Landlord software for small portfolios of 1 to 20 doors

If you self-manage a handful of doors, landlord software for small portfolios is the search that matches the job: one ops file, not a property-manager office. Rent arrived in the banking app, but which property and which period is still a reconstruction. Gas, EICR, EPC, and deposit-scheme dates live in different calendars. Repair photos sit in WhatsApp. A folder of PDFs is the archive. Enterprise stacks built for AppFolio or Buildium assume owner portals and a PM desk. You still have a day job.

IziRento is an operations workspace sized for that DIY landlord: properties and statuses, leases, rent rows, invoices and receipts, meter readings, room-by-room inspections with photo or video, maintenance requests, reminders for rent and operational dates, and a limited tenant portal for onboarding and requests. It does not pretend to be a letting agent, a tax submitter, or a US enterprise PMS.

The English stock is mostly small. The English Private Landlord Survey 2024 found that 45% of direct landlords owned one rental property, 38% owned two to four, and 17% owned five or more. Most individual landlords (86%) owned between one and four properties. If that is you, stop treating a 50-plus-unit property-manager demo as the default.

Count doors not marketing labels

Count doors, not marketing labels. If you self-manage roughly 1 to 20 units — one house up to a small handful of buildings — you are the person this page is for. Independent landlord, not a letting-agent platform. A US small-landlord listicle that opens with ACH collection, tenant screening, and e-sign is describing a different product. Note it and move on.

In practice, the UK break-point sits where several banking apps fire on rent day and each house has its own gas, EICR, licence and paperwork calendar. August describes that stretch around 4 to 12 doors and publishes a Portfolio plan for up to 20 tenancies. RentDay publishes a Professional plan for up to 20 properties. Those figures are their published tiers, not an IziRento price and not a checkout. The useful signal is the size box: if you are still the person who answers the leak, you do not need a PM-company stack.

Buildium's own comparison is the other signal. AppFolio versus Buildium frames AppFolio as quote-based with a unit minimum (the exact count is not printed on AppFolio's public pricing page) and names property managers with 50+ units as AppFolio's best fit. Buildium itself is built for property and association managers: Resident Center, owner portal, ePay, eSign, TransUnion screening. That is the enterprise shape a 1 to 20 DIY landlord should not be sent into.

IziRento's job here is the size plus DIY promise, then the ops records. Open a workspace at Start IziRento when you are ready to file the first occupied property. Do not buy screening rails, ACH collection, or a tax-submit product to solve a filing problem.

What the ops workspace holds

List the live files you already have, per property: address and status, current lease, deposit-scheme reference (protection date plus prescribed-information date), rent schedule, latest meter photos, last inspection, open repairs, gas / EICR / EPC dates, and any licence date. That list is the ops workspace. It is not a tax return and not a court pack.

IziRento keeps those objects next to each other: properties and statuses, leases, rent rows, invoices and receipts, meter readings, room-by-room inspections with photo or video, maintenance or repair requests, reminders, and a limited tenant portal. Tenants can onboard and send a request. They do not get a full tenant PMS.

• Property card: which door is occupied, vacant, or in onboarding.
• Lease folder: dates, rent schedule, deposit-scheme reference.
• Rent row per payment and period, not a monthly paid tick.
• Meters stored with the lease so check-in readings are findable.
• Inspections room by room, with photo or video, not one all-fine box.
• Repair requests with photos and a status, attached to the door.
• Reminders for rent and operational dates — the next window, not a compliance badge.

GOV.UK landlord responsibilities for England still sit with the landlord: keep the property safe, keep gas and electrical equipment maintained, provide an EPC, protect the deposit in an approved scheme, and check right to rent in England. Software stores the date and the file. It does not perform those duties. Rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland differ; file the country the house sits in, not a blended UK tab.

Rent rows instead of a blended monthly total

Stop treating a monthly total or a banking-app ping as the rent record. One row per payment with period-from, period-to, amount due, amount received, method, and a bank or receipt reference. A WhatsApp screenshot can sit beside the row. It does not replace it. For example, “who paid March on the second flat?” should be a filter, not a reconstruction.

The typical mistake at this size is blending three houses into one sheet tab labelled “March paid”. When a tenant queries a week, you cannot point at a period. Last month's bank feed does not name the door. In practice, the ledger is the rent row, and the photo is evidence for that row.

Process detail for period-from / period-to rows lives on the rent tracking spreadsheet process. This landing will not become that how-to. The commercial point is simpler: small-portfolio software that only shows a monthly paid tick is still a spreadsheet with a nicer coat.

HMRC still expects you to keep accurate records of rent received and expenses — rent books, receipts, invoices, bank statements — and to keep them at least 5 years after the 31 January deadline for that tax year. That is a keep-and-file fact. IziRento does not open a Self Assessment form and does not submit Making Tax Digital updates.

Dates and files on the same property card

Put safety and deposit dates and files on the same property card as the lease. Software can remind and store. It does not complete the visit.

The gas safety certificate CP12 file is the filing prompt for gas: an annual check by a Gas Safe registered engineer; keep the safety-check record for 2 years; give a copy to each existing tenant within 28 days of the check and to new tenants before they move in. Access attempts should be recorded. IziRento may hold the date and the PDF. It is not the engineer.

Electrical installation checks in the English PRS are at least every 5 years by a properly qualified person, with proof of inspection given to tenants. An EPC still belongs on the file. Reminder plus file. Not a compliant badge.

For deposits, GOV.UK tenancy deposit protection says the landlord or agent must put the deposit in an approved scheme within 30 days of receiving it, and within 30 days must also tell the tenant how it is protected, with scheme contacts and prescribed details. IziRento is not a deposit scheme and does not serve prescribed information. Use the dates as a filing prompt on the property card.

The prescribed-information list is a filing prompt for what must be told within 30 days. IziRento does not serve it. Store the PDF you actually sent.

Repairs belong to a door not a chat

Give repairs a door, not a chat. A tenant (or you) opens a request with photos; you track status. The leak then belongs to a door and a date, not a thread. The limited tenant portal is enough for onboarding and requests. Do not promise a full resident-centre PMS.

Mid-tenancy and periodic inspections stay room-by-room with photo or video, not a single all-fine tick. Check-in, mid-tenancy and checkout evidence should sit with the money record, not in a separate album. For example, a stained ceiling without a room name is not an inspection file.

The room-by-room file is written up on the periodic inspection checklist for UK tenancies. This page will not clone that checklist. The commercial point is that small-portfolio software without a request on the property is still WhatsApp with a login.

Meters belong with the lease for the same reason. A reading and a photo at check-in, another at checkout, and any mid-tenancy shot you actually took. When a bill arrives, you are not reconstructing a year from a blurry camera roll.

Move one occupied property first

Do not wait for a 50-unit implementation. Move one occupied property first: headers, lease, last three rent rows, current meters, last inspection, open request, next certificate date. Then clone the pattern to the next door. Export or keep a backup of the sheet you are leaving.

That sequence is how a 1 to 20 DIY portfolio actually leaves the fragile file. It is not a bake-off of ACH vendors. It is not a screening demo. It is not an e-sign vendor tour. If a sales page leads with those three, it is selling a different job.

When the first property card is honest — rent rows that name the period, the PDF findable, one open request with photos — you already know whether the workspace fits. Start that file in IziRento rather than collecting another spreadsheet tab.

Why AppFolio and Buildium are the wrong default

US listicles for this query treat ACH collection, screening, and e-sign as table-stakes. UK vendors aimed at the same ICP often add Open Banking rent match and quarterly HMRC submit. Those pages can be useful as a map of the market. They are not a feature checklist for IziRento.

Landlord Studio UK and Landlord Vision speak to independent landlords and small portfolios, with maintenance requests, document reminders, and a dashboard for a few tenancies. They also pair that story with MTD-ready records, bank feeds, e-signatures, or payment collection. Use their ICP. Do not import those rails as live IziRento behaviour.

Brevva and other US DIY tools on the same query sell self-manage without a PM fee, often next to rent collection, e-sign and screening. That is SERP demand. It is not IziRento's offer. Site figures, when you see them, are indicative, not a priced checkout as a binding offer.

After this page you should be able to name the 1 to 20 DIY ICP and reject AppFolio or Buildium as the default; list the ops surfaces; know what IziRento does not claim; move one occupied property without a software bake-off; and keep the two how-tos for the ledger and the inspection file.

IziRento is rental operations SaaS for small UK landlords and authorised managers: one workspace for properties, leases, rent, bills, meters, inspections and requests. Tenants use a limited portal. SaaS, not a managing agent, broker, escrow, insurer or tax adviser. Local tenancy rules vary. Indicative plans sit on pricing if you want the number before you sign in.