Sign a lease online

Who this is for

Landlords and property managers who want tenants (and owners) to sign a lease online instead of on paper. For a landlord, only the account owner can send a lease for signing, because they sign as the landlord.

Before you start

• Upload a lease template. See Lease templates.
• Create the lease and choose Send for signing when asked How will this lease be signed? It is saved as a draft. See Create a lease.
• Every signer needs their own email address. Two signers can't share one.
• Property managers: on each owner's profile, switch on Signs leases for an owner who signs their own leases. When it's off, you sign for them as their authorized agent.

Steps

1. Open the lease. In Online signing, pick the Template.
2. Check Who will sign. Signers sign in this order: the landlord side first, then each tenant, primary first. A signer marked needs an email address must get one first.
3. Tick I reviewed this lease and the details are correct. A property manager signing for an owner also ticks Our management agreement lets me sign leases for this owner.
4. Click Send for signing. eSamaHomes shows "Sent for signing" and the lease is Out for signing.
5. Each signer gets an email in turn, agrees to sign online, enters a code sent to their email, then signs. Each line shows "Not opened yet", "Viewed", "Signed" or "Declined", and their turn marks whose turn it is.
6. If someone is slow, click Send reminder. It goes to the signer whose turn it is.

Example

A property manager, Rosa Diaz of Bayview Management, sends the lease for 12 Palm Lane, Unit 2. The owner, Glen Hart, has Signs leases off. The tenants are Ana Ruiz (primary) and Ben Cole.

• Who will sign lists: Property manager: You, authorized agent for Glen Hart; Tenant: Ana Ruiz; Tenant: Ben Cole.
• Rosa signs first, then Ana, then Ben.
• When Ben signs, the panel shows Signed by everyone and "Signed on" that day, the lease starts, and the first rent is billed.

What happens next

• When the last person signs, a draft lease starts: the unit is occupied, the first rent and the deposit are billed. See How rent billing works.
• eSamaHomes keeps its own copy: Open signed lease (the signed PDF, which the lease's tenants and owners can read in their portals) and Open audit trail (the signing record, staff only). Every signer also gets the signed PDF by email.
• "Signed on" is the day the last person signed, not the lease's start date.
• Sign again: after a lease has been signed online, you can send it for signing again, for example after a change. The new signed copy is kept beside the old one, named "Signed lease (updated …)". Rent, the deposit and billing don't change.
• A lease started on paper with Start now can't be sent for signing from this screen.

If something looks wrong

• "Signing canceled because the lease changed. Send it again." Any change to the lease, its tenants, occupants, a tenant's name or email, an owner, or the template file cancels the signing, so nobody signs an old version. Send it again.
• "This lease changed after it was signed on …" (yellow note). The signed copy no longer matches the lease. Click Sign again so everyone signs the changes.
• "A signer declined. Cancel the signing, fix the lease, and send it again." The signing has already stopped, so there is nothing to cancel. Talk to the signer, fix the lease, then send it again from the same panel.
• "Signing expired before everyone signed. Send it again." The signing ran out of time. Send it again.
• You need to stop a signing. Click Cancel signing. A draft stays a draft; an active lease and its last signed copy stay as they are.
• "Online signing isn't available just now. Try again in a few minutes." The signing service couldn't be reached. Nothing was sent; try again later.
• "Only the account owner signs as landlord, so only they can send a lease for signing." Ask the account owner to send it.
• The status hasn't changed. eSamaHomes checks open signings every 30 minutes. Check again reloads what eSamaHomes has. Send reminder asks the signing service first, so it also brings the status up to date.