Creating a new lease

A lease ties one of your tenants to one of your units for a specific period of time, at a specific rent. Habitia uses the lease as the source of truth for the ledger — every rent charge, late fee, and renewal reminder flows from these settings.

Note: Before you start, make sure the tenant and the unit already exist. See Adding a tenant and Adding units if not.

1. Open the Leases page

From the left sidebar, click Leases. You’ll see every lease in your organization, with a status filter (Active, Pending, Expired, Terminated) and an Add lease button in the top-right.

2. Click Add lease

A larger modal opens with the full lease form.

3. Pick the property, unit, and tenant

Property — choose from your properties. The Unit dropdown stays disabled until you pick one.
Unit — only units inside the selected property are listed.
Primary tenant — the person responsible for the lease. You can add co-tenants and a guarantor later from the lease detail page.
Status — leave as Active for a normal new lease. Pending means you’re drafting it; Expired / Terminated are for historical records.

4. Set the term

Start date — the day the lease begins.
End date — the day it ends. For a month-to-month with no fixed end, set a date far in the future; you can extend later.

Note: If you pick a start date in the past, Habitia will ask how to handle the months between then and today. See Handling a lease that started before you joined Habitia — read that one before you click Save.

5. Set the rent and deposit

Monthly rent — the recurring rent charge. Posted to the ledger on the rent due day each month.
Security deposit — held against damages; recorded separately from rent.
Holdover monthly rent — (optional) a different rent that kicks in if the tenant stays past the end date without renewing. Leave blank to keep the same rent.

6. Configure the due day and late fee

Rent due day — day of the month the rent is owed (1–31). Most landlords use 1.
Grace period (days) — how many days after the due day before the late fee kicks in. Example: due day 1, grace period 5 → late fee posts on day 6.
Late fee ($) — flat amount auto-posted once the grace period passes. Leave blank for none. One late fee per month.
Renewal reminder (days) — how many days before the end date Habitia should remind you and the tenant.

Tip: Late fees post automatically by the background worker — you don’t have to do anything once the grace period passes. The fee shows on the ledger as a separate line, so the tenant can see exactly why their balance changed.

7. Save

Click Save lease. The lease appears at the top of the Leases page.

If the start date was in the past, the Historical period prompt opens next. Don’t dismiss it without picking an option — see the next article.

What’s next

Handling a lease that started before you joined Habitia — the historical settlement prompt.
Sending a lease for signature — generate a signing link for the tenant.
Inviting a co-tenant, cosigner, or guarantor — add other people to the lease.