How to Set Up an Existing Rental from Your Lease
Upload the lease you already signed, review the tenant, rent, dates, and deposit RentalNoodle extracts, then save. The original PDF stays unchanged and no tenant invite is sent automatically.
If a tenant is already in the home, you do not have to retype the lease by hand. Add the property, upload the existing lease PDF, review the fields RentalNoodle extracts, correct anything that is wrong, and save. That creates your working tenant, rent, date, and deposit records. It does not rewrite the original file, and it does not email the tenant.
Extraction is a starting draft, not a legal reading of the lease. Confirm names, rent, dates, and the deposit against the signed document before you rely on the record. This guide is educational — not legal advice.
What this setup does — and does not do
| Step | What happens | What does not happen |
|---|---|---|
| Add the property | You create the address you manage | A listing is not published by itself |
| Upload the lease | The PDF is stored with the property | The original file is not edited |
| Review extracted fields | Tenant, rent, dates, and deposit are proposed for you | Nothing is saved as final until you confirm |
| Save | Your management records are created or updated | The tenant is not invited automatically |
| Edit later | You can correct rent, dates, and contact details | Later edits do not alter the uploaded PDF |
Add the property first
Start with the property, not the tenant portal. Enter the address you actually manage. If you are mid-lease, use the real property record even when the lease was signed months or years ago. You can upload the lease next so the rest of the file can be prefilled for review.
Have these pages nearby before you upload
- Signature page, so you know who the tenants are
- Rent amount, due day, and any recurring charges
- Start date, end date, or month-to-month language
- Security deposit amount still held
- Any signed amendments that changed rent or dates
Upload the existing lease
Use the lease upload on the property. A readable PDF works best. RentalNoodle reads the document and proposes fields such as tenant name, monthly rent, lease start and end, and security deposit. Low-confidence or missing items stay marked so you can fill them yourself. Multi-page leases are fine within the upload limit; if a scan is too faint, type the field rather than guessing.
Upload the signed lease plus amendments you still honor. An old draft with a different rent amount will prefill the wrong number if that is the only file you upload.
Review every extracted field before you save
Treat the review screen as a checklist against the PDF, not as a finished ledger. Compare each proposed value to the clause it came from. Change anything that is wrong. Leave a field blank if the lease does not state it rather than inventing a number.
- Tenant name matches the signature block, not a guarantor or landlord entity.
- Monthly rent is the current amount, including a later amendment if that is what you collect now.
- Start and end dates match the term, or you mark the tenancy month-to-month if that is the agreement.
- Deposit is the amount you still hold, which is a liability — not rent income.
- Email and phone are optional. Leave them blank if they are not on the lease.
Common places extraction gets the wrong number
A lease often states more than one dollar amount. The extractor can pick the first number it sees. Your review is the correction. These are the usual mismatches on residential leases we see landlords already manage:
- Base rent versus total monthly charges. If parking or a pet fee is separate, record the rent you expect in the rent field and note the extra charge instead of folding it in by accident.
- Original rent versus a renewal or amendment. Use the amount you collect now, and keep the older PDF in the file so the history is still there.
- Deposit versus last month’s rent. If the lease collected both, do not label last month’s rent as the security deposit.
- Landlord and tenant names swapped on the first page. Confirm the tenant is the person who lives there, not your own entity.
- A blank end date on a month-to-month tenancy. Leave the fixed end date empty when the agreement does not have one.
Save, then edit later if you need to
Saving writes the management records you confirmed. The original uploaded lease stays in the file as the source document. If you later correct rent, dates, deposit, or contact details, those changes update the working record only. They do not rewrite, replace, or re-sign the PDF.
An invitation is a separate choice. Saving an existing tenancy does not email the tenant and does not create a portal login by itself. Send an invite only when you want that person to see the tenant portal.
After the record exists
- Record rent you have already received as manual entries if you track history in RentalNoodle. ACH is separate and only works after Stripe Connect is ready. Card rent payments are not supported.
- Keep the signed PDF as the lease. Use lease execution later only if you need a new document signed.
- Add a move-in or condition inspection when you have photos. Inspections do not GPS-tag photos.
- When you are ready for the tenant to participate, send an invite from the property. Do not assume upload or save did that.
For opening balances, go-live dates, and how not to rewrite payment history, use the companion guide on adding an existing tenant to your records. This page is the upload-and-review path. That one is the ledger path.
Related landlord guides
Keep these records in one place
RentalNoodle helps independent landlords organize properties, tenants, leases, rent, maintenance, inspections, and finances — without turning day-to-day management into busywork.
Start Managing FreeEducational content for independent landlords. RentalNoodle is property management software — not a law firm, CPA firm, or government agency. Rules vary by state and locality. Confirm legal and tax questions with qualified professionals.