Review: Harrissoft Properite property management software

Aimed at the burgeoning buy-to-let housing market, Properite is a specialised application designed to equip landlords with all the tools they might need to manage their properties, tenants and rental income.

The software is a standalone Windows application, written for Windows XP (Home or Pro), with Microsoft Word required to create, edit and print things such as tenancy agreements, welcome packs and other documents included in the package. You’ll also need the Microsoft .Net Framework V1.0, a copy of which comes with the program and can be either downloaded or supplied on CD-Rom.

Installation takes just a couple of minutes, after which a wizard guides you through the setup of your first property. Basic information is asked for at this point, such as the address, purchase date and price of the property, plus the number of rooms and the landlord’s name and phone number.

There are no limits on the number of properties that can be configured, and each is stored in a separate folder, along with any other documents associated with it.

Other details can then be added. For example, you can record gas and electricity meter readings, dates when smoke detectors have been tested or are due for testing, and key-holder lists for burglar alarm systems. You can also compile inventories – especially useful with furnished property – log valuations and create rental adverts with photographs.

Another wizard helps you to capture information relating to tenants, such as referee and guarantor details, previous addresses, deposits taken and so on. A separate tool is used to manage tenants’ details, from which you can create and print screening checklists, tenancy agreements, receipts and other documents.

However, the templates are quite general and include spelling and other errors. It’s also worth getting any legal agreements checked out by a solicitor before they’re used for real.

In the Premium Edition, you get a cashbook to record both rental income and outgoings, with facilities to calculate income and capital gains tax liabilities. There are no direct links to popular accounting packages but information can be exported in .csv format.

The ability to keep a detailed history of events relating to each property is another option, along with a graphing tool that can be used to see how each property is performing and to investigate what might happen if rents or interest rates were to change.

For some reason, however, the developers have opted for fancy 3D graphs that, while showcasing their programming skills, do little to make the information easy to understand.

There’s also a memo pad and an Outlook-style diary, which works well. However, we didn’t find the interface that intuitive.

A workspace metaphor is used to start with, but this does little more than act as a portal for the other tools and seemed a little redundant. We also found the way the windows resized and moved about a little quirky at times and would have liked more integration with other applications.

If you’re a landlord or a property agent, you may find Properite useful because it organises all your property information. However, that apart, we found it far from a complete solution, with a lot lacking on the financial and legal side. It was also a little rough around the edges and didn’t provide much more than standard office productivity tools.

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