Every October goes the same way. The first properly cold morning comes, the tenant turns the heating up, and something doesn't work: a radiator stays lukewarm, the boiler shows an error code, or a window that seemed fine in summer now lets in a draught. Then there's the question about the meter reading or the heating cost advance.

None of this is unusual. The trouble is where it ends up: a text on Tuesday, a missed call on Wednesday, a photo in a messaging app on Friday. Three weeks later, when you're paying the plumber's invoice, you're scrolling back through your phone trying to work out what was reported and when.

If you've read our autumn maintenance checklist or the piece on the Hungarian heating season earlier this month, this is the practical next step: give your tenant one place to report problems before the cold weeks start, not after.

Why do it now, not in January

It's easier to agree on a new habit when nothing is broken. If you invite your tenant in early October and tell them "please report any problems here", the first heating fault arrives in the right place. If you wait until the boiler fails, the conversation will start in a text message, as it always has.

There's a second reason. Heating problems often run on for a while: a first report, a visit from the technician, a part on order, a follow-up. When the whole thread sits in one place, you can see at a glance what has happened so far, and so can your tenant.

How to invite your tenant

In LeasingTrack, tenants are invited by email. You need the tenant's correct email address in the app, and then you send the invitation. The tenant gets an email, accepts it, and from then on can sign in to their own view.

A few practical points:

  • Check the address first. A typo means the invite goes nowhere. Ask the tenant which address they actually read; for many people it isn't the one on the lease paperwork.
  • If there are two tenants, agree with them who should get access, so you know who you're talking to.
  • Tell them it's coming. A short message ("I've sent you an invite from LeasingTrack, please accept it") stops the email from being ignored or left unread in spam.

What your tenant sees

This is the part landlords usually ask about, and the answer is simple: your tenant sees only their own lease. They don't see your other properties, other tenants, or your income and expenses elsewhere.

In their own view, the tenant can:

  • follow their payments and see where the lease balance stands,
  • report a maintenance issue,
  • send you a message.

The interface comes in eight languages: English, Hungarian, German, French, Spanish, Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian. Your tenant uses the app in their own language, whichever one you use. That helps if, say, you manage a flat in Budapest in Hungarian and your tenant is more comfortable in Ukrainian or English.

Reporting a problem and talking about it

When something goes wrong, the tenant reports the issue in LeasingTrack instead of texting you. You can then reply and follow up in the same place.

Take a typical October example. The tenant reports that the bedroom radiator stays cold. You reply that the heating technician will come on Thursday. On Thursday the technician bleeds the radiator and suggests checking the boiler pressure again in a week. A week later the tenant writes that all is well. That's the whole story, in order, in one place.

The same works for the other usual autumn questions:

  • draughty windows or doors – when it started, which room, whether it's getting worse;
  • meter questions – for example when the tenant should send you a reading, or why the heating advance has changed;
  • condensation or mould – which often turns up once windows stay closed and the heating is on.

Who pays for which repair, and how heating costs are shared, differs by country and by contract. The app keeps the conversation together, but it doesn't decide who is responsible. If you're not sure, check your lease and, where needed, ask a lawyer or your local landlord association.

Why it helps to keep it with the property

In LeasingTrack, each property is kept together with its leases, tenants, income and expenses, documents and the messages exchanged with the tenant. So the conversation about the cold radiator doesn't float on its own. It sits next to the lease it belongs to, and next to the expense you record when you pay the technician.

That pays off later:

  • when you do your yearly accounts and want to remember what that November invoice was for;
  • when the tenant moves out and you go through the flat's condition at handover;
  • when a similar fault comes back next winter and you want to know what was done last time.

The lease balance also follows from the records you enter, so you aren't keeping a separate spreadsheet next to the messages.

One caveat: an app doesn't replace common sense in an emergency. If there's a smell of gas, water coming through the ceiling or no heating at all in freezing weather, your tenant should still call you – or the emergency services – straight away. Agree on this with them. The report in the app can follow afterwards, so the record stays complete.

What it costs

LeasingTrack is free for up to two properties, which covers most landlords with one or two flats. Larger portfolios will need a subscription; its price hasn't been published yet. It runs as a web application and as an Android app.

A simple checklist for this week

  1. Confirm your tenant's email address. Ask them directly which one they check.
  2. Send the invitation from LeasingTrack and let them know it's on its way.
  3. Tell your tenant to report problems there, from the first heating fault onwards – and agree what counts as an emergency that needs a phone call.

Ten minutes now saves a lot of scrolling through old texts in February.