Ruma Connect

The manual

How every part of Ruma Connect works.

Each part is a module a property switches on for itself, and leaves off if it has no use for it. Here is every one — how to set it up, and how it is used day to day — with the 16 still being built at the end, marked as such.

Read it in the words ofAn associationA rentalLot, owner, dues, board. Each property chooses its own.

Getting started

A property is one legal entity — an association, or a rental business — with its own residents, bank account and settings. One person can belong to several and signs in once.

  1. We create the property with you.Its name, what kind it is, its time zone, and the words it uses. Book a demo and a person sets it up alongside you.
  2. Settings → Wording & about.The name residents see, the words (Lot, Dues), the reply-to email for the property's emails, and its colour.
  3. Settings → Lots & buildings.Add the buildings, then the lots. A range like 101-150 adds fifty at once.
  4. Settings → Money & billing.The dues, the day they are due, the late fee and the reminder day.
  5. Settings → Features: switch on what you will use, and leave the rest off.Every module below says whether it is always on or switched on here. Nothing is deleted by switching something off.
  6. People & access → Invite someone.Start with the people who run the property, then each owner with their lot. The invitation email is their way in: one tap, then a password if they want one.
  7. Follow Finish setting up on the Overview.It ticks itself off as you go, and disappears when there is nothing left to do.

Who can do what

RoleWho it is forWhat they can do
AdministratorWhoever is answerable for the propertyEverything, including every Settings tab, inviting people and connecting online payments
ManagerWhoever runs it day to dayPayments, notices, letters, repairs, leases, violations; switch features on and off
Board memberElected volunteersSees everything the office sees; posts news, decides requests; does not change the money
ResidentOwners and anybody living with themTheir own home and account: pay, report, ask, vote, book, read what is shared

Each property chooses how strict signing in is: a code from an authenticator app for everybody, for anybody who can touch money, or for nobody. Whatever a screen hides, the database refuses too — one resident never sees another's account.

Money

What is owed, what has been paid, and the books behind it.

Dues and payments

Always onAssociations · Rentals

The monthly dues, posted by themselves on the day you choose, with reminders, late fees and statements by email. Every charge, payment and correction is kept for good: a mistake is put right with a correction, never by editing history.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Money & billing.The usual monthly amount, the day it is due, the day after which it counts as late, the late fee (a fixed amount or a percentage with a ceiling), and an optional reminder day.
  2. Say how people can pay.Settings → Wording & about → Other ways to pay: the cheque address, Zelle details. Owners see it beside the online payment and on every statement.
  3. Record who each lot is billed to.An established property records each owner once; from then on the dues follow them, not whoever happens to live there.

Using it: Dues & payments

Everything about money owed: who owes what, recording a payment, and sending owners their statement.

  1. Record a payment when a cheque arrives.Pick the household, the date it arrived, and how it came.
  2. Send statements or reminders with one button.The screen says how many households it will reach, who has no email address, and when it last went out.
  3. Post dues and apply late fees.Both happen by themselves on the days you set in Settings. The buttons do the same thing now, and pressing one twice never charges anybody twice.
  4. Open a household's name to see everything about their account.Every charge and payment, a running balance, their payment plan if they have one — and where to change the name it is billed to or the address statements go to.
  5. Record a change of who is billed when a lot changes hands.Whoever was billed stops the day before, the new household starts that day, and the people who left are moved out. Their account and its history stay.

Worth knowing. A lot with nobody billed shows nothing owed. That is not the same as paid — check Settings if a house looks too quiet.

Residents do not see this screen.

Using it: Pay dues

What you owe, what you have paid, and how to pay it.

  1. Your balance is at the top, with everything that made it up below.
  2. Pay online, or see the other ways this property accepts money.

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Paying online

Always onAssociations · Rentals

Owners pay by bank transfer or card. Each property connects its own Stripe account, so the money goes straight to its own bank — it never passes through ours.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Money & billing → Taking payments online → Connect a Stripe account.Fill in Stripe's own form with the property's legal name, tax number and bank account. The page says when it is ready to take payments.
  2. Choose who pays for paying.Tick Add the fee to whoever pays online and the payer sees the fee before they confirm; untick it and the property absorbs it. Card surcharges have rules of their own — check with Stripe before you add one.

Using it

  1. A owner opens Pay dues, chooses bank transfer or card, and sees the total before paying.
  2. A card payment reaches the balance within a minute; a bank transfer when it clears, three to five working days later.Until then it shows as on its way, so nobody pays twice. A transfer that fails is emailed to the payer.
  3. A receipt is emailed, and the payment is on the ledger by itself — nobody types it in.
  4. Refunds are made in the property's Stripe dashboard; the app puts the amount back on the balance.

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Special assessments

Always onAssociations

A one-off cost — a roof, a fence — split across the lots to the cent and charged in instalments as they fall due.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Rules & policies → Policies → When a share is charged.As each instalment falls due (the default), or the whole share on the first day, as some governing documents require.

Using it

  1. Dues & payments → Less often → Special assessments → Raise a special assessment.What it is for, the total, over how many months, the first payment, and who shares it. It is saved as a draft that charges nobody.
  2. Check the draft: every lot's share, adding up to the total exactly.
  3. Press Schedule it. Each instalment is charged on its day, and appears under Still to come for whoever pays.
  4. If a lot is sold part-way through, the instalments still to come move to the new owner.

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Payment plans

Always onAssociations · Rentals

An agreed amount a month for a household that has fallen behind. While they keep to it, late fees can be held.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Rules & policies → Policies → Payment plans.Allow them; hold late fees while one is kept to; whether a missed month ends it; and the longest a plan may run.

Using it

  1. Open the account from Dues & payments → Agree a payment plan.The extra each month, the first payment, and what was agreed. The amount owed is taken from the ledger, not typed.
  2. Each month, on the late-fee day, the plan is judged against the real balance.Up to date: no late fee. Behind: the fee is charged, and the plan is marked missed if that is the rule.
  3. A missed plan can be put back to running, or called off, from the account's page.

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Reports

Always onAssociations · Rentals

Seven reports: who owes what and for how long, one owner's statement, money received, income and expenses, money spent, the full ledger, and the bank balances. Each prints cleanly and downloads as a spreadsheet.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Rules & policies → Policies → The financial year.The month the year begins, so “this financial year” means your year.

Using it

The figures somebody asks you for: who owes what and for how long, a statement for one household, the register, budget against actual.

  1. Pick a report, set the dates, print it or send it to a spreadsheet.

Residents do not see this screen.

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Budget and expenses

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

The year's budget by heading, every expense with its receipt, and the bank balances — with a bar for each heading showing whether spending is ahead of the year.

Set it up

  1. Budget & expenses → Add a heading, with its amount for the year, for each line of the budget.
  2. To let owners see it, switch on The budget, shown to everybody in Settings → Features.On by default at an association. They see the headings and what was spent, never receipts or bank balances.

Using it

What was planned for the year, and what has actually been spent.

  1. Record an expenseWhat it was for, who to, how much, and a photograph of the receipt.
  2. Set a budget heading for the year and watch the bar fill up.
  3. Enter the bank balance when the statement arrives.

Worth knowing. Recording an expense here is not the same as putting it in the books. It reaches the books when the nightly job runs, or when you press Bring the books up to date on Accounting.

Residents do not see this screen.

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Accounting

Switch on in SettingsPaid add-onAssociations · Rentals

A full set of books inside the app — chart of accounts, a journal nothing can edit, bills and approvals, bank reconciliation, profit and loss, balance sheet and 1099s — for a property that does not keep its books elsewhere.

Set it up

  1. Switch it on in Settings → Features → What this property uses → Accounting.An administrator or a manager can switch it. Switching it off later deletes nothing; switching it back on brings everything back.
  2. Accounting → The books → Set up a chart of accounts.A small standard chart to start from; add your own accounts and funds.
  3. Bring the books up to date once; after that the nightly job carries everything in by itself.

Using it

A full set of books: a chart of accounts, a journal nothing can edit, and the statements an accountant asks for.

  1. The booksThe chart of accounts, bringing everything up to date, and closing a month.
  2. StatementsMoney in and out, what it owns and owes, where the money went, and the trial balance. Printable, and downloadable as a spreadsheet.
  3. Account detailOne account, every line, a running balance. The answer to “why is that figure what it is?”
  4. BudgetThe plan against what actually happened, read from the journal.
  5. BillsA contractor's invoice, approved by somebody before it is paid.
  6. BankAgreeing the bank statement. The button stays off until the difference is nothing.
  7. Every monthAn entry the books post to themselves — a management fee, depreciation.
  8. ContractorsWhat each was paid, and who needs a 1099 in January.
  9. What it ownsThings that wear out, written down a month at a time.

Worth knowing. Closing a month is one-way. Nothing can be posted into it afterwards, which is what makes a figure you have given the board stay that figure. A correction goes into an open month instead.

Residents do not see this screen.

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Resale and lender packets

Switch on in SettingsAssociations

The statement a title company or lender asks for when a lot sells: frozen on the day it is issued, shared by a link that expires.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Rules & policies → Policies.The packet fee, and how long a packet stays good for.

Using it

What a closing agent asks for when a lot sells.

  1. Raise a packet for the home; the figures are frozen the moment it is issued.
  2. Send the link. It expires, and you can revoke it.

Residents do not see this screen.

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A builder's account

Switch on in SettingsAssociations

For an association still being built out: one account covers every unsold lot, and is billed for each of them like any owner.

Set it up

  1. Add the unsold lots with the status Unsold.They are billed to the builder's account by themselves.
  2. Give the builder's account an email address.Dues & payments → the builder's account → Details. Its statements and warranty items go there.

Using it

  1. When a lot sells, record it in Dues & payments → More → Record a change of owner.From the closing day the new owner is billed, and the capital contribution can be charged in the same step.
  2. A sale recorded by mistake is undone from the home's own page.The correcting lines are added; nothing is deleted.
  3. A repair under warranty is forwarded to the builder from the maintenance request.

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History of changes

Always onAssociations · Rentals

Who changed what, newest first: every correction to an account, access given and taken away, homes, leases, notices and settings — in plain words, and never editable.

Using it

  1. Settings → History. Filter by Money, People & access, Homes & leases, Rules, Community or Settings.

Using it: Settings

How the property is set up, and who can get in.

  1. The name, the wording, and the theme colour.
  2. Buildings and lots; ranges like 101-150 add fifty at once.
  3. Billing rules: the day charges go out, the grace period, the late fee.The month is drawn under the boxes as you type: the due day, the days of grace, the reminder and the day a fee would land.
  4. Rules & policies: how much notice a visit to a let home needs when the lease does not say.
  5. History: who changed what, newest first.Corrections, access given and taken away, homes, leases, notices and settings. Nothing in it can be edited.
  6. Who can get in is not here: it is under People & access.Invite somebody, change what somebody may do beside their name — a resident who joins the board, say — and send an invitation again if it never arrived.
  7. What this property uses — every part of the app you can switch on or off.
  8. What else you keep about a home — fields nobody else thought of.

Residents do not see this screen.

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Talking to people

News, letters, chat, meetings and votes — and who hears what.

Announcements and calendar

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

Telling everybody something — pinned to the top and emailed if you choose — and a shared calendar people can add to their own phones.

Set it up

  1. Add the dates that come round again — bin day, the board meeting — once, as Regular dates.Billing dates, open votes and called meetings appear on the calendar by themselves.

Using it

Telling everybody something, and the dates they should know about.

  1. Write an announcement and choose whether it is emailed.
  2. Put dates on the calendar; billing dates appear by themselves.
  3. Tick a date as public to show it on the property's public page.
  4. Tick Ask who is coming on a date to collect answers.Everybody can say yes, maybe or no and how many guests they are bringing. You see who answered under the date; they see the totals.
What residents see

Announcements from the office, and the dates worth knowing.

  1. The latest news is at the top; anything important is pinned there.
  2. Answer Are you coming? under a date that asks.Yes, maybe or no, and how many guests. Change it or take it back any time; Home shows your answer beside the date.
  3. Add the calendar to your own calendar app.Then the dates appear on your phone by themselves, and stay up to date.

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Letters

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

The official post to one lot, with a record of what was sent, to whom, and whether it was opened. Never edited, never deleted.

Set it up

  1. Optional: change the categories at the foot of the Letters screen.General, Welcome, Rules, Money, Meeting and Works to start with.

Using it

The official post from the board to one home: a welcome, a rule reminder, a decision in writing.

  1. Choose the lot, a category and a subject, write it, and send.It can also be emailed to everybody at that home, and a PDF from Documents can go with it.
  2. It is addressed to the home, not the person.Everybody living there can read it, and it stays with the home when the people change — which is when "what were the people before told" gets asked.
  3. Never edited and never deleted.A letter is a record of what was said. A mistake is put right with another letter. The office can see who opened it and when.
  4. Each reader files their own away; the categories are the property's own, changed at the foot of the screen.

Worth knowing. A letter is for one home. Something for everybody is an announcement; a conversation is Chat, where the private thread with the office lives.

What residents see

The official letters the office has sent your home, kept in one place.

  1. Open a letter to read it. Everybody living in your home can read it too.
  2. File one away once you have dealt with it, so the new ones stand out.
  3. A question about a letter goes to the office in Chat.

Letters are never changed or deleted, so what you were told stays readable. The office can see when a letter has been opened.

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Chat

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

Group chats for everybody, a private channel for the board, and one private conversation per household with the office — which the office can start too.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Chat channels → Add a channel.A short name, and whether everybody or only the people who run the property can see it. A channel is archived, never deleted.
  2. Optional: show a phone number residents can text or call.Settings → Wording & about: the number, whose it is, and the box to show it. Residents get a Text and a Call button.

Using it

Somewhere to talk, rather than another email nobody replies to.

  1. Pick a channel and write. Everybody in it sees it straight away.
  2. A channel can be for everybody, or for the board only.A private channel is invisible to anybody else — the database hides it, not the screen. Channels are added in Settings.
  3. "You and the board" is a private word with the office.One running conversation per household, which everybody in the board can read and answer, so a question does not wait because one person is on holiday. Both sides are emailed. Residents cannot message each other here, deliberately — the directory is where somebody shares a telephone number if they want to.

Worth knowing. A message is not a record. Anything that has to be kept — a decision, a notice, a rule — belongs in Documents, in the minutes, or in a Letter.

What residents see

A private conversation with the office, and any group chats for everybody who lives here.

  1. "You and the board" is your private conversation with the office.Only they can read it, and they are emailed when you write. Everybody who can answer sees it, so a question does not wait for one person.
  2. Group chats, if there are any, are for everybody here.Anybody in a group chat can read what you write in it.

A message is not a formal record. A repair belongs in Maintenance, so it is tracked until it is fixed.

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Votes and polls

Switch on in SettingsAssociations

One vote per lot: a poll to gauge opinion or a binding vote, proxies for the lots that need them, turnout as it happens, and a reminder for whoever has not voted.

Set it up

  1. Decide whether people who rent may vote.Settings → Rules & policies → Policies → People who rent a home. Off by default, as most governing documents say.

Using it

A decision the whole property makes: a budget, who serves on the board, a rule change.

  1. Open the vote with the choices and a closing date.
  2. Everybody votes once; the count is only shown when it closes.
What residents see

A decision the whole property makes: a budget, who serves on the board, a rule change.

  1. Open a vote, make your choice, and send it.
  2. You can change it until voting closes. The result is shown when it does.

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Board meetings

Switch on in SettingsAssociations

Calling a meeting, the agenda, the notice emailed to everybody, who came, quorum counted in homes, the resolutions, and minutes that become the record once approved.

Set it up

  1. Switch it on in Settings → Features → What this property uses → Board meetings.An administrator or a manager can switch it. Switching it off later deletes nothing; switching it back on brings everything back.
  2. Set the notice period and quorum for each kind of meeting.At the foot of the meetings screen. Take them from your bylaws: the app warns when notice went out late.

Using it

The notice, the agenda, who came, and what was decided.

  1. Set the date and the agenda; the app checks the notice period your rules require.
  2. Mark who attended; quorum is counted in homes.
  3. Approve the minutes. Once approved they become the record and cannot be rewritten.

Residents do not see this screen.

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Notifications

Always onAssociations · Rentals

Each person chooses which notices reach them by email and which on their phone. Formal notices — a statement, a letter, a fine — are always emailed.

Using it

  1. On a phone: add the site to the home screen, then Notifications → Notify this device.On an iPhone, Share → Add to Home Screen first; Apple allows notifications only then.

Using it: Notifications

Your own choices: which notices reach you by email, which buzz on your phone, and which devices are listening.

  1. Switch any notice on or off, one at a time.
  2. Ask a phone or a laptop to be notified.Each device is asked separately. On an iPhone, add the app to the home screen first — Apple allows notifications only to a site that has been added.
  3. Stop notifying a device you no longer have.

Worth knowing. A few are formal notices — a fine, a decision, your statement — and those are always emailed, because the property has to be able to show it sent them. The phone alert is still yours to switch off.

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Are you coming?

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

Ask who is coming to a date on the calendar — the annual meeting, a clean-up day, a pool opening. People answer yes, maybe or no with how many guests; the office sees who, everybody else sees the totals.

Set it up

  1. News & events → Calendar → add or change a date → tick Ask who is coming.

Using it

  1. Residents answer under the date, or from the pill beside it on Home.A repeating date is answered one occurrence at a time. The board sees the list of names under the date.

Using it: News & events

Telling everybody something, and the dates they should know about.

  1. Write an announcement and choose whether it is emailed.
  2. Put dates on the calendar; billing dates appear by themselves.
  3. Tick a date as public to show it on the property's public page.
  4. Tick Ask who is coming on a date to collect answers.Everybody can say yes, maybe or no and how many guests they are bringing. You see who answered under the date; they see the totals.
What residents see

Announcements from the office, and the dates worth knowing.

  1. The latest news is at the top; anything important is pinned there.
  2. Answer Are you coming? under a date that asks.Yes, maybe or no, and how many guests. Change it or take it back any time; Home shows your answer beside the date.
  3. Add the calendar to your own calendar app.Then the dates appear on your phone by themselves, and stay up to date.

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My lot

Always onAssociations · Rentals

Each owner and resident gets a page about their own lot: who lives there, what is owed and when, repairs and approvals, vehicles and pets, the paperwork, and its history — and, before they move in, a welcome with first steps.

Using it

  1. Residents open My home from their menu; the office opens any lot from the list.

Using it: One lot

Everything about one lot on one page: who lives there, its money, its requests and notices, and its history.

  1. Open it from the list of lots, or by clicking a house on the Overview.
  2. Change who lives there and the home's details under Manage this home.The page reads first; the controls are tucked below so the picture is not lost in forms.
What residents see: My home

Your own lot at the office on one page: who lives there, what is owed and when, repairs and approvals, vehicles and pets, and the paperwork.

  1. Open My home from the menu. With more than one lot, choose which.
  2. Check who is listed, and what is coming up for your home.Something wrong or missing? Use Ask about my home to message the office.

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A public page

Always onAssociations · Rentals

A page anybody can read without signing in — a buyer, a realtor, a lender — with the property's details, the documents you choose and the dates you mark public.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Wording & about → About this property → Publish a page anybody can read.Then mark documents Anybody, and calendar dates Show this on the property's public page. Nothing else is ever shown.

Using it

  1. Give out the property's own address: yourproperty.rumaconnect.com.Somebody who is not signed in sees the public page there; somebody signed in goes straight into the property.
  2. It updates by itself as you add documents and dates. There is nothing to edit on the page itself.

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Homes, rules and records

Who lives where, the documents they need, the rules they keep, and the things they hold.

Lots and people

Always onAssociations · Rentals

Every lot with its own page — who lives there, its money, its requests, its history — and everybody who can sign in, by invitation only.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Lots & buildings: add the buildings, then the lots.A range like 101-150 adds fifty at once. A name can be changed, a home moved between buildings, and one added by mistake removed while nothing is recorded on it.
  2. Type the street addresses in once, in Lots & directory → Edit addresses, or paste them from a spreadsheet.
  3. People & access → Invite someone: their email, what they can do, and their home.Administrator (everything), Manager (runs the place day to day), Board member (sees everything, changes little), or Resident. One sign-in works for every property a person belongs to.

Using it: Lots

Every lot at the property, and where it actually is.

  1. Type the street addresses straight into the list and save once.One save for the whole property, not one per lot.
  2. Or paste a column out of a spreadsheet.It is matched by the home's own number, never by the order of the lines, and anything that matches nothing is listed back to you rather than quietly dropped.
  3. Open a lot for everything else about it — who is there, its money, its history.Add somebody who lives there, put their details right, or record the day they moved out. They stay on the record with the date.

Worth knowing. An address is not decoration: a closing agent asks for it, a contractor needs it to find the place, and it is what somebody sees on their own home screen.

Residents do not see this screen.

Using it: People & access

Everyone who can sign in, and everything an administrator does about them.

  1. Invite someone by email; choose their role and their home.
  2. Change what somebody may do with the dropdown beside their name.
  3. Record that somebody moved out, under their home.Their name stays on the lot's history. Remove their login separately, only if they have no other home here.
  4. Help somebody who is locked out.Nobody can see or set another person's password. Send them a sign-in link instead — it lets them in for an hour and they set a new password on their account page. If they have lost their phone, clear their authenticator and they set up a new one next time.

Worth knowing. Changing somebody's role, removing their access, sending them a sign-in link and clearing their authenticator are all written to the audit log. Sending, re-sending or cancelling an invitation is not. Being able to send somebody a way into their account is not a small thing, and neither is taking a board member's role away.

Residents do not see this screen.

Using it: Who the board is

Who is on the board, what each person does, and how to reach them. Everybody at the property can read it; only an administrator can change it.

  1. Give somebody a title and the dates they hold it.
  2. End their time in it rather than deleting the person.Who served and when stays readable, which is what somebody asks for years later.
  3. A title is not a level of access."Treasurer" or "Property manager" is a title on this screen; who can sign in and what they can do is People & access.
What residents see: Your board

The people who look after the office, what each of them does, and how to reach them.

  1. Contact details are shown where the person has agreed to share them.
  2. A question about your home is quickest in Chat, as a message to the office.Everybody who can answer sees it, so it does not wait for one person.

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Directory

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

Who lives where. Each person decides whether their own phone and email are shown to neighbours. On by default for an association; a rental of scattered houses switches it on only if it wants tenants to see each other.

Using it

Every lot, and who lives there, on one screen.

  1. Find a name, a home or an address; tick the box to hide the empty homes.
  2. Anybody can keep their own details out of it, from their account page.
  3. Somebody who has moved out drops off it the day they leave.
  4. Open a lot for everything else about it — who is there, its money, its history.Edit addresses, at the top, is the list where every address is typed or pasted at once.
What residents see

Every lot, and the neighbours who have chosen to share their details.

  1. Find a name, a home or an address.
  2. Share your own details, or keep them out of it, from your account page.Nobody sees your telephone number or email here unless you choose to share it.

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Documents

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

The governing documents, rules, minutes and forms in folders, each visible to everybody, to the board only, or to anybody on the public page.

Set it up

  1. Make the folders you want — Governing documents, Financials, Meetings — and upload into them.
  2. At an association with rented homes, tick Tenants of rented homes see this on the rules they should read.Nothing else is shared with them, so the budget and minutes stay private.

Using it

The rules, the notices, the insurance certificate — whatever the board shares.

  1. Upload into a folder and choose who can see it.
  2. A folder can hold folders.Budget, then 2026 and 2027 inside it. Make next year's folder now with the box at the foot of the list, or type Budget/2027 when uploading. Renaming a folder takes everything inside it along; only an empty one can be removed.
  3. Three levels of who can see it.Everyone at the property; the board only; or anybody at all, which puts it on the public page for anybody who asks.
  4. Every document shows when it was added and by whom.
What residents see

What the office shares with everybody who lives here: the rules, notices and forms.

  1. Open a folder, then a document, to read it or save a copy.
  2. Search by name if you know what you are looking for.

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Rules and architectural requests

Switch on in SettingsAssociations

Violations with a notice ladder that cannot be skipped — courtesy, formal, then a fine once the time given has run out — and owners asking before they change something outside, answered within your deadline.

Set it up

  1. Settings → Rules & policies → Rules and architectural review.The usual fine, the days to put something right after a formal notice, and the days the board has to answer a request. Take all three from your governing documents.
  2. Decide whether people who rent may ask to change the outside of their home.Settings → Rules & policies → Policies → People who rent a home.

Using it: Violations

A rule that is not being kept: a notice, a chance to put it right, a fine if it is not, and an appeal if the owner disagrees.

  1. Raise it against the home, naming the rule and what you saw.
  2. Send the notice. The clock for putting it right starts then.
  3. Fine it if the date passes, and the fine goes onto their account.

Worth knowing. Only the board and the household concerned ever see a violation. Neighbours cannot, whatever they ask.

Residents do not see this screen.

Using it: Architectural requests

Somebody wants to change something outside: a fence, a colour, a shed.

  1. They send it with drawings and photographs.
  2. The board answers by the date the rules give them.
  3. Nothing approves itself by running out of time — the date is shown so it does not.
What residents see: Approvals

Ask the board before you change something outside: a fence, a colour, a shed.

  1. Say what you want to do, with drawings or photos.
  2. The board answers by the date its rules give it, and the answer is kept here.

Wait for the answer before you start — a change made first can be asked to come down.

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Booking shared places

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

The pool, the clubhouse, the guest suite: opening hours, how far ahead and how long people may book, how many at once, and whether somebody confirms each booking.

Set it up

  1. Switch it on in Settings → Features → What this property uses → Booking the shared places.An administrator or a manager can switch it. Switching it off later deletes nothing; switching it back on brings everything back.
  2. Settings → Wording & about → What this property offers → add the place.Then Let people book this: the hours, the slot length, how far ahead, the longest booking, how many per home, the days it is open, and whether a booking needs confirming.

Using it

The clubhouse, the pool, the guest suite: who has them and when.

  1. Pick a day and a free slot.
  2. The board confirms or refuses, and says why if it refuses.

Worth knowing. Two people cannot book the same place at the same time — the database refuses it, not just the screen.

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Fobs, vehicles and pets

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

Gate fobs and codes, vehicles, pets and keys: who holds what, when it runs out, and switching one off. A record, not the gate hardware.

Set it up

  1. Switch it on in Settings → Features → What this property uses → Fobs, vehicles and pets.An administrator or a manager can switch it. Switching it off later deletes nothing; switching it back on brings everything back.
  2. On the register screen, tick what this property keeps a register of, and the most allowed per home.

Using it

Who holds what, when it runs out, and switching one off.

  1. Record a fob, a vehicle, a pet or a key against a home.
  2. Switch one off rather than deleting it — the record stays.
What residents see: My fobs & vehicles

What is registered to your home — fobs, vehicles, pets — and when anything runs out.

  1. To add or change something, ask the board.

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Looking after the property

Repairs, the contractors who do them, and their paperwork.

Maintenance

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

Something broken, reported with photographs and followed until it is fixed. The office is emailed the moment one arrives.

Set it up

  1. At the foot of the Maintenance screen, say whether the property has shared areas residents can report problems in.Untick it for a single house; residents then report problems in their own home only.

Using it

Something is broken: reported with photographs, tracked until it is fixed.

  1. Anybody who lives here can report something.
  2. Whoever reports it says how urgent it is.Normal, or urgent. The board then sets who is responsible, and moves it along.
  3. Close it when it is done, with a note saying what happened.
What residents see

Something is broken or not working: tell the office here, with photos, and follow it until it is fixed.

  1. Say what is wrong and where, add a photo if you can, and press Report it.A photo often saves a visit. Mark it urgent only if somebody could be hurt or damage is spreading.
  2. Follow it under What you have reported.Each request shows where it has got to — new, in progress or done — and any update the office adds.

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Vendors and certificates

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

The contractor list, their insurance certificates and expiry dates, a warning before one lapses, and who gets a 1099.

Set it up

  1. Switch it on in Settings → Features → What this property uses → Vendors and certificates.An administrator or a manager can switch it. Switching it off later deletes nothing; switching it back on brings everything back.
  2. At the foot of Vendors: tick the certificates this property insists on, and how many days' warning you want.General liability and workers' compensation to start with.

Using it

The contractor list, their insurance certificates, and a warning before one lapses.

  1. Add a contractor with their trade and contact details.
  2. File their certificate of insurance and its expiry date.
  3. Mark whether they get a 1099 in January.

Worth knowing. Staff only. A W-9 carries a tax number, so these files live apart from the ordinary documents.

Residents do not see this screen.

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Work orders

Switch on in SettingsAssociations · Rentals

A job given to a contractor, with a link that opens that one job and nothing else — no account for them, and a list of what needs chasing for you.

Set it up

  1. Switch it on in Settings → Features → What this property uses → Work orders.An administrator or a manager can switch it. Switching it off later deletes nothing; switching it back on brings everything back.
  2. Switch on Maintenance and Vendors too: a job is raised from one and sent to the other.

Using it

Giving a job to a contractor.

  1. Raise it from a maintenance item or on its own.
  2. The contractor gets a link, not an account.The app does not send it. The office copies the contractor's link from the work order and sends it to them by hand, in a text or an email. It opens that one job and nothing else in the app — not the ledger, not the directory, not another job.

Residents do not see this screen.

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Renting

Leases and tenants, including a rented home that stands inside an association.

Leases

Switch on in SettingsRentals

Every tenancy: the dues, the dates, the deposit and the terms; renewals with an increase in one press; notices both ways; move-in and move-out inspections; the deposit statement; and renter's insurance on file.

Set it up

  1. Dues & payments → More → Start a lease.The lot, the dues, the tenant's name and email, the dates and the deposit. Leave Invite them to the portal ticked and they receive their sign-in by email.
  2. Open the lease and copy in What the lease says.Notice periods, the late fee, how fast the deposit is returned, house rules, who pays which bill.

Using it: Leases

Every tenancy: who is in which lot, what they pay, when it runs out, and what the home would let for today.

  1. It opens on what runs out soon.30, 60, 90 or 180 days ahead. Anything already past comes first, because a tenancy nobody renewed is rolling on at last year's rent.
  2. Renew with an increase in one press.A percentage, an amount, or a figure you type. The new dates and the new rent are shown before anything is saved.
  3. Record the days that are not the end date.Signed, moved in, notice given, moved out. They are different days and the deposit clock usually runs from the last of them.
  4. Start a tenancy, or bring a whole building in from a spreadsheet.

Worth knowing. A renewal is a new lease, not an edit. The old one is left exactly as it was, so what somebody agreed to last year is still readable — which is the figure that gets argued about.

Residents do not see this screen.

Using it: My lease

What you signed, on a screen: the dues, the dates, the rules, and what things cost.

  1. See when the dues is due, when it counts as late, and what late costs.
  2. See who pays each bill, the house rules, and when the filter is next due.
  3. See the last day to give notice if you do not want to renew.It is counted back from the end of the term using the notice period in your lease, and shown as a date rather than a number of days.
  4. Give notice that you are leaving.Under Giving notice, choose the day. The screen says whether that is in time, or early and what leaving early costs, before you send it. It is recorded with today's date and the office is told at once.
  5. Review your move-in or move-out inspection.When the office sends it, go through each room. Sign it as fair, or tick the lines you disagree with and say what they were really like. What you write is kept with the report.
  6. Put your renter's insurance on file.Add the company, the policy and when it runs out; you are reminded two weeks before.
  7. Open the signed copy, once the board has attached it.

Worth knowing. The screen is a summary. If it ever disagrees with the signed lease, the signed lease is what counts. A notice you give here is written notice — do not give it until you mean it.

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Homes inside an association

Switch on in SettingsRentals · Associations

A rented house that stands inside an association: the tenant sees that association's news, rules and notices about the house from inside the rental, without joining it.

Set it up

  1. Linked homes → Link a home: the lot here, the association it stands in, and the same house there.Only somebody who runs both properties can link them; either side can unlink.

Using it

For a rented home that stands inside an association: what that association says about the house, passed to whoever lives there now.

  1. The office links a lot here to the same house in the association, once.Only somebody who manages both properties can link them. Either side can unlink.
  2. Whoever is on the current lease then sees the association's news, what is on, the rules it shares, and any notice or letter about the house.They do not join the association, and never see what it charges. When they move out it stops by itself.
  3. Questions about any of it come to the office here, in Chat or Letters.
  4. Under each linked house, see what the association has said about it.Its open violations and their latest notice, its letters and its news — and the office is emailed a copy of each, so you know before the tenant asks.
What residents see: Your community

News, rules and notices from the association your home is in. You don't need to join it — questions go to the office in Chat.

  1. Notices about your house come first.The office is told about them too. If there is something you need to do, they will let you know.
  2. Below them: the association's news, what is on, and the rules it shares.

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Investors, accountants and auditors

Switch on in SettingsRentals · Associations

For a property run on somebody else's behalf: who owns it, or which lots each investor has, and a window for each investor onto what they own. Alongside it, the accountant and the view-only auditor sign in to the money and nothing else.

Set it up

  1. Switch it on in Settings → Features → What this property uses → Owners.An administrator or a manager can switch it. Switching it off later deletes nothing; switching it back on brings everything back.
  2. Investors → Add an investor.The first one added owns the whole property unless you untick it. Where lots have different investors, record each against its investor.
  3. People & access → Invite: choose an Investor and who they sign in for, or an Accountant, or an Auditor (view only).Investors see their lots only. Accountants and auditors see the money, the books and the reports — never the chat, the repairs or the directory.
  4. Settings → Policies → Accountants and owners.Whether the accountant may record payments that arrive, and whether investors see who rents each lot.

Using it

Who owns the property, or which lots each investor has, and who signs in for them.

  1. Add the company or person who owns it. The first one added owns the whole property unless you untick it.
  2. Where lots have different investors, record each against its investor, with a share and the day it started.A sale is recorded by ending the seller's share and adding the buyer's from the next day — never by editing, so the history stays true.
  3. Invite them from People & access as an Investor, choosing who they sign in for. They see their lots and nothing else.

Worth knowing. Investors never see a tenant's ledger, chats or repairs. Whether they see who rents each lot is a setting, in Settings → Policies.

Residents do not see this screen.

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Coming next

Planned and not built yet. Nothing here is offered until it is finished, and no date is promised.

QuickBooks Desktop

ComingAssociations · Rentals

For a property that keeps its books in QuickBooks Desktop: a file of new charges, payments and expenses to import, so nothing is typed twice.

How it will work

  1. Switch it on in Settings → Features.
  2. Download a file of everything since the last export, and import it into QuickBooks.
  3. Every export is remembered, so nothing goes in twice.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Autopay

ComingAssociations · Rentals

Owners who choose it are paid up automatically on the due day, by bank transfer.

How it will work

  1. A owner turns it on from Pay dues and confirms their bank account once.
  2. On the due day the balance is taken, and a receipt is emailed.
  3. They can turn it off at any time; the office sees who has it on.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Text messages

ComingAssociations · Rentals

Notices by text as well as email and the app, chosen per kind of notice. Priced per message, so a paid add-on.

How it will work

  1. Switch it on, and choose which notices may go by text.
  2. Each person adds their mobile number and chooses, on their Notifications page.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Phone apps

ComingAssociations · Rentals

One app in the App Store and on Google Play — the same one for everybody, adapting to whoever signs in. Today the website works on any phone and can be added to the home screen.

How it will work

  1. Download it, sign in with the same email, and land on the same properties.
  2. Alerts for money owed, messages and announcements arrive like any other app's.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Your own web address

ComingAssociations · Rentals

A property's own domain opening it directly — yourassociation.com instead of an address on ours.

How it will work

  1. Tell us the domain; you add one record where it is registered.
  2. The public page opens there for visitors, and the property for anybody signed in.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Applications and screening

ComingRentals

A vacant home advertised with a link to apply, the applications side by side, and screening with the applicant's consent.

How it will work

  1. Publish a vacancy and share its link.
  2. Applicants fill in one form and pay any fee; you compare them and offer the lease.
  3. The chosen one becomes the tenant on a lease, without retyping anything.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Utility billing

ComingRentals

Water, sewer and trash recovered from tenants, split by meter or by a rule you choose.

How it will work

  1. Enter the bill or the meter readings.
  2. Each tenant's share is added to their next charge, with the workings shown.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Owner statements

ComingRentals

For a manager who runs homes on behalf of their owners: a statement each month of rent in, costs out and what is paid over.

How it will work

  1. Say who owns each home and the management fee.
  2. At month end, each owner gets a statement and the amount due to them.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Late rent, step by step

ComingRentals

A ladder for rent that stays unpaid: reminder, notice, and the papers the next step needs — each step dated and kept.

How it will work

  1. Set the steps and how many days apart, within your state's rules.
  2. Each overdue account shows the step it has reached and what comes next.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Coming later: short-term rentals

Homes let by the night through Airbnb and VRBO. Planned; not built yet.

One calendar across the booking sites

ComingShort-term rentals

Bookings from Airbnb, VRBO and direct in one calendar, so a night is never sold twice.

How it will work

  1. Connect each listing once.
  2. A booking on one site closes those nights on the others.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Guest messages and door codes

ComingShort-term rentals

Messages to each guest at the right moments, and a door code that works only for their stay.

How it will work

  1. Write the messages once: booking confirmed, the day before, check-out.
  2. Each guest gets them on time, with a code made for their dates.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Cleaning turns

ComingShort-term rentals

A clean scheduled after every booking, sent to whoever does it, and ticked off before the next guest.

How it will work

  1. Name who cleans each home.
  2. Every check-out creates their job, with a link like a work order's.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Lodging tax

ComingShort-term rentals

The tax each stay owes, worked out at your local rate and totalled for filing.

How it will work

  1. Set the rate once; every booking carries its tax, and the filing total is one report.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Coming later: hotels

Rooms, rates and the front desk. Planned; not built yet.

Reservations and rates

ComingHotels

Rooms by type, rate plans by season, and reservations against what is free.

How it will work

  1. Set up the rooms and their types, then the rates.
  2. Take a reservation; the room is held and the guest confirmed by email.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Front desk and folio

ComingHotels

Check-in and check-out, the guest's bill as it builds up, and the night audit that closes the day.

How it will work

  1. Check a guest in; charges post to their folio during the stay.
  2. Check them out with the folio settled; the night audit balances the day.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Housekeeping

ComingHotels

Which rooms need cleaning today, who is doing them, and which are ready to sell.

How it will work

  1. The day's list builds itself from departures and stays.
  2. Housekeepers mark rooms clean on a phone; the front desk sees them ready.

Not built yet. This is the plan, and it may change.

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Something not here?

Every property is set up with a person, not a form. Tell us what you need and we will show you whether Ruma Connect does it today, or when it will.

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