Getting Started - three basic steps

We strive to make Arthur as user-friendly as possible. But, it is a large system so here are three steps we recommend you complete when you first start.  

Note Do not do your set up on the companion app

Step 1 - Define your business type

Defining your management type in Arthur is a fundamental step to ensure that your set-up reflects your business. This is particularly important if you intend to integrate with cloud accounting software later on. To identify your management type, you must define your "Default tenancy rent transaction type". There are two different rent transaction types:

• Direct Rent – most commonly used by self-managing landlords and R2R businesses (i.e. those collecting the rent for themselves, when rent is received it is considered an income). Direct Rent assumes the receipt of rent will appear on the Tenant Statement and outgoings are costs to contractors. Together these will show on an income and expenditure report.
• Rent Charge – most commonly used by those who manage on behalf of 3rd parties (i.e. companies that deduct fees from the collected rent before passing this to the owner, when rent is received it is considered a liability). Rent Charge assumes the receipt of rent will appear on a Property Owner Statement to be paid out.

If your business is a mixture of both types (i.e. sometimes rent is considered income, other times liability), set your default to the most common type. If your business manages multiple distinct portfolios, that are not part of an agency, you can set up Arthur in two ways shown below. Which one of the below is preferred is dictated to by the client's accounting needs.

1. Create separate Arthur accounts under a single sign-in (required to connect to accounting software). See how
2. Create one Arthur account and set it as a "Quasi Agency" with one Arthur account that has each portfolio (e.g. SPV's or family members) as an owner and then treats each owner as a customer to be remitted to as would a normal agency set up (not recommended if connecting to accounting software).

 Click here to see how to set your default business position

Step 2 - Add a property and unit(s)

When adding a property in Arthur, you are creating the asset which contains your rentable unit(s) - not the space being rented. You will either be adding a:

1. Property containing one single unit - e.g. a single dwelling house, single flat in a block
2. Property containing multiple units - e.g. HMO, a block of flats

Click here to see how to add your properties and units

Step 3 - Add a tenancy

Once the property and unit(s) have been added, you are ready to create your tenancy. The tenancy is a digital reflection of the agreement that you have with your tenant(s). Therefore, we recommend you have your tenancy agreement, or license, close to hand when completing this.

Click here to see how to add a new tenancy to your unit

Now you have carried out the first basic steps, we recommend you schedule a shared screen tutorial with a member of our team. Before doing this it is worth considering the below "Things to think about!" and "Additional services to consider" to help you on your way.

Things to think about!

We recommend you think about the following questions before your tutorial.

• What are your biggest problems at the moment?
• What processes do you want to automate?
• What do you want to achieve by switching to Arthur?
• Which user groups will you invite to the app?

Additional services to consider

• Do you want to upload all the information yourself?
• Will you integrate with Xero?
• Will you need an online application form?
• Do you want your contract to be auto-populated?
• Will you be using Arthur's integrated referencing service?
• Will you be linking Arthur to any marketing portals or your website?

schedule a shared screen tutorial