1

PT Rental Assistant Users Guide

PT Rental Assistant Users Guide 2001-2004 PT Software Solutions, Inc. This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by PT Software Solutions, Inc. PT Software Solutions, Inc. assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book. Except as permitted by such license, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of PT Software Solutions, Inc. PT Rental Assistant is a trademark of PT Software Solutions, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. PT Software Solutions, Inc. P.O. Box 1007 Bristol, IN 46507-1007 Printed in the USA Microsoft, MS, Windows, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, and Microsoft Access are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other product names mentioned in this manual may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.

V2.1

Using this Users Guide

The following tips will help you navigate through this manual quickly and easily. Moving the page: If you need to move the page around so you can read the text, use the hand tool: You can select it by clicking on it. It is located on the tool bar located at the top of the screen. Then you can move the page just as you would move a piece of paper on your desk. To advance from one page to another, use the vertical scroll bar on the right. To move down one line, press the Down Arrow key (on your keyboard). To move up one line, press the Up Arrow key.

Magnify the text: To magnify text: Click the Zoom In button on the viewing toolbar : If you press it two times the text will be increased by 150%. Many find this the desired magnification for reading.

Navigating through the Users Guide: To navigate through this Users Guide you may advance from one page to the next or you may jump directly to the area in which you are interested. One way to advance directly to a specific area is to use the Bookmarks. Think of this as the table of contents. Simply display the Bookmarks by pressing the [F5] key on your keyboard. Then click on the area that you want to go to. Close the Bookmarks by pressing the [F5] key again. Optionally you may also press the Bookmarks tab (left side of screen). Another way is to follow a link. Links have a blue rectangle around them and when you move the hand over them, the hand turns into a finger link. To return from where you navigated to, you can press the previous view button on the navigator tool bar: . This moves you back one page at a time. . Click the left mouse button and you will move to that

Printing this Users Guide: To print this Users Guide, select the menu options: File, Print.

Where to Begin:
The following steps are designed to get you setup and running with PT Rental Assistant in the shortest amount of time.

First read chapter 1 Install PT Rental Assistant At least scan the headings in chapter 2 so you know what information is available. You should read the General Information about Forms section. If you have PT Rental Assistant on CD, you may wish to play at least part of the Introduction video. Refer to this Users Guide as needed.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Installing & Starting the Program .. 7 Introduction . Setup Property Tenant / Unit Rental Calculations Rent / Income . Expenses . Lease Expirations .. Budget . Utility Applications Exporting Data . Register & Model Upgrade .. 11 25 30 35 45 50 68 81 83 89 95 100 102

Appendices A B C D Questions & Answers Trouble Shooting / Error Messages.. Partial Payments Uninstalling PT Rental Assistant . 104 107 114 117

Helpful Index: I need help .. Contacting PT Software Solutions, Inc. .. Terms and Definitions Software License Agreement .. Distribution Guidelines .. 14 14 16 119 120 6

Chapter 1

Installing & Starting the Program

How to Install PT Rental Assistant

Do not install PT Rental Assistant on a network. It is not intended for multiple user access.

Suggested PC Requirements: Celeron or Pentium processor (equivalent or higher) 32 MB RAM 70 MB disk space (you will want additional free disk space for Windows to use, 50MB to 100MB) Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, 2000, ME, or XP The PCs screen resolution needs to be 800 X 600 or higher before you start PT Rental Assistant . Details on how to set this are listed below.

Installing from CD: If you have the PT Rental Assistant CD, then perform the following steps: 1) Close any open programs. 2) Insert the PT Rental Assistant CD into the CD ROM drive. 3) The CD menu is automatically displayed. Choose option: 3 Install PT Rental Assistant 4) Follow the setup directions that are displayed. Note the following: If the install program prompts you to reboot the PC, leave the install CD in the drive.

5) After the installation is complete, remove the CD and restart your computer (from the Windows Start menu, Shut down option.)

Installing from downloaded file: If you have downloaded the PTRAxx.EXE file (xx will be replaced by a number) from www.PTSoftwareSolutions.com then perform the following steps: 1) Close any open programs. 2) Double click on the file PTRAxx.EXE 3) Follow the setup directions that are displayed. 4) After the installation is complete restart your computer (from the Windows Start menu, Shut down option.)

How to change the computers screen resolution:

1) Double click on the My Computer icon that is on the Windows desktop. This is probably in the upper left-hand corner. If you are using Windows XP, select My Computer from the Start menu. 2) Double click on the Control Panel 3) Double click on the Display 4) Select the Settings tab by clicking on it (this is in the upper-right hand corner.) 5) In the lower portion of the screen there is a section called either Screen area or Screen Resolution. Drag the arrow until it displays 800 by 600 pixels. If your resolution is already equal or higher than this, there is no reason to change its value.

The directions in this user manual were designed for Microsoft Windows 95 & 98. If you are using a different version of Windows and you notice a variance in what is described, refer to your Windows user manual for more information. Appendix A describes how to tell the amount of free disk space that you have available on your computer.

Starting PT Rental Assistant

To start PT Rental Assistant : From the Windows start menu, choose: Programs, PT Software, PT Rental Assistant or use the PT Rental Assistant short cut that is on your Windows desktop. Always close PT Rental Assistant (via the [Exit] button) before shutting down the computer. Do not start multiple sessions of PT Rental Assistant (by selecting it from the Windows Start menu or clicking on a short cut multiple times.) You should only see one PT Rental Assistant icon on the Windows bar located at the bottom of your screen. If you see more that one, close all sessions of PT Rental Assistant (via the [Exit] button) then restart only one session. When you start PT Rental Assistant , if you see a form with the title Locate the Data File, refer to Appendix B Trouble Shooting / Error Messages : Locate Data File section. If an error message is displayed when you attempt to start PT Rental Assistant , and the program does not start: refer to Appendix B Program will not start section.

Problems:

Whats next?
1) Read the README.TXT file that is in the same directory where the PT Rental Assistant program was installed. You may read this by choosing from the Windows Start Menu: Programs, PT Software, Read Me. For a brief introduction to PT Rental Assistant and this manual, read / scan chapter 2. The chapter also explains what to do if you have questions or problems.

2)

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Chapter 2

Introduction

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Introduction
PT Rental Assistant is designed for residential, commercial and industrial rental properties. It provides a means to record and track important information about your business in an automated fashion. This allows you to extract this data in a very quick and easy manner, which will save you a considerable amount of time. PT Rental Assistant will assist you with managing assets, income, expenses, tenant information, and budgets. PT Rental Assistant also saves you time when you are entering data. For example: the Rent Entry form, which is the entry form used most often, has an Auto Fill feature built into it. After you select the name of the tenant that is paying rent, all of the other information is automatically entered for you! This includes the payment date, time period the rent is for, amount of the rent etc. Of course you can manually override any of this information if you desire. You will especially enjoy the timesavings at tax time. With a few clicks of the mouse the program will produce information that can take many hours to compile manually. The following portions of this manual will discuss the details of how to use PT Rental Assistant . The chapters are basically laid out in the order that they should be read. In particular you will need to perform the steps in Setup, Property, and Tenant / Unit before you use other parts of the program. Important Note: It is highly recommended that you read through each section of this manual to gain a clear understanding of the program. However it is of the up most importance that you read and understand the sections that discuss the income payment and penalty payment sections of the program. The features that are built into this part can save you a considerable amount of time, however you need to apply them appropriately so they will yield the desired results. It is also vital that you read and understand the Tenant / Unit chapter. This directly effects rent payment calculations. The directions in this user manual were designed for Microsoft Windows 95 & 98. If you are using a different version of Windows and you notice a variance in what is described, refer to your Windows user manual for more information.

Benefits of Using PT Rental Assistant

Using PT Rental Assistant will save you time and allow you to access detailed or summarized information in a convenient manner. This allows you to make business decisions in a fraction of the time that it would take if you were to use a manual method. Since this automated method is convenient, you will most likely analyze numbers more frequently than you would otherwise. This in itself can be advantageous to the business. You can invest the time that you save into tasks that cannot be automated. For example, finding renters for the property that has a lease about to expire. Areas PT Rental Assistant focuses on Income which includes automated penalty calculations for over due rent payments. Expenses Capital Expenditures Depreciation of Assets Tax reporting information (easily provided) Status of: Properties, Tenants, and Leases. Budgeting

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Capacity of PT Rental Assistant

The capacity of PT Rental Assistant depends on what model you are using. The model number is equal to the number of units (this term is described in the Terms and definitions section below) of information that can be entered in to the program. If you desire, you may upgrade your current model to one that can hold a greater number of units. Models of PT Rental Assistant that are currently available: Model UNREGISTERED / lite (It can hold three units) Model 10 Model 20 Model 50 Model 100 Model 200 Model Unlimited Your model number is displayed when you first start the program (in the About form). To find out how may units of information that you have entered in to PT Rental Assistant look at the Units Used value in the System Info form. This form can be displayed from the Utility form.

Program & Documentation Conventions

When the documentation refers to pressing a button on a form or pressing a key on the keyboard, the name of it will be enclosed in brackets [].

General Information about Forms Within PT Rental Assistant there are two main types of forms that contain your property and tenant related data. The Entry form, for entering information. And the Edit form, for viewing information that you have already entered (you may also modify this data). The entry forms contain the [Add] or [Add Record] buttons. After entering data into the form you may press this button to add additional data. The edit forms contain the or arrow buttons. Pressing the back arrow (pointing to the left) shows the previous record. The forward arrow shows the next record.

Navigational Buttons

Look at figure 2-2 for a navigational button example (toward the end of this chapter). Navigational buttons are either at the bottom of a form or subform. They are used to move between different records. There may be 4 or 5 navigational buttons. Looking at them from left to right they do the following: Button 1: moves to the first record. Button 2: moves to the previous record. Button 3: moves to the next record. Button 4: moves to the last record. Button 5: allows you to create a new record (not all forms or subforms have this button). When a button is grayed out, it means that you cannot press it. For example: if you are at the first record, button 2 will be grayed out. This is because you cannot go to the previous record when you are already at the first record. 13

The number that follows button 2 shows what record you are currently at. The number that follows the last button shows the current number of records that can be shown by this form or subform. Only forms that have multiple records for you to navigate through have navigational buttons.

When you have questions about PT Rental Assistant Built in Help: When entering information into a field, move the cursor to the field and look at the bottom of the screen for details on what information should be entered into that field. If you are not sure what a button on a form does, move the mouse pointer over it and more information will be displayed. More extensive Help: When you need more information than what the built in help provides, refer to this User Guide. First look at the chapter that pertains to the section of the program that you are working in (Property, Tenant/Unit etc.) If you dont find the information you are seeking then look in Appendix A Questions and Answers and Appendix B Trouble Shooting / Error Messages. Technical Support Notice: Only people that have registered PT Rental Assistant may contact PT Software Solutions, Inc. for technical support. Make sure you have searched for the information in the areas mentioned above before initiating contact. If it becomes necessary to contact PT Software Solutions, Inc. make sure you have the following information: Your Registered ID Your Registered Name Application Version (The above information is displayed when you select the About menu item within PT Rental Assistant . This is located at the top of the screen.) The version of the Microsoft Windows that you are using.

Contact by writing: If you contact PT Software Solutions, Inc. by writing make sure to include the information above plus: Your Name The name of the company that you represent (if applicable). A phone # and time of day that you can be reached (this is optional, but can be helpful.) An address that you can be reached at (email or postal address). A detailed description of the question or problem. For example: if an error message is being displayed, you need to write exactly what steps took place before this message was displayed.

Email: If you choose to send email, do NOT enclose attachments. 14

Email address: Support@PTSoftwareSolutions.com The subject line of the email needs to contain the following: The word Support, followed by your Registered ID, followed by todays date. Example: Support 4898-419 2003-01-31. (Do not include the quotes). The date should be in year, month, day format. If the email is a continuation of an issue that is being currently addressed, include the Call Log # that has been assigned to it. For example: Support 4898-419 2003-01-31 L51075. Do not include any other information in the subject line.

FAX: Fax phone #: (775) 743-2576

Postal Address: PT Software Solutions, Inc. P.O. Box 1007 Bristol, IN 46507-1007 Attention: Tech Support

Charges for Technical Support: Included with the purchase of PT Rental Assistant are 3 incidences. An incidence is a question about PT Rental Assistant . If more incidences are needed they may be purchased. The price of one incidence is $25 (at the time this manual was printed). Support price and availability is subject to change without notice. Contacting PT Software Solutions, Inc. other than Technical Support: Sales Information: For sales or information, you may contact PT Software Solutions, Inc. at: Email: Sales@PTSoftwareSolutions.com Postal Address: PT Software Solutions, Inc. P.O. Box 1007 Bristol, IN 46507-1007 Comments & Suggestions for PT Rental Assistant Our goal is to make life a little easier for people who are involved in Rental Property management. Therefore, if you have any suggestions on any features that you would like added or changed with PT Rental Assistant , we would like to hear from you. Our primary objective for PT Rental Assistant is to provide you with an efficient way to perform record keeping and reporting that is easy to use. You may send comments to the postal address listed above or send an email to Info@PTSoftwareSolutions.com. Please include the word Comment on the subject line.

Additional Information: If you have access to the Internet, additional information can be found at: www.PTSoftwareSolutions.com or www.PTSS.biz 15

Whats New in Version 2: In addition to the timesaving features found in the original PT Rental Assistant , version 2 includes: Export Features: Now data can be easily exported to other popular software (i.e. Microsoft Excel, Lotus 123 etc.) Customized billing notes may be added to tenant invoices and receipts. A Property Notes field has been added so you may enter customized / specific information pertaining to each property. The Model Upgrade feature has been added to the utility section. Additional Rent Due Summary reports. Additional navigational buttons have been added to the edit forms (version 2.1).

Terms and definitions:

The following is a list of terms that you may or may not already be familiar with. The terms followed with an * mean that an example is shown on one of the following pages. Dont feel that you have to memorize all of these terms, just remember where you can reference them when the need arises.

Active Unit Button*

A unit that is currently rented to tenant(s). A graphic or picture of a button that is shown on a form. You use your mouse to point to the button, then you press (and release) your left mouse button to select the graphic button. Selecting an item (word, name etc.) or button that is displayed on the computer screen. You move the mouse pointer so it is over the item or button, then press (and release) the left mouse button. Pressing and releasing a button on the mouse. If it does not state what button to press, then you should press the left mouse button. Data is another term for information. Usually data is organized in a particular

Choose

Click

Data manner. Double Click Drag

When you press and release a mouse button two times rapidly. When you put your mouse pointer on top of an object (like a button within a scroll bar.) Then press the left mouse button (holding it down) and move the mouse. This drags the button in that direction. Then release the mouse button. A list of items (words, numbers, etc) that is displayed after you press on the list boxs down arrow. A rectangle area on a form that contains data / information, or allows you to enter data into it. In computer terms, a file is a set of information that is stored on your hard disk or other type of computer media. Files fall into one of the following categories: data 16

Drop Down List Box*

Field*

File

(useful information, like your rental information created with PT Rental Assistant ), programs (like PT Rental Assistant , Windows etc), graphics, sound. Form* A graphical screen that contains one or a combination of the following: information for you to read, buttons for you to select, fields for you to enter data. To highlight something, you do the following: position the mouse pointer to the left of data within a field. Press and hold the left mouse button down. Drag (move) the mouse to the right. As you do so, you will notice that you are highlighting data within the field. Release the left mouse button. A key on your computer keyboard. A label is text that describes what a field is for. The first menu that is displayed in PT Rental Assistant . The upper left corner of the form says Main Menu. Within PT Rental Assistant , a menu is a type of form that contains buttons for you to select from. After you press the button, another form will be displayed. The Main Menu is an example of this. When other programs or documentation refer to a menu, they may be referring to a Menu Bar. Menu Bars are displayed directly under the program title / name (which is at the top of your screen or active window.) The device that you use to move the mouse pointer on your computer screen. The arrow that moves on your computer screen when you move your mouse. Some times this is an I beam or other symbol. Navigational buttons are either at the bottom of a form or subform. They are used to move between different records. There may be 4 or 5 navigational buttons. Looking at them from left to right they do the following: Button 1: moves to the first record. Button 2: moves to the previous record. Button 3: moves to the next record. Button 4: moves to the last record. Button 5: allows you to create a new record (not all forms or subforms have this button). When a button is grayed out, it means that you cannot press it. For example: if you are at the first record, button 2 will be grayed out. This is because you cannot go to the previous record when you are already at the first record. The number that follows button 2 shows what record you are currently at. The number that follows the last button shows the current number of records that can be shown by this form or subform. Only forms that have multiple records for you to navigate through have navigational buttons. Look at figure 2-2 for a navigational button example. Press Property Pushing / selecting a button. This is a logical grouping of unit(s). This may refer to a house, building or group of buildings. The property may be for single-family, multi-family occupancy, commercial, or industrial use. Income, expense, and other information can be reported by property (as well as by unit). The Unit definition gives some examples. However you define it to best suit your needs. 17

Highlight*

Key Label Main Menu*

Menu

Menu Bar*

Mouse Mouse Pointer

Navigational Buttons*

Radio Button

A button that is within a group of other buttons. Only one button within the group may be selected at one time. Like selecting a station on your car radio. A set of data that makes a logical unit. For example: When you look within a phone book, one line will contain a persons name, address & phone number. This would be an example of a record. Since this data all relates to one person, it is a logical unit.

Record

Regular Payment Period A time frame that is defined for a tenant or group of tenants that rent a unit. This is specified in the Tenant / Unit form, the Frequency Of Payments field. The value will be one of the following: weekly, biweekly, monthly Required Field Fields that require data to be entered into them. Required fields are designated by their labels being underlined (the label is the text that describes what the field is for.) For example, look at the Property Desc. field in figure 2-3. A scroll bar is displayed when more data exists, but there is not enough room to display it. By pressing on the arrows at either end of the scroll bar or by dragging the box / button, you can display more data. A form within another form. Often a subform will contain a list of items or records. You may display other items or records by using the subforms scroll bar or navigational buttons. A unit is one or more sections within a property. A single-family house is specified as one property and one unit. A duplex is one property and two units. An apartment building is one property and the number of units are = to the number of apartments within the building. One office could be considered one unit within an office complex. One storage unit would be a unit within a rental storage building. A unit that is not currently rented.

Scroll Bar*

Subform*

Unit

Vacant Unit

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19

20

21

Scroll Bar Example

Figure 2-4

Figure 2-4 shows two examples of a scroll bar. The one on the right is used to display other parts of the form. You may scroll it up or down. The scroll bar located about 2/3 of the way down the form is a horizontal bar. It belongs to the subform and allows you to see other fields within the subform. You may scroll by either dragging the gray rectangle or by clicking on one of the arrows on either end of the scroll bar.

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Closing a Report

Figure 2-5

To close a report that has been displayed to the screen, click on the X marked with a 1. If you click on the X marked with a 2, PT Rental Assistant will end.

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Form with no Buttons

Figure 2-6

If a form is displayed with no buttons, you may close the form by clicking on the X marked as number 1. The reason that this edit form is blank is because there are no records that match the criteria that the user has entered on the selection form. The selection form is the one displayed immediately before the edit form (not shown in this example).

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Chapter 3

Setup

25

Setup
The setup portion of the program is used to specify your preferences for various settings. To display the Setup menu: from the main menu, choose: [Setup / Utility], [Setup].

Figure 3-1

Quarterly Time Periods

Quarterly Time Periods is used to assign what months belong to a particular quarter. For example, if you use a calendar year: the first quarter would contain the months January, February, and March. To display this form, press the [Quarterly Time Periods] button.
Figure 3-2

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To change the fiscal quarter for a particular month, highlight the number in the quarter column as shown in Figure 3-2. Then type the desired quarter value (1-4). After the months have the desired quarter value, press the [Close] button.

Time Periods for Budget Info

This is used for selecting the time periods that you want to use for budgeting and reporting purposes. To display this form, press the [Time Periods for Budget Info] button. Choose the desired Time Periods by clicking in the Selected column. A check mark shows that the Time Period has been chosen.

Figure 3-3

You should select the time periods that you want before entering any budget information. Press the [Close] button when you have selected the desired Time Periods.

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Expense Categories
Expense Categories are used to keep track of expenses (by category). Some standard categories have already been established. You may add new categories or change existing categories at anytime. You may also delete categories, however you should not delete a category if you have entered expense information relating to it.

Figure 3-4

Press the [Close] button after you have made your desired changes.

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Capital Expenditure Categories

Capital Expenditure Categories are used to help you keep track of your cost and depreciation of assets. You use this form in the same manner as the Expense Category form.

Figure 3.5

Company Name
The company name is printed on some of the reports. To enter this value, press the [Other Values] button on the Setup form.

This is the last form within the Setup section of the program. You may now press the [Close] button on each form until you have returned to the Main Menu.

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Chapter 4

Property

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Property
The property section keeps track of basic information pertaining to your residential dwellings. The program uses the following terminology:

Property

This refers to either a building or house. The property may be for single-family, multi-family occupancy, or commercial use. A unit is one or more sections within a property. A single-family house is specified as one property and one unit. A duplex is one property and two units. An apartment building is one property and the number of units are = to the number of apartments within the building. One office could be considered one unit within an office complex. One storage unit would be a unit within a rental storage building. A unit that is currently rented to tenant(s). A unit that is not currently rented.

Unit

Active Unit Vacant Unit

To display the Property menu, press the [Property] button from the Main Menu.

Figure 4-1

From the Property Menu you may choose to: enter new property data, edit existing data, or display information about properties that have already been entered. In the report section of the form, you may have reports displayed on the computer screen, or printed on the printer. Just choose the appropriate radio button by clicking on the circle to the left of Screen or Printer. 31

Enter Properties
The Property Entry form is used to initially enter information for a particular property. Press the [Enter Properties] button to display this form.

Figure 4-1

Description:

The description field requires a unique value. This description of the property will be used throughout the program to identify this particular property. This may contain any property specific information that you want to include. The other property fields are self-explanatory.

Memo:

Other property fields: Unit Information Unit Description:

Enter a Unit Description for each unit that is contained in this property. If the property is a single-family house, you might choose to just enter the value House. If the property is for multiple families, you may wish to enter Apt 1 for the first apartment, Apt 2 for the second etc. Of course, if this were for an apartment building, you would just enter the apartment number into this field. Refer to the Introduction chapter to see how to use the navigational buttons within this subform. Rentable Square Footage: This is the square footage within an apartment, house or office etc. Common Square Footage: Examples of common areas for residential apartments would be: laundry room, club house. For commercial property: meeting rooms, hallways etc. Gross Square Footage: This field is calculated: Rentable Square Footage + Common Square Footage. 32

Rent SF

Common SF

Gross SF

When you are done entering property record or record(s), press the [Close] button. To enter multiple records, press navigational button # 5 at the bottom of the form (not the subform). A blank form will be displayed for you to enter the next property. If you are not familiar with these terms, refer to the Introduction chapter, Terms and definitions section. Note: If the Select Data Source form is displayed after entering a property record, make sure you follow the steps in the Error Messages appendix, Select Data Source form section.

If you receive an error message stating:

Look in the Error Messages appendix, Property form section. Edit Properties The Edit Property form is used to change property information that has already been entered. Press the [Edit Properties] button to display the form. The form works the same as the Property Entry form except you do not add property data, you change it. The Edit form also has a [Delete] button. This allows you to delete a property record; Warning only do this if you do not have any other detailed information based on this property. For example: tenant unit records, rent income records etc. (these are described in chapters to follow.) Use the forms navigational buttons to move from one property record to another.

Property Reports Property & Unit

This will print information about a particular property and list the description of each unit. Press the [Property & Unit] button (from the Property form) and the form in figure 4-2 will be displayed.

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Figure 4-2 Press the down arrow on the drop down list box and the list of properties will be displayed. Select the property you want by clicking on it, and then press the [Print] button. A report on that property will be displayed. If you have printed the report to the screen, it will look like figure 4.3. Figure 4-3 To close this screen, press the X in the upper right hand corner.

All Properties The [All Properties] button (from the Properties form) will print information pertaining to all properties. It does not list unit descriptions.

All Properties & Units The [All Properties & Units] button will print information for all properties and their unit descriptions.

Active Units This prints all the units that are active (are currently rented to tenants).

Vacant Units This prints all units that are not currently rented.

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Chapter 5

Tenant / Unit

35

Tenant / Unit
This section of the program contains information that is specific to a tenant (or tenants) that is/are renting a particular unit. Examples of information: how often does the tenant pay rent, how much is rent (dollar amount) etc. Each Tenant / Unit record contains data (information) that is specific to one particular unit and the tenants that are renting the unit. To display the Tenant / Unit menu, press the [Tenant / Unit] button from the Main Menu.

Figure 5-1

Warning: If you enter incorrect values into the Tenant / Unit fields, then the rental income calculations will be incorrect.

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Enter Tenant Unit Records To enter information for a new tenant or tenants, press the [Enter Tenant / Unit] button.

Figure 5-2 Buttons on the form: [Cancel] If you are entering information into this form (figure 5.2) and decide that you dont want to save this record after all, press the [Cancel] button. Then you will need to choose Yes to confirm deleting the current record. The [Cancel] button is located in the upper right hand corner. When you are done entering tenant / unit record(s), press the [Close] button. The current record will be saved and the form will be closed. If you are done entering data for one record and would like to enter additional records, press the [Add Record] button. This will save the current record then display a blank form for you to enter another record.

[Close]

[Add Record]

Required fields: There are fields on this form that require you to enter information into them before you can add the record. Required fields have their labels (the title which is usually to the left of the field) underlined.

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Closing the form / Adding a Record Before you close the form or add a record, enter data into all applicable fields as well as the required fields. For example, if you leave the Tenant Payment Amt field = 0, the tenant will never owe any money for rent. Use the [Close] button to close the form.

Entering Data You must first enter data into the Property field, then the Unit field. Until the Property and Unit fields contain data, the other fields on the form will appear grayed out. Fields: Property Type the property description into this field, or press the down arrow of the drop down list box. Choose the desired value. When you start typing a value, the list box will attempt to guess which value you want. The more characters that you enter, the more accurate its guess will become. When the correct value is displayed, you may press the [Tab] key on your keyboard to move to the next field. The property fields value must be one of the property descriptions already entered into the program. Refer to the Property chapter for details. Data must be entered into the Property field before any other fields on the form. Unit Select the appropriate unit from the drop down list box. Only vacant units for the specified property are displayed. After you select a unit value, the other fields in the form become available for you to enter data into. The Property and Unit fields are then locked so their values cannot be changed. If you have selected the wrong property and unit values, you will need to press the [Cancel] button, choose Yes; then go back into the Tenant / Unit Entry form to enter the desired values.

Tenant Information: The tenant information pertains to tenants that are living in this particular unit. It is recommended that you enter a tenant record for each tenant that is living in this unit. You must select one of the tenants as a primary tenant or they will not show up in other parts of the program including Rent Due Reports! Important ! Select one of the tenants as the primary tenant! Make sure he / she has a check mark in the active field. Read details in the Active & Primary Tenant fields.

You will use the navigational buttons and the scroll bar to move around within this subform. If you are not familiar with how to do this, refer to the Introduction chapter, Terms and definitions section. Name Fields Enter each tenants First and Last names, the middle initial is optional (if you type the initial, only enter one letter). Social Security Number of the tenant. This field is optional. This field is optional. Make sure the tenant has a check mark in the Active field! This shows that the person is a current tenant. After the person moves out of the unit, the program will uncheck this field. This field must be checked in order to bill the tenant!

SSN Birth Date Active

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Primary Tenant Make sure to mark one of the tenants as a primary tenant! It does not matter to the program which tenant you select as the primary tenant, but make sure you choose one of them. Due to space limitations in reports and some drop down list boxes, all tenants cannot be displayed. Therefore the designated primary tenant is displayed. However if you do not select a primary tenant for a Tenant / Unit record, then no one will show up to represent this Tenant / Unit record. For example: this tenant will not show up in the Rent Due Report! Only select one tenant as the primary tenant. A primary tenant is selected by moving the mouse pointer to the Primary Tenant field, then clicking the mouse button. A check mark will appear in the field when it is selected. Memo This is an optional field. You may type any information about the tenant into this field. This is the last field within the Tenant Information subform.

First Day of Lease

Enter the date of the first day of the leasing period. Enter this in the format of MM/DD/YY where MM = two digits representing the month, DD = two digits representing the day, and YY two digits representing the Year. Optionally you may enter four digits for the year. When the date is displayed, it will show four digits for the year. Visually verify that this is the date you desire. Example date that you would enter: 01/01/99 This would be displayed as: 01/01/1999 Use this same format for other date fields.

Last Day of Lease

Enter the last day of the leasing period.

Frequency of Payments Pick a value from the drop down list box. This shows how often the tenant will make rent payments. Rent Deposit Tenant Payment Amt Enter the amount that the tenant has given for a deposit. This is how much a tenant pays for each payment period. A payment period is defined by the Frequency of Payments value. (If the government pays for a portion of the rent, then do not include that amount in this value.) If this tenant receives assistance (for rent) from the Government, then enter the amount that Government pays for each payment period. This is the date of the first day that the tenant will make a regularly scheduled payment. For example: if the tenant pays on a weekly bases and he pays on Friday, then this date would fall on a Friday. If she pays on a monthly bases and she pays at the beginning of the month, then the date would fall on the 1st of the month. Important: If the tenant pays on a monthly bases, the First Regular Payment Due Date needs to fall between the 1st and the 28th (inclusive) day of the month. When the cursor is moved to this field, a message will be displayed at the bottom of your screen stating this. Obviously you wouldnt want your tenant to pay on the 29th 39

Gov. Assistance Amt

First Regular Payment Due Date

day of each month, because you would not receive any rent in February! Manual Late Payment Penalty You enter a value into this field when you manually want to enter a payment penalty amount. Manually meaning that you enter the dollar amount versus the program calculating an amount for you. If a dollar amount is entered into this field, it means that this will be the amount charged for a late payment penalty. If and when this amount is charged, depends on the value entered in the Late Payment Penalty Type field. Late Payment Penalty Type This field designates if a late payment imposes a fixed dollar amount of penalty, a % amount, or a manual entry amount of penalty.

The following are valid values for this field: Fixed Uses the fixed dollar amount thats in the Late Payment Penalty Fixed Amount field. Uses the % amount that is in the Late Payment Penalty % Amount field. Uses the dollar amount that is in the Manual Late Payment Penalty field. If the tenant is late in making payments, then this is the dollar amount that will be charged for the late payment penalty amount. Also uses the Manual Late Payment Penalty field amount for the payment penalty charge. However it always charges for the amount regardless whether the tenant is late making the payments or not. The dollar amount of a late payment penalty for the selected time period. The selected time period is specified in the Frequency of Payments field. For example: If you selected weekly in the Frequency of Payments field, and you entered $10 into the Late Payment Penalty Fixed Amt field; then the tenant will be charged $10 for every week that his payment is over due (this is the late payment penalty amount.) Late Payment Penalty % Amount The percent amount of the late payment penalty. This uses a percentage to determine the penalty payment for the tenant. This shows the grace period that the tenant is allowed before an over due penalty is imposed. This value is the number of days. Valid values are 0 (zero) or any positive whole number. Tenants phone number.

Percent

Manual

Always

Late Payment Penalty Fixed Amt

Grace Period for Payments

Phone Number

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Unit Information Information in this section is for display only. If you need to change the data within the Rentable Square Footage or Common Square Footage fields, go to the Property form. Rentable Square Footage This is the square footage within an apartment, house or office etc. Examples of common areas for residential apartments would be: laundry room, club house. For commercial property: meeting rooms, hallways etc. This field is calculated: Rentable Square Footage + Common Square Footage This field is calculated: Tenant Payment Amt + Gov. Assistance Amt / Rentable Square Footage.

Common Square Footage

Gross Square Footage

Cost Per Rentable Square Foot

Contact Information This information would be used if an emergency occurred. Work Phone Number Most likely you would want the Work Phone Number to apply to the Primary Tenant. A person to contact incase of an emergency. The phone # of the Emergency Contact.

Emergency Contact Emergency Contact Phone

Memo Billing Notes

Any notes you want to associate with this Tenant / Unit record. You may enter any information that you would like included on the tenants invoice and rental payment receipt. Perhaps a tenant has several other charges besides his basic rent. This field can be used to list each charge. Then have the Tenant Payment Amt field contain the total of these charges. Example: Rent $700 Utilities $250 Carport $50

Example of entering Penalty values for a Tenant: This example only shows the values of fields that apply to late payment penalties. Other values would be needed to actually create this Tenant / Unit record. Joe Smith is the tenant. Joe pays rent each week. We will charge Joe a late payment penalty amount of $10 for each week that he is late in making his payment. We will not give Joe any grace period for late payments. In order to accomplish this, we will enter the following values: 41

Frequency of Payments: weekly Late Payment Penalty Type: fixed Late Payment Penalty Fixed Amt: $10.00 Grace Period for Payments: 0 Note: If Joe is one day late making his rent payment, he will be charged a $10 late payment penalty. This is because we have given Joe no grace period (0 days). The Manual Late Payment Penalty & Late Payment Penalty % Amt fields are left blank (0). These fields do not apply to Joes Tenant / Unit record, because we are using the fixed Late Payment Penalty Type. If these two fields did contain values, they would be ignored by the computer (because the fixed value is chosen.) If you are uncertain about which payment penalty method to use or about which fields to fill in, the Rental Calculations chapter will clarify this for you.

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Edit Tenant / Unit To view or edit previously entered Tenant / Unit records press the [Edit Tenant / Unit] button from the Tenant Unit form. The Selection Type form is displayed. It allows you to select a record either by Tenant Name or by Property / Unit. If you press the [by Tenant Name] button, the following form is displayed.

Figure 5-3

When the form in figure 5-3 is first displayed, only the top 1/3 of it will be visible. This form allows you to select the record by the tenants name. Follow these steps: 1. Type the first few characters of the tenants last name (this step is optional). 2. Press the [Find] button. Tenants that match the letters that you typed will be displayed in the box below. 3. Select the person that you want to view or edit by moving the mouse pointer on top of the persons name. Then press the left mouse button. The persons name will become highlighted like the first name in the figure 5-3. If there are many names in the box and you do not see the one you want, use the scroll bar to display additional names (for more details on scroll bars, refer to the Introduction chapter, Terms and definitions section.) 4. Press the [OK] button. The Edit Tenant / Unit form will display the record containing the persons name that you have chosen.

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The Edit Tenant / Unit form: Warning: Exercise care when changing values in this form. Incorrect values can result in incorrect results for rental income calculations. This form looks the same as the Entry form with the following exceptions: Buttons on the Form: There is no [Cancel] button. [Inactive] This button is used after tenants move out of the unit. This marks the Unit record as being inactive, making it available for a new set of tenants. Important: Once a Tenant / Unit record is inactive, it will no longer display any information in the Rent Due reports, because this set of people are no longer tenants. If this set of tenants have outstanding bills, make sure to make a note of this before you mark the record as inactive. Once a record is marked inactive, it cannot be changed back to active. So be careful not to mark it prematurely. If this does happen, you will need to reenter this Tenant / Unit record through the Tenant / Unit Entry form. [Delete] This will delete the Tenant / Unit record. In most cases you will only want to delete a Tenant / Unit record if you entered information incorrectly and you want to reenter it from scratch. When tenants move out you will want to mark them Inactive, not delete them. This way you still have the information in the computer for historical reference. When a Tenant / Unit record is deleted, all associated Rental Income records & tenant information are also deleted.

Paid Thru Field: This field displays the last day that the particular tenant is paid through. The program calculates this value for you after the first Rental Income record is entered. Important: You should not need to change the value in the Paid Thru Field. Exceptions to this rule are: a) b) If you allow a tenant to end their lease in the middle of a payment period. If you accept a partial payment from a tenant. If you do this, then you need to follow the procedure for partial payments. See Appendix C Partial Payments.

If an incorrect value is entered into this field, the rental income calculations will be incorrect!

If a tenant makes monthly payments, then the Paid Thru date needs to be between the days 1-27 inclusive or the last day of the month. The Paid Thru Field is discussed in more detail within the Rent / Income chapter. Please refer to it before making any changes to this value.

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Chapter 6

Rental Calculations

45

Rental Calculations Time Based Financial Calculations

Due to variations in the calendar (different number of days in months etc.) developing methods for computing financial calculations have often been a challenge. For years some formulas have assumed that each month contains 30 days and the year has 360 days. Although this is not exact it gives a close representation. However this method is not of particular use when you are dealing with different time periods (1 week, 2 weeks etc.) So the above method is not used in this program. Various other processes are used based on the time period and payment penalty that you select for a particular tenant. Here again, due to the variations of the calendar and other factors, these calculations may not always yield the exact answer. However in most cases the end result will be more accurate and applicable than what older formulas (as mentioned above) have yield in the past. You may wish to run some sample information through the program so you can see the results of the rent due and associated penalty payment calculations. If you prefer, you may always manually enter the amounts that are due, however most people will prefer having the program compute them.

Methods for Penalty Calculations

PT Rental Assistant offers several methods from which you may choose to have penalty calculations based. Each tenant (or group of tenants renting one unit) has her method of penalty calculation established within the Tenant / Unit record. This allows the flexibility of using different methods for different renters, if you desire. The method used is defined by the Late Payment Penalty Type field in the Tenant / Unit form. Each type is described below: Fixed This charges the tenant a fixed dollar amount when they are late making a payment. It will charge a specified amount for each regular payment period (either weekly, biweekly or monthly) they are late making a payment. Example: Mary Miller pays rent each week. She pays $125 each Friday. Her Late Penalty Fixed Amount is $10. She is not allowed any grace period for late payments. If Mary misses her payment on Friday, then pays the next day, she will owe a $10 penalty amount. This is because she entered the next payment period before making her payment. If she didnt make her payment until the following Saturday, her penalty amount would be $20. The following fields on the Tenant / Unit form are filled in to establish the Fixed penalty method. The given values match Marys example. Tenant Payment Amt: $125 Frequency of Payments: weekly First Regular Payment Due Date: (This can be any date prior to this unpaid time period that falls on a Friday.) Late Payment Penalty Type: fixed Late Payment Penalty Fixed Amt: $10.00 Grace Period for Payments: 0

If Mary had a grace period of 1 (day) then she would not be charged a penalty fee until Sunday.

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Percent This charges the tenant an annual percentage amount base on the number of over due days and dollar amount of what they owe. Example: Joe Smith pays $500 for rent on the first day each month. His Late Payment Penalty % Amount is 18. He is not allowed a grace period for late payments. If Joe misses his payment on the first day of the month and pays on the second day, his late payment penalty is calculated as follows: (1 / 365) * 18% * 500 = $0.25 The following fields on the Tenant / Unit form are filled in to establish the Percent penalty method. The given values match Joes example. Tenant Payment Amt: $500 Frequency of Payments: monthly First Regular Payment Due Date: (This can be any date prior to this unpaid time period that falls on the 1st of the month.) Late Payment Penalty Type: percent Late Payment Penalty Percent Amt: 18 Grace Period for Payments: 0 Manual This charges the tenant a set dollar amount if she is late with making her payment. It doesnt matter if she is one day or 100 days late, the same penalty amount is charged. Joan Jones pays rent biweekly. She pays $275 every other Friday. Her Manual Late Payment Penalty is $25. She is not allowed any grace period for late payments. The following fields on the Tenant / Unit form are filled in to establish the Manual penalty method. The given values match Joans example. Tenant Payment Amt: $275 Frequency of Payments: biweekly First Regular Payment Due Date: (This can be any date prior to this unpaid time period that falls on an appropriate Friday.) Late Payment Penalty Type: manual Manual Late Payment Penalty Amt: 25 Grace Period for Payments: 0 Always This is like the manual method except that the set dollar amount is always charged, whether the tenant is late making the payment or not. This would be used if the tenant owed an additional amount of money; so you want him to be billed for it regardless of the time period. Alternatively you can just manually add the dollar amount to the Amount Tenant Paid field in the Rental Income Entry form. James Johnson pays rent Monthly. He pays $600 on the 1st of each month. James also owes an additional $200. Grace periods are irrelevant when using the always method. The following fields on the Tenant / Unit form are filled in to establish the Always penalty method. The given values match Jamess example. Tenant Payment Amt: $600 Frequency of Payments: monthly First Regular Payment Due Date: (This can be any date prior to this unpaid time period that falls on the 1st of the month.) Late Payment Penalty Type: always 47

Manual Late Payment Penalty Amt: 200 Grace Period for Payments: 0 (is not used in this example)

48

Base + Daily This payment penalty charges the tenant a fixed amount if payment is over due plus a fixed amount for every day the payment is late. Example: Rent is due on the 1st day of each month. Grace Period is 5 days Late Payment Penalty Type = base+daily Late Payment Penalty Base Amt = $50 Late Payment Penalty Daily Amt = $5 If tenant pays on the 6th day, he will owe a penalty charge of $80 ($50 for fixed amount, plus $30 ($5 * 6)).

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Chapter 7

Rent / Income

50

Rent / Income
The Rent / Income section is where all forms of income are entered into the program. This includes rent payments from tenants and other income (if applicable) from coin operated washing machines, vending machines etc. Before using the Rent / Income portion of the program, you must have already entered any related Property & Tenant / Unit records. Refer to the previous chapters for this information. To display the Rent / Income menu form, press the [Rent / Income] button from the Main Menu.

Figure 7-1

This form (figure 7-1) is divided into three main sections: The Data Entry section is for initially entering records. The Edit Data section is for viewing or modifying records that have been already entered. The Report section is for printing reports that pertain to rent or other income.

The Print to: portion of the form controls the destination of the reports (either the screen or the printer).

51

Rental Income To enter rental income from tenants press the [Rental Income] button from the Data Entry section. This displays the Rental Income Entry form.

Figure 7-2

Important: It is important to note the major points that are listed about the Rental Income Entry section. This will enable rental calculations to be performed correctly. Major points are marked with an * in the left-hand column. However, it is advised that you have a clear understanding of the whole chapter.

Buttons on the form: [Cancel] If you are entering information into this form (figure 7-2) and decide that you dont want to save this record after all, press the [Cancel] button. Then you will need to choose Yes to confirm deleting the current record. The [Cancel] button is located in the upper right hand corner.

Screen / Printer radio buttons: These apply to the [Tenant Owes] button. They control whether the Rent Due Report is displayed on the screen or printed on the printer. [Tenant Owes] This shows how much the tenant owes by displaying the Rent Due Report. After pressing this button, you should enter the Rent Due date. This can be any date, but most often you would use the current date (todays date.) If you enter a date in the future, remember the penalty charges will not apply if the tenant pays before the date that you entered. Press the [OK] button after entering the date. [Print Receipt] This prints a receipt for the tenant. [Add Record] If you are done entering data for one record and would like to enter additional records, press the [Add Record] button. This will save the current record then display a blank form for you to enter another record. 52

[Close]

When you are done entering Rental Income record(s), press the [Close] button. The current record will be saved and the form will be closed.

Required fields: There are fields on this form that require you to enter information into them before you can add the record. Required fields have their labels (the title which is usually to the left of the field) underlined.

Closing the form / Adding a Record * Before you close the form or add a record, enter data into all applicable fields as well as the required fields. Make sure you enter data into all date fields and enter a dollar amount for the Amount Tenant Paid.

Use the [Close] button to close the form. The term Regular Payment Period is a time frame that is defined for a tenant or group of tenants that rent a unit. This is specified in the Tenant / Unit form, the Frequency Of Payments field. As you may recall the value will be one of the following: weekly, biweekly, monthly.

Fields: Tenant You may type the tenants name into this field, or you may select the down arrow of the drop down list box. Then choose the desired name. When you start typing a value, the list box will attempt to guess which name you want. The more characters that you enter, the more accurate its guess will become. When the correct name is displayed you may press the [Tab] key on your keyboard to move to the next field. Values for these fields are automatically entered for you. You cannot change them. This is the date that the tenant made the rent payment. The computer enters the current date, an attempt to save you key strokes. If the tenant paid on another day, enter it over the current date. The first day within the payment period. For example, if Joe Smiths rent is due at the beginning of each month and he is paying for February, then the value would be 02/01/2000. If Mary Miller pays rent each week, then this date will always fall on the same weekday. The first time you enter a Rental Income record for a particular tenant (or group of tenants within a unit), this field will be blank. Take care to enter the correct value. After this first record, the value will automatically be entered by the program * This date relates to the First Regular Payment Due Date in the Tenant / Unit form. If the Frequency of Payments (in the Tenant / Unit form) value is monthly, then the day value of the date will always be the same for the First Regular Payment Due Date and the Date of First Day in Pay Period. If the Frequency of Payments value is weekly or biweekly then the weekday in these two fields will always be the same. 53

Property & Unit

Date Paid

Date of First Day in Payment Period

Make sure to keep the above point in mind when you initially enter the Date of First Day in Pay Period. If you ever decide to change the first days number in the payment period (for monthly payments), or weekday (for weekly payments) you will also need to update the First Regular Payment Due Date to reflect the change. If the tenant pays on a monthly bases, the day value must not be larger than 28.

If you enter an incorrect or improper value into this field the rent income calculations will be incorrect.

Paid Thru

This field displays the last day that the particular tenant (or group of tenants that live in the same unit) has paid through. The program calculates this value for you. In most cases you will not want to change this value. Exceptions are: If a tenant is paying for more than one regular payment period. In this case you would enter a date that the tenant is paying through. This date must be the last day of a whole regular payment period. For example: Joe Smith pays rent each month. His payment covers the first day of the month through the last day of the month. Joe is going to be out of town, so he is paying for two months (2 regular payment periods). The first day in the payment period that he is paying for is February 1st. Therefore the Paid Thru date will be on March 31. It cannot be any other day in March because this would not make up a whole regular payment period (in Joes case a regular payment period is a month). If you choose to except a partial payment (payment for part of a regular payment period.) If this occurs you must follow the directions in Appendix C Partial Payments. If you dont follow these directions the rent income calculations will be incorrect. If you allow a tenant to end their lease in the middle of a payment period. Monthly Payment Periods: If a tenants regular payment period is monthly, then the Paid Thru date needs to be between the days 1-27 inclusive or the last day of the month. When the mouse pointer is put on this field, a reminder is displayed. Examples of Paid Thru Dates: Example #1: Joe Smith pays rent each month. His payment covers rent for the first of the month through the last day of the month. So when Joe pays rent for the month of March, his Paid Thru date is 03/31/2000. Example #2: Mary Miller pays rent each week. Her First Day in the Payment Period is Friday, therefore her Paid Thru date will fall on a Thursday (7 days). Warning: If you enter an incorrect or improper value into this field the rent income calculations will be incorrect. For a tenant or group of tenants that rent a particular unit, there is only one Paid Thru date. Remember it is the date that the tenant has paid through. This date is assigned from the Rental Income form, however it is actually stored with the Tenant / Unit record. 54

Modifying Paid Thru: If you discover that you need to change the value of the Paid Thru field after the Rental Income Entry form is closed, you will need to edit the value through the Edit Tenant / Unit form. This is because this is actually where the Paid Thru value is stored. It is not stored with the Rental Income records because there is not a Paid Thru value for each Rental Income record. Amount Tenant Paid This is the dollar amount that the tenant pays for this pay period (which is specified by the Date of First Day in Payment Period and Paid Thru fields.) This value is automatically entered for you. This value is the usual amount the tenant pays each period. If the tenant is late making payments or owes any penalty amounts, then you will need to replace this value with the proper amount. If you suspect either of these cases apply to a tenant, then print the rent due report (for this particular tenant). It will show this information. Other reasons you may need to change this value: If a tenant is paying for more than one pay period. In this case, enter amounts in whole payment amounts. For example: Joe Smith pays rent each month, and his rent is $500 each month. However Joe is making a payment to cover the next two months because he will be out of town. So you would enter $1000 for this payment. Of course the Paid Thru field would also need to reflect this. If you choose to except a partial payment (payment for part of a payment period.) If this occurs you must follow the directions in Appendix C Partial Payments. If you dont follow these directions the rent income calculations will be incorrect.

Amount Gov. Paid

If the tenant is receiving assistance from the government, then the amount the government is paying is entered into this field. This amount is automatically entered for you. This dollar amount should match the time period that is specified in the Date of First Day in Payment Period and Paid Thru fields. This is to record any notes about this payment. This is optional. This contains information that comes from the Tenant / Unit record. If desired, you may modify this information. Changes made from the Rental Income form will only affect this record. It will have no effect on the Tenant Unit record. This information is shown on the tenants receipt.

Comments Billing Notes

Examples of Entering Initial Rental Income Records The following are examples of entering Rental Income records. This is the first time a record has been entered for each tenant (or group of tenants). Assume that todays date is 3/20/2000 Example 1: Joe Smith pays $500 for rent each month. The first day of his regular payment period is the 1st of each month. The last day is the last day of each month. Reviewing Joes Tenant / Unit record the First Regular Payment Due Date is 04/01/2000. You would enter the following values for the fields listed below: Tenant: Smith, Joe 55

Property & Unit are automatically entered for you.

Date Paid:

03/20/2000 (Automatically entered) Since Joe is paying today, the correct date is already entered by the computer.

Date of First Day in Payment Period: 4/1/2000 Note that since Joe pays monthly, the day value in this field must be the same as the day value in the First Regular Payment Due Date. The First Regular Payment Due Date may be the same date as this field or an earlier date. Paid Thru: 04/30/2000 (Automatically entered) $500.00 (Automatically entered) $0.00 (Automatically entered)

Amount Tenant Paid: Amount Gov. Paid:

Example 2:

Mary Miller pays $125 for rent each week. Her regular payment period starts on Friday and ends on Thursday. Mary has been renting for so long that her actual First Regular Payment Due Date is no longer known. So the date 01/07/2000 will be used. This is on a Friday and it is an earlier date than what the first day of the regular payment period will be. Marys payment will be for the dates 3/31/2000 to 4/6/2000. Tenant: Miller, Mary

Property & Unit are automatically entered for you. Date Paid: 03/20/2000 (Automatically entered) Since Mary is paying today, the correct date is already entered by the computer.

Date of First Day in Payment Period: 3/31/2000 Note that since Mary pays weekly, the weekday value in this field must be the same as the weekday value in the First Regular Payment Due Date. The First Regular Payment Due Date may be the same date as this field or an earlier date. Paid Thru: 04/06/2000 (Automatically entered) $125.00 (Automatically entered) $0.00 (Automatically entered)

Amount Tenant Paid: Amount Gov. Paid:

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Edit Rental Income

The Edit Rental Income form is used for viewing and editing Rental Income records that you have previously entered. Before displaying this form, you may specify which records you would like to edit. In order to do this, press the [Rental Income] button from the Edit Data section of the Rent / Income form.

Figure 7-3

Figure 7-3 shows how you may choose the records you are about to view or edit. You may display all records by just pressing the [OK] button. Or you may select a primary tenant and / or enter one pair of date values. Buttons on the Form: [OK] [Close] [Clear All] Displays the records you have specified, one at a time on the Edit Rental Income form. Closes this form without displaying any records. You are returned to the previous menu. Clears the values from the fields on this form.

Edit Rental Income form:

Warning: Exercise care when changing values in this form. Incorrect values can result in incorrect results for rental income calculations. This form looks the same as the Entry form with the following exceptions: Buttons on the Form: There is no [Cancel] button. [Delete] This will delete the Rental Income record. In most cases you will only want to delete a Rental Income record if you entered information for the wrong Tenant and did not realize it until you closed the form. In this case you would also need to change the Paid Thru value in the Tenant / Unit form back to the same value before the incorrect Rental Income record was added. 57

This form also has navigational buttons that you can use to move between records. See the Introduction chapter for more information on this. The Paid Thru field on this form is for display only. If you need to change this value, go to the Edit Tenant / Unit form.

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Other Income

To enter other income (other than rental income) press the [Other Income] button from the Data Entry section of the Rental / Income form.

Figure 7-4

Buttons on this form have the same function as the buttons on the Rental Income form. There are no required fields on this form. However, for the record to be of any value, at least the first three fields should have values entered. Fields: Description This identifies where or what the income is coming from. For example: Washing Machines, Vending Machines etc. This is the date that you received the income (or are recording it.) The amount of income. Any other information that you would like noted with this income record.

Date Amount Comments

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Edit Other Income

The Edit Other Income form is used for viewing or editing Other Income records that you have previously entered. However before displaying this form, you need to specify which records you want to edit. In order to do this, press the [Edit Other Income] button from the Edit Data section of the Rent / Income form.

Figure 7-5

With the Edit Other Income Records form you specify the beginning and ending date of the records you want to view or edit. If you want to display all records regardless of their date, dont specify any dates. Buttons on the Form: [OK] After you have entered the desired dates (or no dates to display all) press OK to view the records one at a time. Closes this form (without displaying any records) and returns you to the previous menu. Clears the date fields for you.

[Close] [Clear All]

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Figure 7-6 Figure 7-6 shows an example of an Other Income Record. You use the navigational buttons at the bottom of the form to move from record to record. Refer to the Introduction chapter for more details.

Warning: Most of the time you will not want to delete any of these records. If you choose to do so, you will no longer have a record of this income. Buttons on the Form: [Delete] [Close] Will delete the record that is currently displayed. Will save any changes that were made and close the form. You will be returned to the previous form.

61

Rent / Income Reports

Collected Rent The collected rent report shows how much rent has been collected for any specified time period. The report may be printed for one unit, one property, all properties, one tenant or all tenants. To make your selection, press the [Collected Rent] button on the Rent / Income menu.

Figure 7-7

Buttons on the Form: Radio buttons These are the circles within the Print Report for: section. Click on a circle to make your choice. (These are called radio buttons because you can only choose one of them.) Press [OK] to proceed with the printing of the report. Press cancel to close this form and return to the previous form. No report will be printed.

[OK] [Cancel]

If you select One Unit or One Property: After pressing the [OK] button (figure 7-7) the following form will be displayed.
Figure 7-8

62

Select the desired Property, Unit, and enter the From and To dates. Dates should be entered in the format MM/DD/YY. If you check the Display Inactive Records then the report will be based on inactive records (tenants that are no longer currently renting). Press [OK] to print the report. If you select One Tenant: After you select the [OK] button (figure 7-7) the following form will be displayed.

Figure 7-9

Enter part of the tenants last name if desired. Enter the From and To dates. Press the [Find] button. The form in figure 7-10 will be displayed.

63

Figure 7-10

Select the desired tenant by clicking his name. The tenant will be highlighted in black as shown above. Press the [OK] button and the report will be printed.

64

Rent Due Report

The Rent Due report shows what rent is due including any overdue amounts and penalty charges. The report may be printed for one unit, one property, all properties, one tenant or all tenants. Note: Before a tenant will appear on this report: The appropriate information will need to be entered in the Tenant / Unit record including the Tenant Payment Amount. One payment will need to be entered for this tenant via the Rental Income Entry form. To print the report: Press the [Rent Due] button from the Rent / Income form. Enter the desired Rent Due date. This can be any date, but most often you would use the current date (todays date). If you enter a date in the future, the penalty charges will not apply if the tenant pays before the date that you enter. Press the [OK] button. Choose to have the report based on one of the following: one unit, one property, all properties, one tenant or all tenants. This form is the same as the Collected Rent report selection mentioned above.

Rent Due Summary Report

This report is like the Rent Due report except it only has one line of data for each tenant. This report is used to create a list of many tenants that owe rent on the same day. The report may be printed for one property, all properties, or all tenants. To print the report: You print this report in the same manner as the Rent Due report except you also select the Summary Report check box.

Overdue Rent Report

The Overdue Rent report shows tenants that have overdue rent. Choose the [Overdue Rent] button from the Rent / Income form. This report is the same as the Rent Due report except it only includes tenants that are overdue in paying rent. Note: Before a tenant will appear on this report: The appropriate information will need to be entered in the Tenant / Unit record including the Tenant Payment Amount. One payment will need to be entered for this tenant via the Rental Income Entry form.

Invoices

This prints invoices for tenants. To print the report: Press the [Invoices] button from the Rent / Income form. 65

Then enter the desired Rent Due date. This can be any date, but most often you would use the current date (todays date). If you enter a date in the future, remember the penalty charges will not apply if the tenant pays before the date that you enter. Press the [OK] button. Choose to have the report based on One Tenant or All Tenants. Press [OK]. Paid Thru Date: You have the option of having the tenants Paid Thru date printed on the invoice. If you want it printed, press the [Yes] button otherwise press [No]. If you have chosen to print an invoice for one tenant, then choose the tenant as described in the Collected Rent report section listed above.

66

Other Income

This report shows Income other than the rental income. This may be from washers, vending machines etc. To print the report: Press the [Other Income] button from the Rent / Income form. Enter the From and To dates specifying the time period that you are interested in. Press the [OK] button.

Income & Expense Comparative

This report shows both the income and expense totals for each unit. Totals are also displayed for properties that have multiple units. The Income amount consists of the rent that is collected from the tenant and the Gov. Assistance amount (where applicable). Other Income is not included in this report. To print the report: Press the [Income & Expense] button from the Rent / Income form. Enter the From and To dates specifying the time period that you are interested in. Select One Property or All Properties. If One is selected, then choose a property from the Drop Down List Box. Press the [OK] button.

67

Chapter 8

Expenses

68

Expenses

The Expense portion of the program is where expenses and depreciation information is entered, viewed / edited and printed. Prior to entering expenses, Property and Unit information will need to be entered into the program. Refer to the Property chapter. Also the Expense Categories should be defined (refer to the Setup chapter). Prior to entering Depreciation information, the Capital Expenditure Categories will need to be defined. Refer to the Setup chapter. To display the Expense menu form, press the [Expense] button from the Main Menu.

Figure 8-1

69

Enter Expenses

To enter expenses, press the [Enter Expenses] button. The entry form is displayed below.

Figure 8-2

The required fields of the form are underlined. The buttons on the form work the same as the previous forms. Fields: Expense Number: number. Property Description: This is entered by the program as a reference number. You cannot change this

Select the property that this expense pertains to. If it is not related to a property, then choose the value Not Property Related. Select the unit that this expense is related to. If it is not related to a unit, then choose the value Not Unit Related. Date the expense occurred or was paid for. The current date is automatically entered, but may be overwritten. The check number used for this expense (if applicable). This may contain a number that you assign. The intent is to provide a number that you can use for tracking purposes. Who the expense was paid to. Optional comments to document more details about this expense. 70

Unit Desc:

Date of Expense:

Check #: Tracking #:

Paid To: Expense Desc:

Expense Category:

See below. The list of values come from the Setup section of the program. Refer to the Setup chapter for details. See below.

Amount:

Total Amount: See below. One expense or check could span across more than one expense category. Therefore the form allows for multiple Expense Categories and Amounts. The Total Amount, as you would expect, is the total of all the Amount values on this form.

71

Edit Expenses

The Edit Expenses form is used for viewing and editing expense records that you have previously entered. Before displaying this form, you may specify which records you would like to edit. In order to do this, press the [Edit Expenses] button from the Expenses form.

Figure 8-3

Figure 8-3 shows how you may choose the records you are about to view or edit. Optionally you may display all records by just pressing the [OK] button. Buttons on the Form: [OK] [Close] [Clear All] Displays the records you have specified, one at a time on the Edit Expenses form. Closes this form without displaying any records. You are returned to the previous menu. Clears the values from the fields on this form.

72

Edit Expenses form:

This form looks the same as the Entry form with the following exceptions: Buttons on the Form: There is no [Cancel] button. [Delete] This will delete the Expense record. In most cases you will only want to delete an Expense record if you entered information incorrectly. Remember you will want to keep expense records for historical reference.

This form also has navigational buttons that you can use to move between records. See the Introduction chapter for more information on this.

73

Capital Expenditures

The Capital Expenditure section is for recording assets that will depreciate. To display the Capital Expenditure Entry form, press the [Enter Capital Expenditures] button from the Expenses form.

Figure 8-4

The required fields are underlined, however you will want to enter information into most of the fields in order to make the record contain useful information. The buttons on this form work the same as other forms. Fields: Capital Expenditure Number: This is entered by the program as a reference number. You cannot change this number. Select the appropriate category that the asset belongs to. Refer to the Setup chapter to see how to establish these values. This allows you to enter additional information about the asset if you desire. This is the actual cost of the asset. The number of years that the asset will be depreciated. The date when the asset was purchased. Check # used for the purchase of the asset.

Asset Category:

Asset Description:

Cost: # of Years to Depreciate: Date of Expenditure: Check #:

74

Tracking #:

An optional tracking number that you may assign in order to assist you in tracking this information in the future. Whom the asset was purchased from. Select which property that this asset is related to. If this does not pertain to a property, then select Not Property Related. Select which unit this asset applies to. If none, then select the value Not Unit Related. Make sure to enter a value for Property Desc & Unit Desc prior to entering this value. This is the calendar date that you want the depreciation to apply. It should be in the format of MM/DD/YY. Make sure to enter a value for Property Desc & Unit Desc prior to entering this value. This is the amount of the depreciation for the above date. This is the total of all the depreciation amounts that you have entered for this record.

Paid To: Property Desc:

Unit Desc:

Depreciation Date:

Depreciation Amount:

Total Depreciation:

75

Edit Capital Expenditures

The Edit Capital Expenditures form is used for viewing and editing capital expenditures that you have previously entered. Before displaying this form, you may specify which records you would like to edit. Press the [Edit Capital Expenditures] button from the Expenses form.

Figure 8-5

Figure 8-5 shows how you may choose the records you are about to view or edit. Optionally you may display all records by just pressing the [OK] button. Buttons on the Form: [OK] [Close] [Clear All] Displays the records you have specified, one at a time on the Edit Expenses form. Closes this form without displaying any records. You are returned to the previous menu. Clears the values from the fields on this form.

Edit Capital Expenditures form:

This form looks the same as the Entry form with the following exceptions: Buttons on the Form: There is no [Cancel] button. [Delete] This will delete the Capital Expenditure record. In most cases you will not want to delete any of these records. Remember you will want to keep these records for historical reference.

This form also has navigational buttons that you can use to move between records. See the Introduction chapter for more information on this.

76

Expense & Expenditure Reports

Expense by Property This shows expenses grouped by property. You may print expenses for one property, one unit, or all properties and units. You may also select various time periods. To make your selection, press the [Expense by Property] button on the Expenses menu form.

Figure 8-6

Making your selections: The report that prints will depend on the selections that you choose in figure 8-6. First select a Report Time Period by choosing one if its radio buttons. If you choose Specify Time Period, then enter the From and To dates located to the right hand side of these radio buttons. Next choose if you want the report for One Unit, One Property on All Properties. Select the Report Level: Detail or Summary. The Total By area allows you to choose to print totals by Unit or Property. If you have chosen One Unit or One Property in the Property/Unit area, then you will select the Property / Unit value(s) from the Select Property/Unit area. Some of the above selections may not apply to the report you are printing. In these cases the selection will be grayed out and will not allow you to choose it. For example: If you choose All Properties in the Property/Unit area, you will not be allowed to choose a Property or Unit value in the Select Property/Unit area. If you want to see what a report looks like before you print it on paper, choose the Screen option on the Print to area. After you press the [OK] button, the report will be printed.

77

Expenses by Category

This will print expenses grouped by category. Press the [Expenses by Category] button from the Expenses form.

Figure 8-7

This form is filled out in the same manner as the Expense Reports by Property form. After pressing the [OK] button, the report will be printed.

78

Capital Expenditure by Property These reports contain information pertaining to capital expenditures grouped by property or asset. Select the [Expenditure by Property] button from the Expenses form.

Figure 8-8

Select options in the Expenditure Reports by Property form in the same manner as you did for the Expense Reports by Property form. The following reports may be printed from this form: Capital Expenditures Detail by Unit Capital Expenditures Detail by Property Capital Expenditures Detail by Asset Capital Expenditures Summary by Unit Capital Expenditures Summary by Property The last two reports show the cost amount of the expenditures. The other reports show both the cost and the depreciation amounts for a given time period. If the asset does not belong to a particular property or unit, it will be listed in the Not Property Related or Not Unit Related section of the report.

79

Capital Expenditure by Category These reports contain information pertaining to capital expenditures grouped by asset category. Select the [Expenditure by Category] button from the Expenses form.

Figure 8-9

Select options in the Expenditure Reports by Category form in the same manner as you did for the Expense Reports by Property form. The following reports may be printed from this form: Capital Expenditure Detail by Category Capital Expenditure Summary by Category Asset Categories: Asset Categories are assigned in the Capital Expenditure Categories form. To access this form from the main menu, choose the buttons: [Setup / Utility], [Setup], [Expenditure Categories].

80

Chapter 9

Lease Expirations

81

Lease Expirations
Lease expirations show what leases will expire within a given number of days. Press the [Lease Expirations] button from the Main Menu.

Figure 9-1

Simply enter the desired number of days and press the [OK] button. A report will show what leases have already expired and ones that will expire.

Figure 9-2

If you are displaying the report on your screen, you can close the report by clicking on the X in the right hand corner of the report window. This X is located below the X for the program itself. Do not click on the programs X or you will close the whole program. This is illustrated in figure 2-5 of the Introduction chapter.

82

Chapter 10

Budget

83

Budget
The projected amount of money that will be allocated toward expenses and assets is entered into the Budget section of the program. Before using the Budget section, the following should be entered into the Setup section of the program: Time Periods for Budget Info, Expense Categories, Asset / Capital Expenditure Categories. Refer to the Setup chapter for more details. To display the Budget menu form, press the [Budget] button from the Main Menu.

Figure 10-1

84

Enter / Edit Budget Data

To enter or edit Budget information for expenses, press the [Enter / Edit Budget] button from the Budget form.

Figure 10-2

Select the applicable Property and Unit values for the budgeted expense that you are entering. If the expense does not pertain to a Property or Unit then select the Not Property Related and / or Not Unit Related values. Press the [OK] button.

Figure 10-3

85

If you have previously entered an Expense Budget record for the Property and Unit that you specified on figure 10-2, the record will be displayed on the Edit Expense Budget form (figure 10-4). If it has not been previously entered, then the Expense Budget Entry form is displayed (figure 10-3). Once the Expense Budget Entry form is displayed, the Property & Unit values cannot be changed. If you selected the wrong values, press the [Cancel] or [Close] buttons and start over. The [Cancel] and [Close] buttons work the same as on other forms. Most likely you will have several expense categories that related to a particular Property & Unit. You will enter several rows of data within the subform (the subform contains the fields Expense Category, Time Period, Amount).

Figure 10-4

Note in figure 10-4 there is an entry for each budgeted Expense Category and each Time Period. When the cursor (blinking I beam) is moved to Expense Category or Time Period fields, an arrow is displayed. When you click on the arrow, a list of choices is displayed for you to choose from. This is shown in figure 10-4: the Expense Category field, the last Supplies value. If you do not see the desired value, then you will need to enter the value in the Setup section of the program. See the Setup chapter for details. First enter the Expense Category, then Time Period. Choose the shortest budget time period that you want the expense budgeted for. Finally enter the budgeted Amount. Press the tab key so the cursor exits the Amount field. Now press the [Refresh] button and you will see the budgeted amount expand to all larger time periods. You may modify the budgeted amounts if you desire. If you dont want the budget amount to expand to larger time periods, then uncheck the Expand field. It is located after the Amount field. You will need to scroll to the right to see it.

After you are done entering the budget information, press the [Close] button. 86

Enter / Edit Capital Budget Data

The Capital Budget section contains projected costs for assets (the actual cost not depreciated amounts). To enter or edit the Capital Budget data, press the [Enter / Edit Capital Budget] button on the Budget form. Use this section in the same manner as the Enter / Edit Budget Data section (for expenses) as described above.

Budget Reports

Expense Budget by Property Report The Expense by Property reports group expenses by property and or unit. Press the [Expense by Property] button from the Budget menu form.

Figure 10-5

Select either Include Actual Expenses or Budget Only. Choose the desired Budget Period, then enter an equivalent Expense Period (if you are including actual expenses.) Within the Property/Unit section, choose what you would like the report based on (One Unit, One Property, or All Properties). Within the Total By section select to have totals based on Unit or Property. If you are basing the report on one property or unit, then select the appropriate values in the Select Property/ Unit section. Press [OK] to display or print the report.

87

Expense Budget by Category Report

This prints expense budget data grouped by expense category. Press the [Expense by Category] from the Budget menu.

Figure 10-6

Select either Include Actual Expenses or Budget Only. Choose the desired Budget Period, then enter an equivalent Expense Period (if you are including actual expenses.) Within the Select Category section, choose what you would like the report based on (One Category or All Categories). If you are basing the report on One Category, then select the appropriate value in the Select Expense Category section. Press [OK] to display or print the report.

Capital Expenditure Budget by Property Reports These reports show the projected dollar amount that will be spent on capital / assets. The information is grouped by Property / Unit. These reports are printed in the same manner as the Expense Budget by Property reports (described above.)

Capital Expenditure Budget by Category Reports These reports show the projected dollar amount that will be spent on capital / assets. However the information is grouped by category. These reports are printed in the same manner as Expense Budget by Category reports (described above.)

88

Chapter 11

Utility

89

Utility
The Utility section of PT Rental Assistant performs various functions. Most of the items in this section will not be used often, with the exception of the Backup Data File function. You should backup the Data File frequently.

Background Information PT Rental Assistant uses two main files on your computers hard drive. (It also uses many other files but for the purpose of this discussion we are only going to address these two files.) The program file itself, named PTRental.mde, and the data file, which is named PTData.mdb. The data file is where the rental information that you type into PT Rental Assistant is stored.

The Utility Menu can provide you with information about your computer system and perform certain functions with the data file.

To display the Utility menu, press the following buttons. Start at the Main Menu, then press [Setup/Utility], [Utility].

Figure 11-1

Utility Form Buttons: Of course the [Close] button closes the form. The other buttons have the following functions: [Backup Data File] This is used to create backup copies of the data file (PTData.mdb). It is important to keep backup copies of this file in case the data file stored on the computers hard disk becomes corrupt. A file can become corrupt if you are using the program and there is a power failure, or if you turn the computer off 90

before exiting the program. Sometimes hard disks crash and some or all the data on them is destroyed. This is why it is important to have frequent backups of your computers data. This button backs up all of your data within the PT Rental Assistant program. After pressing the button, the following form will be displayed.

Figure 11-2

You may select the desired drive and folder to put your backup file. It is a good idea to place the backup file on a different drive than the working PTData.mdb file is stored on. A preferred method is to copy it to youre A: drive or other removable disk drive. Then you can have several generations of backup copies and store some of them in a different physical location than your computer (for extra safety.) To backup the data file to the A: drive: Click on the down arrow at the top of figure 11-2 (this is to the right of the Save in label. Select the A: drive. Click in the box to the right of the File name: label. Now type the name that you would like the backup file to have. The first 3 letters must be PTD. Do not specify a file suffix (a period with letters following it.) An Example of a valid backup file name would be: PTDataBackup 6-10-2000 The 6-10-2000 refers to the date that the file was backed up. Do not use the / character in a file name. Now press the [Save] button. FYI: PT Rental Assistant always assigns a file suffix of MDB to its data files. When the backup process is taking place, the new file that is created (the backup file) is compact. So you will notice that in most cases the file size of the backup file is smaller than the working file.

Restoring a Data File: If you ever need to use one of these backup files, exit the PT Rental Assistant program. Then copy the backup file from the diskette to your hard drive (if you are not familiar with how to do this, refer to you Microsoft Windows User manual.) Place the data file in the same folder as the PT Rental Assistant 91

program (unless you specified a different directory when you installed the program, this will be in the \Program Files\PT Software folder. Rename the file that you just copied to PTData.MDB.Then start PT Rental Assistant and choose the [Relink Tables] button from the Utility menu. [System Info] This displays information about your computer and PT Rental Assistant .

[Repair Data File]

In some cases the data file may become corrupted. When this happens, the PT Rental Assistant may not be able to read the file. Clicking on the [Repair Data File] will most often repair the file. However you should frequently make backup copies of the data file in case it is damaged beyond repair. Some situations that can cause the data file to become corrupted are turning off the computer before exiting PT Rental Assistant properly or a power failure while you are using the program.

[Compact Data File]

When records are deleted from the data file, the actual size of the file is not reduced at that point in time. Therefore it can take up more space than necessary. By pressing this button the size of the file will be reduced, freeing up unused disk space.

92

[Relink Tables]

In some cases PT Rental Assistant may loose its link to the data file. Pressing the [Relink Tables] button will correct this problem. If the Select Data Source Dialog box is displayed (figure 11-4), choose the [Cancel] button. Then go to the Utilities menu and choose [Relink Tables].

Figure 11-4

[Model Upgrade]

Prior to selecting this button, you must press the [Other] button. The Model Upgrade allows you to upgrade your model of PT Rental Assistant . For example: If you are currently using a model 50, but in the near future are going to acquire more units (razing the total number past 50) then you would need to upgrade to a model 100. For more information on model upgrades, press the [Register & Model Upgrade Info] button located on the Main Menu.

[Export]

Prior to selecting this button, you must press the [Other] button. For information on exporting data from PT Rental Assistant , refer to the Exporting Data chapter.

93

[Delete All Records]

This button deletes all the records in the Data File. Most likely the only time you would use this button is when you are initially getting familiar with the PT Rental Assistant program. Sometimes when people are first using a program they will enter test data into it just to get a feel for how the program works. After they are done with their initial exploration of the program, they delete the test data before they enter real data. This button offers an easy way to remove your test data. Warning: Take care not to delete your real data with this button. Once this button is pressed, a warning message is displayed stating that all of the records will be deleted, do you want to continue? Pressing [Yes] deletes all the records, pressing [No] cancels the operation. Restoring a Data File If real data is ever deleted by mistake, you would need to copy the latest backup file from diskette (or where ever you chose to store it) back to the folder on your hard disk that stores the data file. To see what folder holds the Data File: Press the [System Info] button on the Utility menu. Look at the Data File field. Remember to keep frequent backups of the Data File. Hiding the [Delete All Records] button: Some people may prefer not to have the [Delete All Records] button displayed. Hiding the button would remove the chance of someone deleting all of the records by mistake. To hide the button: Click on the circled area shown in figure 11-5. Remove the check mark from the Show the Delete All Records Button check box. Click in the circled area once again.

Figure 11-5

94

Chapter 12

Application

95

Application
This section of the program allows you to enter prospective tenant application information. This makes it very convenient for when you want to retrieve or print this information. To display the Applications for Prospective Tenants menu, press the [Applications] button from the Main Menu.

Figure 12-1

96

Enter Application Records To enter information for an application, press the [Enter Application] button.

Figure 12-2 Buttons on the form: [Cancel] If you are entering information into this form (figure 12-2) and decide that you dont want to save this record after all, press the [Cancel] button. Then you will need to choose Yes to confirm deleting the current record. The [Cancel] button is located in the lower left hand corner. When you are done entering application record(s), press the [Close] button. The current record will be save and the form will be closed. If you are done entering data for one record and would like to enter additional records, press the [Add Record] button. This will save the current record then display a blank form for you to enter another record.

[Close]

[Add Record]

[Print Application] This will print the application that is currently displayed. Required fields: There are fields on this form that require you to enter information into them before you can add the record. Required fields have their labels (the title which is usually to the left of the field) underlined. You need to also enter at least one applicant. Fill in their last name and select one person as the primary 97

applicant. It does not matter which person you choose as the primary applicant, however the information in the fields that follow should apply to this person. Closing the form / Adding a Record Before you close the form or add a record, enter data into all applicable fields as well as the required fields. Use the [Close] button to close the form.

Entering Data First enter the Date of Application field. Then enter the other fields that may be useful for your purposes (the required fields are listed above.) Fields: (a partial list) Date of Application Status This is the date that the applicant filled out the application. The current status of the applicant. Candidate = applicant is currently applying to rent from you. Denied = applicant has been turned down. You may wish to enter why the candidate has been turned down in the memo field. Tenant = the person(s) is now currently a tenant. Past Tenant = the person(s) is no longer a tenant. The purpose of this field is to provide a handy reference for the status of this applicant. Applicant Information The applicant information pertains to prospective tenant(s) that may be occupying one unit. It is recommended that you enter an applicant record for each prospective tenant. You must select one applicant as a primary applicant by placing a check mark in the Primary Applicant field.

Other fields The other fields that are below the Applicant Information fields are self-explanatory. This information should apply to the primary applicant. All of these fields are optional. Memo Any information may be entered into this field pertaining to the applicant.

98

Edit Applications

To view or edit previously entered Application records press the [Edit Applications] button from the Applications for Prospective Tenants form. The following form will be displayed.

Figure 12-3

When the form in figure 12-3 is first displayed, only the top 1/3 of it will be visible. This form allows you to select the applicant by name. Follow these steps: 1. Type the first few characters of the applicants last name (this step is optional). 2. Press the [Find] button. Applicants that match the letters that you typed will be displayed in the box below. 3. Select the person that you want to view or edit by moving the mouse pointer on top of the persons name. Then press the left mouse button. The persons name will become highlighted like the first name in the figure 12-3. If there are many names in the box and you do not see the one you want, use the scroll bar to display additional names (for more details on scroll bars, refer to the Introduction chapter, Terms and definitions section.) 4. Press the [OK] button. The Edit Applications form will display the persons record that you have chosen. This form looks the same as the Application Entry form except it has a [Delete] button. Use this if you want to delete the current record.

99

Chapter 13

Exporting Data

100

Exporting Data
PT Rental Assistant can export income & expense data so it may be used by other programs such as Microsoft Excel, Lotus 123 etc. To export data, choose the menu options: [Setup / Utility], [Utility], [Other], [Export]. Then press the button that pertains to the type of data you would like to export. Choose the desired options for the Specify Export Data form. Note: If you are exporting data to be used by a spreadsheet, you will most likely want the First row contain column headings to be checked and the Use universal data format not checked.

Press the [Ok] button. The Select Drive and Folder form is displayed. To select the drive and folder that you want the data saved to: Press the down arrow that is on the same line as the Save in: label (top of the form). Then select the desired drive and folder. In the File Name field (bottom of form) type the desired file name. For example: Expense Press the [Save] button. This example saves a file named Expense.csv. All export files are named with a suffix of .csv. You may or may not see the suffix of file names. This depends on your settings within Windows. PT Rental Assistant creates export files in what is called comma-delimited format. This is an industry standard.

Importing the data into other software Microsoft Excel: If you have Microsoft Excel on your PC and want to view the data file that you have just created: Using Explorer, just double click on the data file. Excel will automatically start and load the file. Excel knows that it is a comma-delimited file because of the .csv suffix. If you make changes to the file in Excel, you may choose to save the modified file as an Excel spreadsheet rather than in comma-delimited format.

Other Spreadsheets: Some spreadsheets allow you to import data from their File menu (File, Import). Then specify that the file is in comma-delimited format. See your spreadsheet Users Guide for details.

Other Software: Refer to the softwares Users Guide to see if it can import data. And if so, what are the requirements.

101

Chapter 14

Register & Model Upgrade

102

Register & Model Upgrade

Registering PT Rental Assistant If PT Rental Assistant is currently unregistered, you may register it to increase the number of units that can be entered. You will also then be entitled to technical support. To register the program, you first acquire a Serial #. For details on this, press the following buttons. From the Main Menu: [Register & Model Upgrade Info]. Then, [Details on Registering Program]. After you have the Serial #, enter it into the Registered Information form. You may display this form by pressing the buttons (starting at the Main Menu): [Setup / Utility], [Utility], [Other], [Register]. Enter the password that you were given (this was issued the same time that your Serial # was given to you.) The Enter Registered Information form is displayed. Now enter the information that was issued with your Serial #.

Model Upgrade

If you have previously registered the program and you need to increase the maximum # of units that can be entered, you may perform a model upgrade. First, obtain a Model Upgrade #. Details for this are shown by going to the Main Menu, then pressing the following buttons: [Register & Model Upgrade Info], [Details on Model Upgrade]. After acquiring the Model Upgrade #, enter it into the Model Upgrade form. From the Main Menu, press the following buttons: [Setup/Utility], [Utility], [Other], [Model Upgrade]. Enter the password that you were given and press [Ok]. The Model Upgrade form is displayed. Enter your Model Upgrade # and press [Ok].

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Appendix A

Questions & Answers

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Questions & Answers

For the latest Questions & Answers and Trouble Shooting information, go to our website: www.PTSoftwareSolutions.com/FAQ.htm

Q A

Where is the Users Guide / Manual? The Users Guide is copied to your computer at the same time PT Rental Assistant is installed. To open the Users Guide: From the Windows Start menu, choose: Programs, PT Software, "PTRA User Guide" or use the "PTRA User Guide" shortcut that is on your desktop. If the User Guide is not displayed when you do this, then you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader loaded on your PC. Press the [Cancel] button. Then download and install Adobe Acrobat for free. The website address is: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html Acrobat Reader is included on the PT Rental Assistant install CD. See the How to Install PT Rental Assistant menu option for details. Can I use PT Rental Assistant on two PCs? Registered users can use the program on two PCs (at no additional cost). This makes it handy if you want to access your information both in the office and at home. To acquire details on this, contact customer support. Make sure to include your Registered ID # when contacting PT Software Solutions, Inc.

Q A

Q A

How do I view Gov. Assistance payment information in reports? Look at the Collected Rent report.

If I want to require tenants to make their rent payment before the first day of the Regular Payment Period, how can I have the Rent Due report reflect this? This can be accomplished by changing the Rent Due date that you enter for the report. For example: Assume that today is 3/3/2000. The first day of Joe Smiths next regular payment period is 3/4/2000. However I require him to make his payment 1 day before this. Therefore when I print the Rent Due report, I will enter the date 3/4/2000 for the Rent Due Date. At the top of the report, I would write Rent Due 3/3/2000 just as a reminder for myself. Add one day to the Rent Due date for each day that you require advance payment.

Not Unit Related value is not available. There is a property in which I want to enter either an expense, expenditure, budget or capital budget record. I want to select the Not Unit Related value for the unit, however it is not available. Why? The computer cannot find the Not Unit Related unit value for this property. This problem can result when the property is initially being entered into the program and it cannot locate the data file. If this occurs when the property is being entered, the Select Data Source form is displayed. You should follow directions in the Error Messages appendix, Select Data Source form section to correct the problem during the property 105

record entry. If you have already entered the property record, then you have two options to correct or compensate for this problem. 1) The property record can be deleted, then reentered. This will allow the system to create its corresponding Not Unit Related record. However when this is done all records that related to that property will be deleted. This includes tenant unit records, income, expense, budget etc. If you have these types of records already created for this property, you will probably want to choose option 2 instead of this one. 2) Create an additional property record that contains the same description as the one that does not have the Not Unit Related value. However, add the phrase Not Unit Related to the end of the description. Continue to use the original property record as you have been. When you want to enter a Not Unit Related unit value for an expense, expenditure, budget or capital budget record, use this new record.

Q A

A Select Data Source form is displayed. Why? What should be done? Refer to the Error Messages appendix, Select Data Source form section.

Q A

How can I tell how much disk space is available on the computer? The following will display the free disk space for drive C: 1) Double click on the My Computer icon that is on the Windows desktop. This is probably in the upper left-hand corner. 2) Within the My Computer window, right click on the C: icon. 3) Left click the Properties item that is displayed in the drop down menu. 4) The top of the form that is displayed will say (C:) Properties It will also state the Used Space & the Free Space.

How do I change the computers screen resolution? 1) Double click on the My Computer icon that is on the Windows desktop. This is probably in the upper left-hand corner. 2) Double click on the Control Panel 3) Double click on the Display 4) Select the Settings tab by clicking on it (this is in the upper-right hand corner.) 5) In the lower right-hand corner there is a section called Screen area. Drag the arrow until it displays at least 800 by 600 pixels. (The term drag is described in the terms & definitions section of the Introduction chapter.)

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Appendix B

Trouble Shooting / Error Messages

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Trouble Shooting / Error Messages

For the latest Questions & Answers and Trouble Shooting information, go to our website: www.PTSoftwareSolutions.com/FAQ.htm If a message is displayed and you are not sure what to do, find the matching message below. Then follow the steps that are described. Some error messages that PT Rental Assistant may display are preceded with the letters RAZ followed by -n where n is a number. This section will give a description of these messages. Other error messages provide a written description on the screen when they are encountered. Most do not require additional descriptions, however the ones that do are described below:

1) Locate Data File: When installing PT Rental Assistant , if you specify a different drive or folder the following message will be displayed the first time you start the program.

Figure B-1

What you need to do is to locate the data file. Select the Look in: drop down menu. Choose the drive that you installed PT Rental Assistant on to. Then select the folder that it is in (by double clicking on the folder(s) ). Select the PTData.MDB file by clicking on it one time. Now press the [Open] button.

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2) Property form:

The property forms Description field requires a unique value. If you enter a duplicate description for another property the following error message will be displayed.

Figure B-2

Do the following to correct the problem: Press the [OK] button. Press the [Esc] key on your keyboard. Now you may either close the Property form or enter a unique value for the description.

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3) Select Data Source form:

Figure B-3

If PT Rental Assistant displays the Select Data Source form (figure B-3) it means that the program cannot locate the data file. Perform the following steps to solve this problem: Press the [Cancel] button. Go to the Utility menu and choose the [Relink Tables] button. The Utility menu is accessed from the Main Menu by pressing the buttons: [Setup/Utility], [Utility].

Note: If you receive the Select Data Source form while you are entering a new property record, you need to follow the above steps, then delete the property record that was being created immediately before the Select Data Source form was displayed. Then reenter the property record.

For an explanation of the data file, look in the Background Information section of the Utility chapter.

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4) Program will not start: If an error occurs after double clicking on the PT Rental Assistant icon (or starting the program from the Windows Start button menu): These steps are for any reason that the PT Rental Assistant will not start, including error messages relating to Microsoft Access. Did you install PT Rental Assistant as described? If not, undo whatever you did. Then install via the directions. If you did install it as described, then perform the following: Downloaded PT Rental Assistant If you downloaded PT Rental Assistant from PT Software Solutions, Inc. website, then you need to uninstall it (refer to Appendix D). Then reinstall it. If you have previously entered data into the program you will need to make a copy of the data file before you uninstall it. Then recopy the data file after the program has been reinstalled. Unless you have specified a different location, the data file location & name is: C:\Program Files\PT Software\PTData.mdb. Refer to the Utility chapter for more information on the data file. If you are a registered user (you have the model 10 or higher) you will need to perform the following: Backup the data file as described above. After you reinstall PT Rental Assistant you will need to acquire a new Serial # (look at the Contacting PT Software Solutions bookmark / index for email information). After reinstalling the program, it will return to the Lite Model. Entering the new Serial # will return it to the model that you have registered. Then copy the data file to the C:\Program Files\PT Software\ folder. Then start PT Rental Assistant and choose the menu options (from the Main Menu): [Setup / Utility], [Utility], [Relink Tables]. PT Rental Assistant on CD If you have the PT Rental Assistant CD (version 2.1 or later), follow the directions below: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) Click on the Windows [Start] button. Select Settings, Control Panel. Double click on Add/Remove Programs Click on PT Rental Assistant (may need to scroll down). Click on the [Add/Remove] button Click on [Next] button. Select Repair, click [Next] button. Place PT Rental Assistant CD into the PCs CD drive. Click [Install]

You should receive a message that it successfully installed PT Rental Assistant . 9) Click [Finish] button.

The Add/Remove Programs Properties form is redisplayed. 10) 11) Click the [Ok] button. The form is closed. Close the Control Panel by clicking on X in upper right hand corner. 111

12)

Remove CD.

You should now be able to start PT Rental Assistant . If this does not resolve the problem, then you will need to uninstall & reinstall the program as described in the above section (Downloaded PT Rental Assistant ). 5) Reinstall PT Rental Assistant I reinstalled PT Rental Assistant . Previously I had the model 10 or higher, but now it is showing the Lite model. Why? If you reinstall the program, you will need a new Serial #. This will reestablish your registered model. Contact PT Software Solutions, Inc. Support for details. Make sure to include your Registered ID in all correspondence. Refer to the Contacting PT Software Solutions, Inc. Index / bookmark.

Microsoft Access couldnt find file SYSTEM.MDW. This file is required for startup.

After installing PTRA, if you get the following error message when attempting to start MS Access or another Access DB

Then you need to join the workgroup that Access uses. Perform the following steps: From the Windows Start menu, choose: All Programs, MS Office, Workgroup Administrator - Press the [Join] button. - Press the [Brows Button]. - Then using the tree of folders, select: C:\windows\system32 - The File Name field should have SYSTEM.MDW already entered. If not, select it from the window below. - Press the [Ok] button twice. Now you have joined the workgroup and can start Access & the other Access programs / databases.

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Error Number

Description

RAZ-1

An invalid value was found for the Frequency of Payment Period value. (This error should never occur. However, this message has been provided in case it does.) An invalid value for Payment Penalty Type was found. (This error should never occur. However as message has been provided encase it does.) You are attempting to print a report, however required resources are currently in use. Print the report at another time. An invalid budget time period has been chosen within the detail budget form. The program will not automatically generate budget records for this entry. Too many units. The data DB contains too many units for this model of PT Rental Assistant. Invalid model upgrade file. Invalid model upgrade file. The Model Upgrade form has been locked. Invalid values have been entered into the model upgrade form too many times. The form may no longer be accessed. The Registered Information form has been locked. An invalid Serial # has been entered into the form too many times. The form may no longer be accessed.

RAZ-2

RAZ-3

RAZ-4

RAZ-5

RAZ-6 RAZ-7 RAZ-8

RAZ-9

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Appendix C

Partial Payments

114

Partial Payments
If you choose to accept a payment which covers part of a payment period, then follow the procedure below. Otherwise, incorrect rental income calculations will occur. The following procedure assumes that there will be two partial payments covering one payment period. 1) Go into the tenants Tenant Unit record. a) Note the Paid Thru date. b) Determine the date of the first day of the payment period. For example: If the Paid Thru date shows 3/31/1999 and the tenant pays on a monthly bases, the first day of the payment period would be 3/1/1999. c) Type the following at the beginning of the Memo section: Partial $[XXX] for time period beginning [Date] [XXX] Will contain the amount of the partial payment. [Date] is the date of the next payment period. This should be one day greater than the Paid Thru date. d) Close the Tenant Unit record. 2) Go into the Rental Income data entry form. a) Select the proper tenant. b) Within the Date Paid field, enter the date that the tenant paid the partial payment. c) Within the Date of First Day in Payment Period field, enter the date on line 1b. You will receive a warning message. Press the [Yes] button. Note: the value in the Paid Thru field will change to the value on line 1a. d) In the Amount Tenant Paid field, enter the amount of the partial payment. e) In the beginning of the Comments field, enter the same information that you did on line 1c. f) Select the [Close] button. 3) When you look at your Rent Due reports you will need to note which tenants made partial payments (this is noted in the Comments field.) a) You will need to subtract the amount of the partial payment from the Tenant Amt. You may need to adjust the Late Penalty Amount. This depends on how you choose to calculate it. When the tenant makes the remainder of the payment: 4) Go into the Rental Income data entry form. a) Select the tenant. b) In the Date Paid field, enter the date that the tenant made the remainder of the partial payment. The Date of First Day in Payment Period & Paid Thru fields should now contain the correct values. These are the dates that pertained to the partial payments. c) In the Amount Tenant Paid field, enter the amount of tenants partial payment. This should be the remainder of the payment for the given payment period. d) Type the following in the Comments field: Remainder $[XXX] for time period beginning [Date] [XXX] Will contain the amount of this partial payment (which is the remainder of the payment for this period.) [Date] The same date that is in the Date of First Day in Payment Period field. e) Press the [Close] button. 115

5) Go to the tenants Tenant Unit record. a) In the Memo field, remove the comments that were typed on line 1c. b) Press the Close button.

[End of Procedure]

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Appendix D

Uninstalling PT Rental Assistant

117

Uninstalling PT Rental Assistant

To uninstall PT Rental Assistant : 1. Make sure PT Rental Assistant is closed (not running.) 2. Restart the computer (via the Windows Start menu, Shut Down option.) 3. Close any programs that may be open. 4. From the Windows Start menu, choose: Settings, Control Panel 5. Double click the Add/Remove Programs icon. 6. Click on the Install/Uninstall tab. 7. Click on PT Rental Assistant (you may need to scroll down to see it.) 8. Press [Add/Remove] 9. Press [Next]. 10. Select the Remove option. Press [Next]. 11. Press [Remove]. 12. After a message is displayed stating that it has successfully uninstalled PT Rental Assistant , press [Finish]. 13. Close the Add / Remove Programs Properties form.

The uninstall process is completed.

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SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT OF PT Software Solutions, Inc. IMPORTANT READ CAREFULLY: PT Software Solutions, Inc. ("LICENSOR") is willing to license the software to YOU (either an individual or a single entity) only if YOU accept all the terms in this license agreement. Please read the terms carefully before YOU download, install, copy, or otherwise use the software because by doing so YOU are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this agreement. If YOU do not agree to these terms, LICENSOR will not license this software to YOU, and in that case YOU should not download, install, copy or otherwise use the software. The term SOFTWARE refers to files that have originated from the LICENSOR. Ownership of the Software 1. The SOFTWARE and the accompanying written materials are owned by LICENSOR and are protected by United States copyright laws, by laws of other nations, and by international treaties. Grant Of License 2. LICENSOR grants to YOU the right to use one copy of the SOFTWARE on a single computer. Optionally YOU may install the SOFTWARE on a second computer provided that only one computer is using the SOFTWARE at any one given point in time and that only YOU are using the SOFTWARE. YOU may not install the SOFTWARE on a network. Restrictions on Use and Transfer 3. In order to distribute the SOFTWARE to other entities, you must follow the Distribution Guidelines. 4. YOU may not rent or lease the SOFTWARE or otherwise transfer or assign the right to use the SOFTWARE. 5. YOU may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the SOFTWARE. 6. Limited Warranty DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, LICENSOR AND ITS SUPPLIERS PROVIDE TO YOU THE SOFTWARE, AND ANY (IF ANY) SUPPORT SERVICES RELATED TO THE SOFTWARE ("SUPPORT SERVICES") AS IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS; AND LICENSOR AND ITS SUPPLIERS HEREBY DISCLAIM WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE AND SUPPORT SERVICES ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY (IF ANY) WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF OR RELATED TO: TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, LACK OF VIRUSES, ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF RESPONSES, RESULTS, LACK OF NEGLIGENCE OR LACK OF WORKMANLIKE EFFORT, QUIET ENJOYMENT, QUIET POSSESSION, AND CORRESPONDENCE TO DESCRIPTION. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE AND ANY SUPPORT SERVICES REMAINS WITH YOU. LICENSOR DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE SOFTWARE CAN HANDLE ANY MINIMUM NUMBER OF RECORDS AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OCURRING FROM THIS OR ANY OTHER SOFTWARE INADEQUECY. EXCLUSION OF INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL AND CERTAIN OTHER DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL LICENSOR OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR: LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF CONFIDENTIAL OR OTHER INFORMATION, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, PERSONAL INJURY, LOSS OF PRIVACY, FAILURE TO MEET ANY DUTY (INCLUDING OF GOOD FAITH OR OF REASONABLE CARE), NEGLIGENCE, AND ANY OTHER PECUNIARY OR OTHER LOSS WHATSOEVER) ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE OR THE SUPPORT SERVICES, OR THE PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SUPPORT SERVICES, OR OTHERWISE UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY PROVISION OF THIS EULA, EVEN IF LICENSOR OR ANY SUPPLIER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND REMEDIES. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY DAMAGES THAT YOU MIGHT INCUR FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ALL DAMAGES REFERENCED ABOVE AND ALL DIRECT OR GENERAL DAMAGES), THE ENTIRE LIABILITY OF LICENSOR AND ANY OF ITS SUPPLIERS UNDER ANY PROVISION OF THIS EULA AND YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ALL OF THE FOREGOING SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT ACTUALLY PAID BY YOU FOR THE SOFTWARE. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS, EXCLUSIONS AND 119

DISCLAIMERS SHALL APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

7. Prohibited List: If YOU do or if it is perceived that YOU have done any of the following, YOU will loose the right to use and / or distribute the SOFTWARE. Attempt to break any of the SOFTWARES encoding schemes. Pass any of the following information to other entities (except the LICENSOR): password(s), Registered ID, Setup #, Serial #. Attempt to aid other entities in doing any item in the prohibited list. Attempt to bypass the need for registering the SOFTWARE or a model upgrade.

8.

This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Indiana.

Distribution Guidelines
PT Rental Assistant is copyrighted by PT Software Solutions, Inc. It is protected by copyright law and international treaties. However the company will allow free distribution of the original CD (version 2.1 or later) if these guidelines are followed. If you have downloaded files from PT Software Solutions, Inc. website: You may NOT distribute any of the downloaded files. Please refer interested parties to our website: www.PTSoftwareSolutions.com or www.PTSS.BIZ

If you have received a CD from PT Software Solutions, Inc.: You may NOT distribute any of these files via the Internet. The only permitted form of distribution is stated below. The CD may be duplicated (in whole and unaltered form) for personal use. However only the CD originating from PT Software Solutions, Inc. may be distributed / passed to other entities. Publishers or other companies desiring to duplicate and distribute this CD to other entities must first receive permission from PT Software Solutions, Inc. The SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT must be adhered to.

Permitted Distribution Areas: This CD may be distributed anywhere within the U.S.A., Canada or other countries that are approved for exports by the US Commerce Department. T-7 counties as defined by the US Bureau of Export Administration are prohibited (Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan).

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PT Rental Assistant will save you time and assist you in increasing the bottom line. Works as well for a few rental units as it does for extensive property management. It may be used for single family homes, apartment complexes, commercial properties, storage units & other rentals. Areas the program focuses on:
Income Expenses Capital Expenditures Depreciation of Assets Tax reporting information Status of: Properties, Tenants and Leases. Budgeting

121 www.PTSoftwareSolutions.com