Making a Property Available for Leasing

Getting a unit from "just created" to "appears in leasing search with a rent" is the most-travelled setup path in REDA — and it runs along a short chain, each link with its own save error if you skip it. This article walks the whole chain: Region, Leasing Rule, Rent Charge Period, rent cards, and the Available For Leasing switch. You'll learn what each step does, the exact message you'll see if a link is missing, and how to confirm the unit really surfaces in search at the right rent. No prior REDA experience is assumed.

The chain at a glance

Five links take a unit to market. Do them in order and each one has what it needs:

Step 1: Region

The Region sets the unit's currency and filters its neighbourhood and rule lookups, so it's the natural first step. In orgs where multi-currency is switched on, there's one rule to know: the property's region and its leasing rule's region must match, or REDA blocks the save — "Property Region must match Leasing Rule Region when Multi-Currency is enabled." Where multi-currency is off, this doesn't apply.

Step 2: Leasing Rule

A Leasing Rule is the leasing and billing policy for the property — it carries the charge codes, the late-fee and month-to-month policy, the recurring-invoice schedule and escalation treatment. A property needs one before it can be leased. If the property has no rule of its own, a new lease falls back to the property's rule if set, otherwise to the Region's Default Leasing Rule. Best practice is to set the rule on the property anyway, for clarity — other checks look at the property-level rule. Two of the rule's settings feed later steps in this chain: its Default Make Ready Days (which the availability date is calculated from) and its New Application Hold Period (Days) (which sets how long a hold lasts). Leave those blank on the rule and the corresponding behaviour simply doesn't add any days.

Step 3: Rent Charge Period

The Rent Charge Period says how the rent is quoted: per month (the default), per week, or per day. It becomes required once you set a Leasing Rule or switch on Available For Leasing. Skip it and REDA stops you:

Step 4: Rent cards

A rent card (a Rent Charge Setup) holds the actual rent amount for the property. Each card sets a New Lease Base Amount and a Renew Lease Base Amount, and is one of two kinds: term-independent (a single price that covers any lease length) or term-specific (a price tied to one Term (Months)). One term-independent card is the simplest way to price a unit and is enough to take it to market. Leasing search reads these cards and, by default, advertises the property's Best Leasing Term — the card REDA picks as the headline price. With no rent card, there's nothing to advertise, so add at least one.

One save error is worth knowing before you build a card (full detail in Rent Cards). A card can't be both kinds at once: "Rent Charge Setup can either be Term Independent OR Term specific. For Term Independent setup do not provide Term (Months) and vice versa."

Step 5: Switch on Available For Leasing

Available For Leasing is the gate for leasing search. There are two ways it turns on. You can tick it yourself on a fresh vacant unit — but be aware the status machine takes over as soon as lease stages start moving, turning it on and off to match the current lease (see Property Statuses Explained). So for a brand-new unit, tick it; from then on, let REDA manage it. Alongside the switch, REDA maintains Leasing Availability Date — when the unit can next be moved into — which search compares against a prospect's desired move-in date.

Verify it worked

Two quick checks confirm the unit is live. On the Properties tab, the Available for Leasing list view shows every unit with the flag on, along with its Leasing Status, Availability Date and active lease stage — your unit should be there. Then open the Property Search - Leasing tool and confirm the unit appears at its best-term rent. (Note: that search tab ships with the property management and sales sets — leasing agents may need their administrator to grant visibility.)

Error walk-through

The whole chain, with the message each missing link produces:

Worked example: taking Meridian Court #101 to market

Meridian Properties prepares its unit for leasing:

Meridian Court #101's Leasing | PM | Booking tab — the Rent Setup table shows the lease terms (New Lease $1,250.00/month, Renewal Lease $1,300.00/month), and the Leasing Info block below carries the Leasing Rule (Harbour District Standard), Rent Charge Period (per month) and the Best Leasing rent card (RC-00000116).

Where to go next

1. Rent Cards — the full detail on pricing a property.
2. Property Statuses Explained — why the availability flag moves by itself.
3. Finding Properties: Leasing Search — where your unit now appears.
4. Regions — the region and its default leasing rule.

Frequently asked questions