis accounting Accounting
- An accounting method that records income when it is earned and expenses when they are incurred, regardless of when cash moves.
- Adverse action notice Compliance
- A notice given to an applicant who is denied, or approved on worse terms, based partly on a consumer report.
- AI audit log AI & automation
- A permanent record of what an AI system said and did on a company's behalf, kept for review and compliance.
- AI leasing agent AI & automation
- Software that answers prospect calls, texts and emails, qualifies leads and schedules tours without a person on the other end.
B
- Bad debt Accounting
- Money owed by current or former residents that the manager no longer expects to collect and writes off.
- Bank reconciliation Accounting
- Matching every transaction in the bank statement to the accounting records so the two balances agree.
- Budget variance Accounting
- The difference between a property's actual income or expenses and the amounts budgeted for the same period.
C
- Capital expenditure (capex) Operations
- Spending on major replacements or improvements that extend a property's life, as opposed to routine repairs.
- Cash basis accounting Accounting
- An accounting method that records income when money is received and expenses when they are paid.
- Certificate of insurance (COI) Operations
- A document from a vendor's insurer proving the vendor carries the liability and workers' compensation coverage the manager requires.
- Chart of accounts Accounting
- The organized list of every account used to categorize a company's income, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity.
- Common area maintenance (CAM) Accounting
- Charges that commercial tenants pay for their share of the cost of operating shared areas of a property.
- Concession Revenue
- A discount or incentive offered to win a lease, such as free weeks of rent, a reduced deposit or a waived fee.
D
- Days to lease Leasing
- The number of days between a unit becoming available for rent and a new lease being signed for it.
- Days vacant Leasing
- The number of days a unit has been empty since the last resident moved out.
- Delinquency Accounting
- Rent and other charges that are past due and unpaid by residents.
E
- Economic occupancy Revenue
- The share of potential rent a property actually collects, after vacancy, concessions, bad debt and other losses.
- Effective rent Revenue
- The average monthly rent a resident actually pays over the lease after concessions are subtracted.
- Emergency maintenance Operations
- A repair that threatens safety, health or serious property damage and needs a response right away, including after hours.
- Eviction Compliance
- The court process a landlord uses to regain possession of a unit from a resident who has not left voluntarily.
- Exposure Revenue
- The share of units that are, or soon will be, available to rent and not yet leased.
F
- Fair housing Compliance
- Federal, state and local laws that prohibit housing discrimination against people based on protected characteristics.
G
- Gain to lease Revenue
- The amount by which in-place rents exceed current market rents across a property.
- General ledger Accounting
- The master record of every financial transaction, organized by account, from which all financial statements are produced.
- Gross potential rent (GPR) Revenue
- The total rent a property would earn in a period if every unit were leased at market rent and every dollar were collected.
- Guarantor Leasing
- A person or company that agrees to pay a resident's rent and obligations if the resident does not.
- Guest card Leasing
- The record of a prospective resident, capturing contact details, preferences, lead source and every interaction.
H
- Holdover Leasing
- A resident who stays in the unit after the lease has expired without signing a renewal or new agreement.
- Human handoff AI & automation
- The point at which an automated conversation is passed to a staff member, with the context carried over.
I
- Internet listing service (ILS) Leasing
- A rental listing website or app where prospects search for available homes and apartments.
J
- Journal entry Accounting
- A manual accounting record that moves amounts between accounts, with equal debits and credits.
L
- Late fee Accounting
- A charge added to a resident's account when rent is not paid by the due date plus any grace period.
- Lead source Leasing
- Where a prospect first heard about or contacted a property, such as a listing site, the website, signage or a referral.
- Lead-to-lease conversion rate Leasing
- The percentage of prospect leads that end up signing a lease.
- Lease expiration management Revenue
- Spreading lease end dates across the year so too many units do not come up for renewal or turnover at once.
- Lease violation Residents & owners
- A resident's breach of a lease term other than nonpayment, such as unauthorized occupants, pets, noise or property damage.
- Lease-up Leasing
- The period when a newly built or fully renovated property is filled from empty toward stabilized occupancy.
- Listing syndication Leasing
- Automatically publishing available units, prices and photos from property management software to many listing sites at once.
- Loss to lease Revenue
- The gap between market rent and the rent residents are actually paying under their current leases.
M
- Make-ready Operations
- The work needed to bring a vacant unit to rent-ready condition for the next resident.
- Management agreement Residents & owners
- The contract between a property owner and a management company setting out duties, fees, authority and reporting.
- Management fee Accounting
- What an owner pays a property manager to run a property, often a percentage of collected rent or a flat monthly amount.
- Market rent Revenue
- The rent a unit would command if leased today to a new resident, based on current demand and comparable properties.
- Month-to-month lease Leasing
- A rental agreement that renews automatically each month until either party gives the required notice to end it.
- Move-in and move-out inspection Operations
- A documented walk-through of a unit's condition, with photos, at the start and end of a tenancy.
- Move-out accounting Accounting
- Closing out a departing resident's account: final charges, credits, deposit application and any refund or balance due.
N
- Net operating income (NOI) Accounting
- A property's income minus its operating expenses, before debt payments, capital expenditures and income taxes.
- Notice to vacate Leasing
- Written notice from a resident, or a landlord, that the tenancy will end and the unit will be vacated on a given date.
O
- Operating reserve Residents & owners
- Money an owner keeps on hand with the manager so bills and repairs can be paid even when rent collections run short.
- Owner distribution Accounting
- The payment of a property's available cash to its owner after expenses, fees and reserves, also called an owner draw.
- Owner portal Residents & owners
- A secure website or app where property owners see statements, distributions, documents and property activity.
- Owner statement Residents & owners
- The periodic report sent to a property owner showing income, expenses, fees, reserves and the distribution for the period.
P
- Period close Accounting
- The month-end process of finishing, reviewing and locking the books so reported numbers cannot change afterward.
- Physical occupancy Revenue
- The percentage of units that currently have a resident living in them.
- Portfolio Operations
- The full set of properties a management company or owner manages, often grouped by region, owner or property type.
- Preventive maintenance Operations
- Scheduled upkeep performed before something breaks, such as HVAC filter changes, gutter cleaning and smoke detector tests.
Q
- Quiet hours Compliance
- The times of day when automated calls and marketing texts should not be sent, based on the recipient's local time.
R
- Reasonable accommodation Compliance
- A change to a rule, policy or service that a person with a disability needs for equal use of their home.
- Renewal rate Leasing
- The percentage of residents with expiring leases who sign a new lease and stay.
- Rent comparables (comps) Revenue
- Similar nearby properties or units whose rents and concessions are used as a benchmark for setting your own prices.
- Rent roll Accounting
- A unit-by-unit list of a property's residents, lease terms, rents, deposits and balances as of a given date.
- Renters insurance Residents & owners
- An insurance policy held by a resident that covers their belongings and their liability for damage or injury.
- Resident ledger Accounting
- The running record of every charge, payment and credit on a resident's account, with the resulting balance.
- Resident portal Residents & owners
- A secure website or app where residents pay rent, submit maintenance requests, sign documents and message management.
- Returned payment (NSF) Accounting
- A rent payment that bounces because of insufficient funds, a closed account or a reversal, and is taken back off the ledger.
- Revenue management Revenue
- Setting and adjusting rents unit by unit, often with software, to balance occupancy and income using demand and supply data.
S
- Scattered-site portfolio Operations
- A portfolio of single-family homes or small buildings spread across many addresses rather than one community.
- Security deposit Accounting
- Money a resident pays at move-in that the landlord holds to cover unpaid rent or damage beyond normal wear and tear.
- Security deposit disposition Compliance
- The itemized statement sent to a former resident explaining how their deposit was applied and what is refunded or owed.
- Self-guided tour Leasing
- A property showing that a verified prospect takes on their own, using a temporary access code instead of an agent.
- Service level agreement (SLA) Operations
- A committed response or completion time, such as responding to emergencies within one hour or finishing routine repairs in three days.
- Source-of-income protection Compliance
- Laws that prohibit refusing or treating renters differently because of lawful income sources such as housing vouchers.
- Speed to lead Leasing
- How quickly a property responds to a new prospect inquiry, measured from first contact to first reply.
T
- TCPA consent Compliance
- Permission required under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act before sending certain automated calls or text messages to a person.
- Tenant screening Leasing
- Reviewing a rental applicant's credit, rental history, income and background against written approval criteria.
- Trade-out Revenue
- The change in rent between a unit's previous lease and the next lease signed for it.
- Triple net lease (NNN) Accounting
- A commercial lease in which the tenant pays base rent plus its share of property taxes, insurance and maintenance.
- Trust accounting Accounting
- Holding and accounting for other people's money, such as owner funds and security deposits, in separate accounts under strict rules.
U
- Unclaimed property Compliance
- Money owed to someone who cannot be located, such as an uncashed deposit refund, that must eventually be reported to the state.
- Unit mix Operations
- The breakdown of a property's units by type, such as studios, one-, two- and three-bedrooms, with counts and sizes.
- Unit turn Operations
- The full process of preparing a unit between one resident moving out and the next moving in.
V
- Vacancy loss Revenue
- Rent a property did not earn because units sat empty during the period.
- Vendor management Operations
- Selecting, onboarding, dispatching, paying and evaluating the contractors and suppliers who work on a portfolio.
W
- Waitlist Leasing
- An ordered list of prospects waiting for a unit type or property that has no current availability.
- Work order Operations
- A record of a maintenance task, from the resident's request through assignment, completion, cost and follow-up.
- Workflow automation AI & automation
- Rules that start tasks, messages or approvals automatically when something happens, such as a lease signing or a missed payment.