Bulk-import properties

Important: only .xlsx is accepted

Despite the common name "CSV import", PropFlow only accepts .xlsx (Excel format). If you upload a .csv file, you'll get a 422 error: "CSV uploads are not supported. Re-export as .xlsx from Excel or Google Sheets."

The reason: the template uses embedded dropdowns and header styling to keep your input clean. CSV can't preserve any of that, so the importer wouldn't give the same guard-rails.

Step 1: Download the template

1. Sign in and go to Platform → System Configuration.
2. Find the Imports section.
3. Click Download template. You'll get a .xlsx file with a single sheet, headers in row 1, and dropdowns on the enum columns.

Step 2: Fill it in

One row per property. The template has 13 columns: 5 required, 8 optional.

Required columns (5)

• landlord_email — the email of an existing landlord in your organisation (case-insensitive). Hard error if not found — PropFlow won't auto-create landlords during property import.
• address_line_1 — street and house/flat number.
• city — city or town.
• postcode — full UK postcode. PropFlow uppercases and validates format.
• property_usage — one of private or social. Drives the compliance matrix (see Property usage types explained).

Optional columns (8)

• address_line_2 — flat number, building name, etc.
• property_type — apartment, terraced_house, end_of_terrace, semi_detached, detached, studio, mixed_commercial, other.
• bedrooms — integer.
• bathrooms — integer (includes ensuites).
• is_hmo — TRUE or FALSE (as strings). Triggers HMO Licence + room panel post-import.
• is_furnished — TRUE or FALSE. Triggers PAT testing.
• year_built — 4-digit year. Values below 2000 trigger the Asbestos Property Type obligation automatically.
• epc_rating — A through G (records the rating; you upload the certificate later).
• description — free text up to 2,000 characters.

Step 3: Upload

1. Back at Platform → System Configuration → Imports, click Upload spreadsheet.
2. Pick your .xlsx file. PropFlow validates the format and reads up to 1,000 rows per upload.
3. The upload runs server-side. Progress appears in the UI; usually under 30 seconds for a typical batch.

Step 4: Read the report

When it finishes you'll see a toast: "Upload complete · X created · Y skipped · Z error(s)". Expand the report table for the per-row breakdown:

• Created — green tick. New property added, compliance seeded.
• Skipped — amber. Duplicate of an existing property (same address_line_1 + postcode in your org). The existing record is kept unchanged.
• Error — red. Validation failed. The error message tells you the cause (missing required field, invalid enum, bad postcode, landlord_email not found, year_built out of range, etc.).

Bad rows don't block good ones — PropFlow processes each row independently and reports the outcome of each.

Limits

• Row limit: 1,000 rows per upload. Larger imports must be split.
• Format: .xlsx only. CSV is rejected.
• Empty file: rejected with "Spreadsheet has no data rows."
• Tier gate: none. Available on every plan including Starter — though new tenancies you add after import still count against your plan's tenancy quota.

Compliance is seeded automatically

Each imported property goes through the same Intake Agent as a manually-added one. You'll get approximately 18 compliance obligations per property, seeded according to:

• property_usage — Social gets the full set; Private gets the base set with optional extras
• is_hmo — TRUE adds HMO Licence
• is_furnished — TRUE adds PAT testing
• year_built < 2000 — adds Asbestos Property Type

Undoing a batch

If a whole batch came in wrong:

1. Go to Platform → System Configuration → Imports History.
2. Find the batch by filename and timestamp.
3. Click Undo.
4. PropFlow hard-deletes every property created by that batch, in the correct foreign-key order (compliance obligations, tenancies, applications, viewings, documents, photos, evidence packs, legal docs, alerts → then the property row itself). The audit log entries are kept.

Undo is irreversible — if you've already started using one of the imported properties (added a tenancy, uploaded a certificate), think carefully before undoing the whole batch.

Common errors and how to fix them

• "landlord_email not found in organisation" — add the landlord to your team first, then re-run. PropFlow won't auto-create landlords during property import (deliberate guard-rail).
• "Invalid property_usage; must be one of: private, social" — check capitalisation. Values are case-sensitive on import.
• "Invalid postcode format" — must be a valid UK postcode (e.g. SW1A 1AA). Spaces are normalised; case doesn't matter.
• "year_built must be between 1600 and the current year" — typos in this column are common (e.g. 198 instead of 1980).
• "Maximum 1000 rows per upload" — split your file into multiple .xlsx files and run each separately.

Next steps

• Add your first property — the one-at-a-time flow if you've only got a handful.
• The compliance dashboard explained — what to do with the obligations once they're seeded.