AppFolio Tutorials - Ep. 16 Leasing

Hello everyone, and welcome back to APM Help Academy. In today’s video, we’re going to cover all things leasing in AppFolio.

Accessing the Leasing Section

1. From your Dashboard, go to the left-hand side menu.
2. Click Leasing → Leases.

Lease Setup Options

You have two main ways to set up leases in AppFolio:

1. Upload Pre-Existing PDF Lease Templates

1. Click Task → PDF Form Templates → Add New PDF Form Template.
2. Name your template and select the Template Type.
3. Drag and drop your PDF copy of your pre-existing lease.
4. The system will synchronize tenant information, recurring charges, move-in charges, and security deposits from AppFolio.

This is ideal if you have long-standing lease templates you’ve used offline.

2. Create a New AppFolio Lease Template

1. Click Task → Lease Templates.
2. By default, AppFolio provides a sample lease template with four pages:
   • Page 1: Residents and financials
   • Page 2: Generic policies and procedures
   • Page 3: Unit responsibilities
   • Page 4: General clauses
3. Edit each section to match your lease requirements.
4. Rename your template (e.g., “Middle Earth Lease” for consistency).
5. Add pages as needed using Add Page, or remove sections (if there’s only one section on a page, delete the whole page).
6. Sections can include initials and signature fields as required.

Insert Fields vs. Manual Fields

Insert Fields

• Represented as gray outline boxes.
• Pull data automatically from AppFolio during tenant move-in.
• Typically include:
  • Tenant information
  • Property information
  • Move-in charges and credits

Manual Fields

• Represented as pink/purple boxes.
• Used for custom or unique lease terms not stored in AppFolio.
• To create a manual field:
  1. Go to the lease section → Insert Manual Field.
  2. Select an existing field or add a new one.
  3. Manage manually entered fields by editing and saving them.
  4. Refresh the page if needed to see your new field.

Upon tenant move-in, these fields will appear in the move-in page, ready to complete.

This completes the general setup for leases in AppFolio, including uploading PDFs, creating templates, and managing manual or inserted fields.

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