Editing a property

Most edits to a property are routine: an address typo, a dues increase for a single unit, fixing a wrong lot number. This article covers the routine cases plus the few edits that have ripple effects you should know about before clicking Save.

How to edit a property

1. Go to Properties in the admin sidebar
2. Find the property in the list (use search if you have many)
3. Click the property to open its detail panel
4. Click Edit
5. Change what you need to change
6. Save

Changes are immediate. There’s no draft or staging step.

Edits that are completely safe

These have no side effects beyond the property itself:

• Address - corrects the displayed address. Past records stay attached.
• Lot / block - same.
• Residents & contacts - add, edit, or remove the people on file for the home (owner, tenant, billing contact). Adding a name here creates a roster record before anyone signs up; it is not an account and grants no access.
• Pre-approved emails and phones - kept in step with the emails and phones on those records automatically. Anyone still unclaimed can sign up and join this home with no approval step.
• Board notes - written from Notes & history on the property rather than in this form. Notes are board-only, dated and signed automatically, and cannot be edited or deleted. See Board notes on a resident or property.

Edits that affect future charges only

Changing the dues amount updates what gets charged on the next dues run. It does not retroactively change past charges that have already been generated.

Example:

• Lot 14 has been billed $200/month for the past year
• You raise it to $250/month on May 1
• The May 1 dues charge will be $250
• April’s $200 charge (already posted) stays $200

If you want to retroactively adjust past charges, do it as a separate transaction - see How the ledger works.

The same rule applies to:

• Initial balance - only matters at the moment of import. Changing it after the fact doesn’t recompute anything; you’d need a corrective transaction.
• Late fee amounts - community-wide setting, not per-property, but the same rule: future fees use the new amount, past ones don’t change.

Edits with ripple effects

These are the ones to think about before saving.

Changing the primary resident

This unlinks one user and links another. The property’s balance and history don’t change - they belong to the property, not the person - but:

• The previous primary resident loses access to this property in their portal (they’ll see a “you’re no longer linked to a property” state)
• The new primary resident sees the full balance and history immediately
• Notifications about this property switch over to the new primary

If you’re handling a sale or move-in, use the move-ins and move-outs flow instead - it does this plus a few things you’d want.

Changing the status

The status (Occupied / Unclaimed / Delinquent) usually updates automatically as conditions change - when a resident is linked, when dues become overdue, etc. Manually editing the status doesn’t change the underlying state. See Property statuses for what each means.

Removing a co-resident

Co-residents lose access to the property’s portal view. Their account stays around but they’re no longer tied to anything. If they were the only thing keeping their account active, you may want to fully delete them or invite them to a different property.

What you can’t edit

A few fields are intentionally read-only or computed:

• Current balance - computed from the ledger. To change it, add or void financial records, don’t try to overwrite the balance.
• Property ID - the system’s internal identifier, never visible in the UI.
• Created date - auditable, never changes.

Audit trail

Every edit to a property is logged. To see the history:

1. Open the property
2. Click History (or Audit log depending on your version)
3. You’ll see a list of changes: who changed what, when, and the before/after values

This is especially useful when:

• A homeowner says “you raised my dues without telling me” - pull up the history
• You’re investigating a discrepancy between what’s on the property vs. what’s been charged
• You’re handing off admin duties and want to walk through recent changes

Bulk editing

If you need to edit many properties at once (community-wide dues increase, renumbering lots), the property list view supports multi-select:

1. Go to Properties in the admin sidebar
2. Tick the checkboxes next to the rows you want to edit (or Select all)
3. Click Bulk edit
4. Choose the field (e.g., Monthly dues, Status) and the new value
5. Confirm

Bulk edits also show up in the audit trail per property - they’re not anonymized as “bulk.”

For massive restructures (50+ properties), email support@homeherald.ai. They can do bulk updates faster than you can fight the UI.

Deleting a property

If a property was created in error (typo’d duplicate, accidental import line), you can delete it from the property detail page. The system won’t let you delete a property with financial records attached - you’d have to void those first.

For real-world changes (lot consolidation, demolition), don’t delete - preserve the history instead. Update the address, unlink the resident, and let the property persist as a record. If you genuinely need bulk cleanup, email support@homeherald.ai.

Where to go next

• Property statuses - Occupied / Unclaimed / Delinquent in detail
• Move-ins and move-outs - the right flow for ownership changes
• How the ledger works - for any change involving money