This question has been asked a bit recently, so I thought I would answer it.

The paid to date is first of call calculated based on the rent balance.  E.g. the rent balance may be 50 owing.  Assuming the rent is 70 per week (10 per day), this means the tenant is 5 days behind in their rent.  So the paid to date is the end date of the current rent period less 5 days.  The reason it is the end date is because the rent is due up to the end of the current period.

If the paid to date is incorrect, it probably means the rent balance is incorrect.  So the second question tends to be how is the rent balance calculated?

The rent balance is simply the sum of rent due - sum of rent paid.  Rent due can be seen by going to the rent periods screen and looking at the rent due column.  The rent due can be manually changed from the rent periods screen if required.  The rent paid is the sum of all transactions in the cashbook for that tenant with an income group of Rent.  This can also be seen on the rent periods screen in the paid column.  So if the total rent balance is incorrect, it means the rent due is wrong, or the rent income transactions are wrong.  Fixing the transactions or rent periods will also fix the rent balance and also fix the paid to date.

It looks like we have ongoing issues with database compactions in Windows Vista.

If you are using Windows Vista, and dont have administrative right or are not sure, then you should always do a database backup prior to doing a database compaction.  This is because the database compaction can fail if there is not sufficient rights to perform all the tasks.  The end result can be you loose all the data you have entered since the last database compaction.

Better still, dont do a database compaction.  Database compaction used to be a requirement back in the days when we were backing up the database to 1.44MB floppy disks.  But with the much large flash drives of today, this is much less of an issue.

If you want to run the program with administrative rights now, I have put together come instructions on how to achieve this at this web page www.RentMaster.co.nz/Admin.aspx .  There are some side effects of running in administrator mode, such as the program prompting you each time you run it to confirm you want to run it as an administrator, but it will allow you to do the database compaction without any problems.  If you are already logged into the computer with administrative rights, then none of this will apply to you.

In the next version of RentMaster, the compaction tab will be moved to the 4 tab on the database maintenance screen instead of the first, to signify its relative importance.  A lot of beginner users just open the window and press the first button they can see, which is the compaction button.  Also the system will do a series of checks to see if you have sufficient rights to complete the compaction before it proceeds.  If you dont, it will show you the web site URL above, and wont compact the database.

This is intended for property managers who have their own web site, or are thinking about getting one.

If you would like to show your vacant properties on your own web site, you can now integrate the FindARentalHome web site inside your own web site, and it if free.  So any one of your properties listed on the FindARentalHome web site will also show on your web site.  This is done using a web site development technique called an iFrame.

To see a sample web site with embedded properties, go to http://www.findarentalhome.com/frames/Embedded.htm

Another suggestion for people who are using RentRecall.com.  This one is a bit more complex for those people who know about web site addresses.

If you are providing a URL address for your clients to log in, either landlords or tenants, you can make their logging in easier by providing your company name as part of the URL.

For example, suppose your company name used by RentRecall.com is MyCompany, then when you create a URL, you can set your login URL to be https://landlord.rentrecall.com?co=MyCompany.  For tenant logins the URl would be https://tenant.rentrecall.com?co=MyCompany.

By providing the company name, your clients wont have to type it into the login page.  They only have to type in their login name and password.  One less thing for them to type wrong or forget.

Here is a few suggestions for those people who are using the RentRecall.com web site.

The Mail Merge facility has got a sample template for both tenants and owners called the RentRecall Login letter.  These letters are a starting point which you can add on to for creating a letter inviting your owners and tenants to log into the RentRecall.com web site.  All you need to do is type in your company login name which you get when you subscribe to the web site, and maybe add a logo or other information to flesh it out.  That letter than then either be printed or emailed to your tenants and owners.

You can also use another recently added feature which allows you to print a note on the tenant or owner statement reports.  To use this feature go to the General menu group and choose Reminders/Notes and add a new note.  The note could say something like 'Remember you can log in to owner.rentrecall.com at any time to view your details....'.  Mark the note as 'Print on tenant statement' or Print on owner statement'.  This means that when you print your statements, that note will also be included.

The more your tenants and owners log in, the more informed they will be, and the less they will need to contact you as the property manager.

When a database restore is done, it overwrites your existing database with a copy which was on your backup.  If you accidentially do a restore instead of a backup, this means you will be over-writing your real database with an older one, which you dont want.

However when a database restore is done behind the scenes it takes a copy of the old database before it gets overwritten.  This file can therefore be used to undo a restore if required. 

For those technically savvy enough, the old file is called property.old and the new database is called property.mdb.  Deleting the property.mdb file and renaming the property.old file to be property.mdb does the undo operation.

A client has a number of properties which are being sold to new owners, and they wanted to know how to handle that in th software without disturbing existing transaction history against the old owner.

My suggestion is to create a whole new property.  Maybe use the Change Codes menu option from the maintenance menu to change the code of the existing property from X to X-old or something like that.  Then create a new property called X and associate it with the new owner.  On the date of purchase, flag the old property as no longer being managed by you.  Then switch the property code on the tenant details screen (assuming the tenant is staying) to the new property.  Or maybe create a new tenant as well.

A customer has asked how do you look for transactions based on a payee name. 

 The payee name is shown in the cashbook screen in the details column.  To filter on that column click the Filter button, and then in the text box above the details column type in anything.  The system will then filter all records and only show the ones which contains the text you have typed.

Have you ever wanted to print a report to a PDF file?  Go to www.doPDF.com and download the FREE PDF printer driver.  

Then when you print anything you will have another printer available to print the output to a PDF file instead of a printer.

I got this idea from someone I had lunch with a week ago.

 She has created an extra 'Room' in the property inspections and called it 'To-do'.  She added one attribute to this room.  Then when she does the property inspections she has an area which she can fill in in the inspection checklist details to write items that need to be done like maintenance issues.  These issues remain on file.  So she might add a comment which says 'Replace broken whatsit in the kitchen'.

Great idea.  Thinking outside the square.  Not surprisingly, she used to be a computer programmer.