How do you create a unit on Unlocker?

Transcript

Hello everyone, today I’m going to show you how to create your first unit on Unlocker.

First, go to your dashboard and open the “Owner” section.

Before you create a unit, you need to add your owner, so you can link them to the unit you’ll create next.

Start by entering the owner’s email address, then fill in their information, including the method for splitting the rent. If the owner isn’t receiving rent yet, you can simply select the option they plan to use.

At this point, your owner has received an email invitation to activate their account. Once your owner has created their Unlocker account, it will show in the status right here.

If the owner is already registered in the system, a message will tell you so when you enter their email address, and you can then resend them an email invitation.

Once your owner has been invited, you can start creating the unit by clicking “Units” on the left, then “Add a unit”.

Before we start, know that all the general information and features of the property will be pulled automatically into the lease when you use the Unlocker tool to generate it.

Click “Add a unit” and fill in the property’s general information.

In the “Status” section, even if the property is currently rented, we recommend selecting the “Vacant” status. If the unit’s status isn’t set to “Vacant”, it won’t appear in the drop-down list when you create the lease or add an existing lease in Unlocker, which could block the process. Once the lease is created, the status is updated automatically to “Rented”.

The “Disabled” status can be used, for example, if you plan renovation work between two tenants. It turns off the tenant search, since the property is no longer shown on our interactive map.

The “Label” is a public title that will appear in listings. It’s shown on our interactive map and is also used internally, so you can easily find the unit in your database.

In the “Address” section, you’ll find a small “Edit” button to correct any mistake.

For the unit’s surface area, don’t use decimals. Round it to a whole number.

For “Number of rooms”, if you have a studio apartment (1 room), enter 1 by default, because the software won’t accept a 0.

The “Description”, like the title, will be shown in the unit’s listing on our interactive map and is required.

The “Additional rent (if any)” field is optional.

For the breakdown of service charges, you have two options: advance payments or a flat fee.

• With advance payments, you pay an estimated amount that can be adjusted at the end of the period based on actual expenses.
• With a flat fee, it’s a fixed amount, with no adjustment based on actual expenses.

The “Other charges included” box is optional.

Now enter the number of your unit’s “Electricity meter”, also called the PDL (point de livraison, the delivery point). This 14-digit number is a unique reference for your unit. You can find it on your EDF bill or in your Linky customer account. If you don’t have it on hand, you can temporarily enter 14 zeros, but remember to update it as soon as you have it.

The tax number is required since January 1, 2024, and must be entered in all your leases. This 12-digit number is usually found on the owner’s tax notice, their property tax notice, or on cadastre.fr.

You can now select the name of the owner you invited at the start of the video.

In the fees section, note that Unlocker’s 1% commission (excl. VAT) is included.

Once this general information is filled in, we’ll finalize the creation of the unit. Click “Features”, then select the unit’s equipment and the type of heating. Next, enter the GHG score (greenhouse gas emissions) found in the DPE (France’s mandatory energy performance certificate) document, along with the DPE score. Finally, enter the home’s average consumption, taken from the documents above if available.

For the next part, documents and invoices, adding them isn’t required to create the unit. However, you can add them at any time throughout the unit’s life. That lets you keep every document about the property in one place, for easier and better-organized management.

Now click “Documents”. As explained just before, these are all the documents you consider necessary and related to the property. These documents won’t be visible when the listing is published, since they aren’t meant to be public. They’re only accessible to the property manager, the owner and the current tenant.

Once all your documents are added, you can click “Invoices” to add all the invoices related to the property. These invoices are classified as deductible or recoverable expenses. Deductible expenses are those the owner can subtract from their taxable income, while recoverable expenses are those the owner can re-bill to the tenant. You’ll also see the rent shown in small print below the invoice amount.

Once all your invoices are added, you can move on to the last step: photos. These are the ones displayed in the listing and visible on our interactive map.

Congratulations, you’ve now created your unit and filled in all the required fields. Thanks for following this tutorial. If you have any questions or need help, our team is here for you. See you soon!