Send a lease for signature
Send a draft lease to the tenant to sign online, follow who has signed, and complete it.
Before you start
Owners, Administrators and Managers can send a lease for signature, resend it and withdraw it. Caretakers can prepare the lease but not send it.
- Your organization must be live. In setup mode the lease page says "Signing and activation unlock when your organization goes live. Nothing is billed in setup mode."
- The lease is a draft with Starts on and the rent filled in. See Create a lease.
- The lease has a document: an uploaded PDF or a published template. See Contract templates.
- The tenant has an email address or a OneView account they can open. If they can't sign online, use Upload a signed lease instead.
1. Place the signature fields
Open the lease: from Tenants, open the tenant, then select Manage on the lease. In the Signature fields card:
- If you used a template with fields, the card says "Fields configured, ready to send for signature." Nothing to do, though you can still adjust them.
- If it says "No fields placed yet, drag fields onto the document and save." select Open form builder. Drag the signature, text and date fields onto the document, for the tenant and for your team, then select Save and return. The builder works the same way as in Contract templates.
2. Request the signature
In the Signing card, select Request Signature. You see "Tenant signature successfully requested!" The lease status changes to Pending signature and the tenant is notified, by email and in the app according to their notification settings. They open the document from their portal, fill in their fields, and sign.
From now on the lease details are locked (Fields locked), so the tenant signs exactly what you sent.
3. Follow the signatures
The card shows "Signature request sent · awaiting all parties" and lists the tenant and the team member assigned to the lease. Each one is marked "Awaiting signature" until they sign, then Signed with the date. The card refreshes briefly when you open the page, so reload it to see a signature that came in later.
OneView does not send reminders by itself. If the tenant has not signed after a few days, use Resend signature request (see below) or contact them yourself.
4. Sign for your organization
Once the tenant has signed, the person assigned to the lease sees Sign now. An Owner, Administrator or Manager who is not the assignee sees Countersign now instead. Review the document, add your signature where required, and select Sign. You see "Your signature has been recorded."
What happens next
When both sides have signed, the card says "All parties have signed." and the lease becomes Active by itself. Billing starts, and the tenant's first invoice is issued. See Activate a lease for what that invoice contains.
Shortly after, the fully signed PDF replaces the document on the lease and the tenant gets a confirmation email. To read it, open the tenant's page and select Preview on the lease.
Resend or withdraw a request
- Resend signature request: use it when the tenant lost the email or the link stopped working. It cancels the current document and sends a new one. Everyone signs again, including anyone who had already signed.
- Withdraw request: use it when the terms must change. The lease goes back to Draft, the old signing links stop working, and your placed fields stay. Edit the lease and request the signature again.
Common problems
There is no button to request the signature
The card explains why. "Complete the agreement details and add a contract or template below to request a signature." means a start date, the rent or the document is missing. "Preparing the document for signing, refresh in a moment to request a signature." means the document is still being prepared, or you have not placed signature fields yet: check the Signature fields card. In an organization still in setup mode, the card shows the setup message instead. A Caretaker sees no request button at all.
The tenant declined to sign
The card shows "Signature request declined" and the signing links stop working. Select Withdraw request, edit the lease with the tenant, and send a new request.
The tenant signed but the lease is not active
The lease turns active only after your side has signed too. Look for Sign now or Countersign now on the card.
I placed no fields for my side
When only the tenant has fields, the document is complete as soon as the tenant signs. Select Mark as signed to finish. The signed document is attached automatically.
I need to change something after sending
Withdraw the request, edit the lease, then request the signature again. The lease is locked while the request is out.
The page says it stopped refreshing
That message appears when the document takes unusually long to prepare. Select Reload to see the latest status.