ProperLease for first-time landlords | Your first tenancy, done properly

For first-time landlords

Nobody teaches you this part. The first tenancy is a lease form you have never filled in, a deposit that is not your money, and a stack of receipts that decide what you owe next April.

Set up your first property free One property free, forever. The setup wizard walks you through it.

4records that carry a first tenancy: lease, ledger, deposit, expenses

48provinces and states with the correct lease document built in

1evening to set the whole thing up properly

What a first-time landlord actually needs

The problems this audience actually runs into, and what the product does about them.

The right lease, not a lease you found online

Three Canadian provinces require a specific government form, and most US states require particular disclosures in a residential lease. A generic template downloaded from a search result is correct for somewhere, and that somewhere may not be here. ProperLease produces the document for where your property sits, filled in from the details you enter.

Understand that the deposit is not income

A security deposit is money you are holding and will mostly give back. Spending it, or losing track of what it was, is how first tenancies end badly. ProperLease holds it against the tenancy, separate from rent, so the balance at move-out is a number rather than an argument.

Photograph the unit before they move in

A move-in condition report with photographs is the cheapest insurance in this business. Without one, every deduction at move-out is your word against theirs, and you will lose. It takes fifteen minutes from your phone.

Track expenses from day one, not from April

A furnace repair in March is deductible whether or not you remember it in April. Categorised expenses per property, with receipts attached, turn the tax return into an export. Reconstructing a year from bank statements is the thing that makes people hate being a landlord.

Know what to do the first time rent is late

It will happen, and the answer is a dated reminder in writing, not a difficult text message. ProperLease flags the shortfall, gives you a notice template to send, and logs every send with its date. Where your jurisdiction has an official form for ending a tenancy, such as Ontario's N4, you get that form from the tribunal rather than from us.

Where ProperLease is not the right fit

Where we are the wrong answer. Better you find out here than three months in.

You rent a room in your own home

In many jurisdictions a live-in roommate arrangement falls outside residential tenancy law entirely, so the forms and notices ProperLease generates may not apply. Check your local rules before assuming a tenancy framework fits.

You want rent to arrive automatically

ProperLease records payments, it does not collect them. Your tenant pays you the way they already do, and you log it. If you want the money to move through the software, look at a payments-first platform.

Your property is in a jurisdiction we have not shipped yet

California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington, D.C. are on the roadmap but not available today, and seven Canadian provinces are still pending. Rent tracking and bookkeeping work everywhere. The lease document does not.

Side by side

ProperLease against Winging it, feature by feature.

	ProperLease	Winging it
Leases and documents
Province and state lease documents	Fills the official government form in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. Generates a residential lease carrying the required disclosures in 45 US states.	A template downloaded from a search result, correct for somewhere, possibly not for here.
Move-in and move-out condition reports	Built in, photo backed, attached to the tenancy so move-out compares against move-in.	A few photos on your phone that you will struggle to find in eighteen months.
Rent and money
Dated rent ledger per tenant	Every payment is a permanent dated entry. Nothing is overwritten, so the history survives.	You remember. For the first two months that is genuinely enough.
Late rent surfaced without you looking	Expected rent is compared to what arrived. Anything short or missing is flagged on the dashboard and in your inbox.	You notice around the tenth, feel awkward about it, and wait another week.
Deposits tracked as money you owe back	Held separately from rent, so the balance you owe at move-out is never guesswork.	Sitting in your chequing account, indistinguishable from your own money.
Expenses tracked per property	Categorised per property and unit, with receipts attached, as you spend rather than in April.	A folder of receipts, a bank statement, and a plan to sort it out later.
Tax and reporting
Year-end reports built for the T776 and Schedule E	One export per property, with the categories already lined up to the form your accountant is filling in.	A weekend in April you did not plan for.
Cost and effort
How it is priced	one property free, forever. Premium is $14.99 CAD a month or $99 CAD a year for the whole portfolio. No per-door charge, no per-document fee.	Free, and it costs you the first deposit dispute you lose.

Reviewed September 21, 2026. Product details change, so check the documentation for current behaviour, and treat anything on this page touching law or tax as general information rather than advice.

Frequently asked questions

What do I actually need before a tenant moves in?

A signed lease on the correct form for your province or state, the deposit collected and recorded, and a dated move-in condition report with photographs. Those three make almost every later dispute straightforward. Everything else can follow in the first week.

Do I need a lawyer for my first lease?

For a standard residential tenancy in a jurisdiction with an official or standard form, most owners do not. If the arrangement is unusual, or the property is somewhere that requires an attorney-reviewed lease, get advice. This is general information and not legal advice.

How much can I charge for a security deposit?

It depends entirely on where the property is, and the range across North America is wider than most first-time landlords expect: the amount, whether you may hold one at all, how it has to be kept, and how fast it has to come back all vary. We are not going to summarise your jurisdiction's answer here, because getting it wrong costs you more than looking it up does. The lease page for your province or state names the governing statute and links it. Read that, or ask a lawyer, before you ask a tenant for money.

What should I do the first time rent is late?

Send a dated reminder immediately, in writing, and keep a copy. If it stays unpaid, serve the correct notice for your jurisdiction rather than an informal message, because the dated record is what counts later. ProperLease flags the shortfall and gives you a template to send, and logs it. If your jurisdiction requires its own official form to end a tenancy, get that form from the tribunal.

Is ProperLease free for one property?

Yes. One property free, forever, which covers most first-time landlords entirely. Premium is $14.99 CAD a month or $99 CAD a year when you add a second property or want the full reporting set.

General information, not legal advice

Tenancy law differs by province and state and changes from time to time. This page is general information to help you find the right form and understand what it covers. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the current legislation or speaking to a lawyer about your own tenancy.

What a legal lease must include Security deposits: hold and return Quick start guide Find the lease form for your province or state

Run your rentals with absolute clarity

ProperLease helps self-managing landlords in Canada and the US track rent, generate provincial and state leases, serve notices, and stay tax ready.

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