Properties & Property Management

Your central hub for managing properties, portfolios, units, leases, issues, messages, files, and settings.

Overview

The Properties section is your central hub for managing all aspects of your real estate portfolio. From here, you can view all your properties, group them into portfolios, and open any property to manage its details, floors, units, leases, issues, messages, files, and settings.

Properties list (click to zoom)

Getting Started

Accessing Properties

Select Properties in the sidebar to see every property you have access to. The page has two tabs: Properties, a list of individual properties, and Portfolios, where properties are grouped together. Click any row to open that property.

Working with the Properties List

  • Search by property name, address, or city
  • Filter by Status, Type, Portfolio, Org, State, Sqft (a range of leasable square feet), and Occupancy (a percentage range). Only active properties are shown until you pick a status.
  • Choose columns from the columns menu — for example Organization, Email, Portfolio, Leasable Sq Feet, # Leases, Occupancy, and Current Rent — and reset them to the default at any time
  • Sort by clicking a column header; Cardinal remembers your sort the next time you visit
  • Export the list, and copy a property's email address straight from its row
  • Click Add property to create a new property

Property Management Structure

Each property has its own set of tabs — Details, Leases, Units, Issues, Messages, Files, and Settings — that help you manage different aspects of it:

1. Details

  • Purpose: View and edit core property information
  • Access: Click on any property from the main Properties list
  • Features:
  • A summary of total and rentable square feet, current rent, occupancy rate, and the property's email address (with a copy button)
  • Property Details: edit the property name, code, owner, property type, total square feet, and the portfolio it belongs to
  • Floors: add floors, rename them, assign existing units to them, reorder them, view each floor's units, or delete a floor
  • Address: update the street address, then confirm the matched location before it is saved
  • Archive: mark the property inactive. Archived properties are hidden from the Properties list until you filter by the Inactive status.
Property → Details (click to zoom)

2. Leases

  • Purpose: See the leases signed at this property
  • Access: Open the Leases tab within any property
  • Features:
  • View active and inactive leases with their tenant, units, current rent, and start and end dates, and filter them by status
  • Click Add to quickly create a lease with a tenant name, start date, and end date — you can fill in the rest on the lease page
  • Click any lease to open its lease page. Archived leases are not listed here; find them on the global Leases page or in the property's Files tab.

See the Leases guide for the full lease workflow.

3. Units

  • Purpose: Manage individual units within a property
  • Access: Open the Units tab within any property
  • Features:
  • View every unit with its floor, address, square feet, current tenant, lease dates, and whether it is active
  • Search units by name, address, or tenant, and filter by status
  • Click Add to create a unit with its name, total square feet, address, and floor

Individual Unit Management

  • Click on any unit to open its unit page
  • Edit the unit's details, address, and floor
  • See the unit's current lease and its inactive leases
  • Activate, deactivate, or delete the unit. Active units count toward the property's occupancy and total leasable area.
Property → Units (click to zoom)

4. Issues

  • Purpose: Track maintenance requests and other issues at the property
  • Access: Open the Issues tab within any property
  • Features:
  • View all issues reported for this property
  • Create a new issue for the property
  • Track each issue's status, priority, and due date

Individual Issue Management

  • Click on any issue to open its details
  • Update its status, priority, assignee, and due date
  • Add comments and review the activity history
  • Link related email threads to the issue
Property → Issues → Issue detail (click to zoom)

See the Issues guide for more.

5. Messages

  • Purpose: See every email conversation linked to this property in one place
  • Access: Open the Messages tab within any property
  • Features:
  • Incoming and outgoing threads linked to the property
  • Search messages by sender, subject, or body
  • Filter by read status, thread status, assignment, and the users taking part, and sort by date
  • Click a thread to open it

6. Files

  • Purpose: Upload and organize property-related files across leases, insurance, maintenance, and purchase and sale agreements
  • Access: Open the Files tab within any property
  • Features:
  • Categorized sections (All Files, Insurance, Lease, Purchase & Sale Agreement, Property, Maintenance, Miscellaneous) with collapsible lists and per-section add buttons
  • Click Add to upload a PDF or DOCX file up to 50MB and choose which section it goes in. Lease files must be attached to a specific lease, which you pick when uploading.
  • Search by name, filter by file type, and sort by date or name, with pagination for larger libraries
  • Preview PDFs and images in the app, or download and delete files from the row actions. Files Cardinal manages for you, such as lease documents, cannot be deleted here.
  • To share files or organize them into folders, use the Files area in the sidebar
Property → Files (click to zoom)

7. Settings

  • Purpose: Control who can access the property, set its time zone, or remove it
  • Access: Open the Settings tab within any property
  • Features:
  • Property Access: see everyone who can reach the property, grouped by how they get there — through the organization (Owners and Admins), through a portfolio that includes the property, or through access given on this property itself. Click Add user to give someone access with a role on this property, or remove access that was given on this property. Access that comes through the organization or a portfolio is changed there, not here.
  • Time zone: set the time zone the property's dates follow (see below)
  • Remove property: permanently delete the property. This cannot be undone — to keep its history, archive it from the Details tab instead.

Property information such as the name, type, and address is edited on the Details tab.

Property Time Zone

  • Dates on a property are days at the property: when its issues are due, when their reminders go out, and when its rent and occupancy turn over each month
  • Date fields on the property's leases and issues show which time zone they are in
  • If a property has no time zone yet, Cardinal asks for one the first time someone sets a date on it, such as a lease date or an issue due date. Your own time zone is filled in as a suggestion, and the choice is saved on the property so you only pick it once.
  • Anyone who can see a property can give it its first time zone; only people who can edit the property can change it afterwards. A time zone can be changed but not cleared.

8. Portfolios

  • Purpose: Group related properties together into portfolios for easier management and reporting
  • Access: Open the Portfolios tab on the Properties page
  • Features:
  • Create portfolios to group properties by region, type, ownership entity, or any criteria that fits your workflow
  • See each portfolio's description, number of properties, and total square feet
  • Filter the Properties list, Leases, and reports by portfolio
  • Organization Owners and Admins can create portfolios and change which properties they contain
Portfolios Tab (click to zoom)

Creating a Portfolio

  • Click the Add portfolio button to create a new portfolio
  • Give the portfolio a name and optional description
  • Select the properties you want to include
Create a Portfolio Dialog (click to zoom)

Portfolio Details

  • Click on any portfolio to view its details and the properties it contains
  • Edit the portfolio's name and description
  • Add or remove properties, then save your changes
  • Delete a portfolio you no longer need
Portfolio Details (click to zoom)

Navigation Guide

Main Properties Page

  1. Access: Select Properties in the sidebar
  2. View: See all properties you have access to on the Properties tab, or switch to the Portfolios tab to see them grouped
  3. Action: Click on any property to open its tabs

Navigation Structure

Properties
├── Properties (list)
│   └── Property Name
│       ├── Details
│       ├── Leases
│       │   └── Individual Lease Pages
│       ├── Units
│       │   └── Individual Unit Pages
│       ├── Issues
│       │   └── Individual Issue Pages
│       ├── Messages
│       ├── Files
│       └── Settings
└── Portfolios
    └── Individual Portfolio Pages

Quick Navigation Tips

  • Use the main Properties page to switch between different properties
  • Each property has its own tabs for accessing different sections
  • Breadcrumb navigation helps you keep track of your current location
  • Search, filters, and sorting are kept in the page address, so you can bookmark or share a filtered view

Common Workflows

Adding a New Property

  1. Go to the main Properties page
  2. Click Add property
  3. If you belong to more than one organization, choose which one the property is for
  4. Enter the property name, type, and address, and optionally pick a portfolio and the users who should have access (with the option to also give them access to the property's mailbox)
  5. Click Create, then add units, leases, files, and other details

If your organization has reached the number of properties its plan allows, you'll be prompted to upgrade. See Billing.

Managing Tenant Issues

  1. Go to your property's Issues tab
  2. View all reported issues and their current status
  3. Click on an individual issue to manage details
  4. Update status, priority, assignee, and due date, and add comments

Lease Management

  1. Open the property's Leases tab, or the Leases page in the sidebar to see leases across all properties
  2. View active and inactive leases
  3. Click on individual leases to review dates, rent, tenant, files, and the lease abstract
  4. Activate, deactivate, or archive a lease from its lease page

File Organization

  1. Open the Files tab for the property
  2. Upload with the Add button or a section's add button, choosing which section the file goes in (and, for Lease files, which lease it belongs to)
  3. Use search, file type filters, and sorting to keep growing libraries tidy
  4. Maintain consistent naming so critical paperwork stays easy to find

Giving Someone Access

  1. Open the property's Settings tab
  2. Review Property Access to see who can already reach the property, and how
  3. Click Add user, choose the person, and pick the role they have on this property (Property Manager by default)
  4. To take away access given on this property, use Remove next to that person

Setting the Time Zone

  1. Open the property's Settings tab
  2. In the Time zone card, pick the property's time zone
  3. Click Save time zone

Best Practices

Regular Maintenance

  • Check the Issues section regularly for new maintenance requests
  • Keep unit information up-to-date in the Units section
  • Regularly review and update lease information
  • Set each property's time zone so due dates, reminders, and monthly figures follow the property's own days

Documentation

  • Upload important files to the Files tab immediately and label them with the right type
  • Upload lease files from the lease itself or choose the lease when adding them on the Files tab
  • Maintain a consistent naming and filing system across all properties

Communication

  • Use issues to track all maintenance requests
  • Add comments to issues as work progresses so the history stays in one place
  • Check the property's Messages tab for email conversations about the property

Security & Access

  • All property information is protected by authentication
  • You only see the properties you have access to — through your organization role, a portfolio, or access given on the property itself
  • Opening a property you don't have access to shows a "You don't have access to this page" message
  • Each property's Settings tab shows exactly who can reach it and how

Support & Troubleshooting

  • If you can't open a property, ask an administrator in your organization to give you access
  • Ensure your internet connection is stable
  • Keep your browser up-to-date for optimal performance
  • Contact support if you experience persistent issues