Add your first property

Before you start

A few things to have handy — but you can also add a property with minimal information and fill in the rest later:

• The full address (line 1, optional line 2, city, postcode)
• The year the building was built — this matters because pre-2000 properties get an asbestos obligation automatically
• Whether the property is let furnished — this triggers PAT testing
• The current weekly rent, if there's an existing tenancy
• The EPC rating if you know it (the certificate itself is uploaded later)

Step 1: Address

1. Sign in to PropFlow and go to Properties in the left navigation.
2. Click the + Add Property button (or use the quick-add on your dashboard).
3. Enter Address Line 1 — required. Example: 12 Oxford Street.
4. Add Address Line 2 if relevant (e.g. Flat 4). Optional.
5. Enter the City — required.
6. Enter the Postcode — required. PropFlow uppercases it automatically as you type.
7. Click Continue.

What if I have an agent or co-owner? As a self-managing landlord, every property you add is owned by you — there's no owner picker on this step. If you later invite a team member who isn't a landlord (e.g. a property manager), the owner picker appears on this step for them to assign the property to the correct landlord.

Step 2: Classification

This step is where you tell PropFlow what kind of property and tenancy this is, and it determines which compliance checks are set up for you.

Usage (required)

Pick Private (private rented sector) or Social (housing association / RSL). For self-managing landlords this is almost always Private.

• Private — Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, and Right to Rent are mandatory. The rest are optional.
• Social — every compliance obligation is mandatory.

Accommodation Style

Pick the option that matches what's being let:

• House — a whole house let to one household.
• Flat — a self-contained unit (own kitchen and bathroom).
• Studio — a single-room dwelling with private facilities.
• HMO — Shared House — three or more unrelated tenants sharing kitchen or bathroom. Picking this enables HMO obligations automatically and adds a per-room panel later.

Building Type

The physical type of building: Apartment, Terraced House, End of Terrace, Semi-Detached, Detached, Studio, Mixed Commercial, or Other. This is different from Accommodation Style — see the FAQ below for the distinction.

Construction (optional)

Traditional brick, concrete frame, steel frame, timber frame, listed building, or other. Mostly relevant for insurance and a few niche regulations. Listed building has different rules around alterations and EPC exemptions.

Year Built (optional)

Between 1600 and the current year. Important: if the year is before 2000, PropFlow automatically adds an Asbestos Property Type (APT) check, because asbestos-containing materials were commonly used in UK construction until the year 2000 ban.

Description (optional)

Up to 2,000 characters. A short summary for your own records — local amenities, transport, schools, etc.

Property features

Three toggles, two of which affect compliance:

• Furnished — turning this on automatically adds a PAT testing obligation (Portable Appliance Testing). Only enable if the property is let furnished with electrical appliances supplied.
• Garden — informational only.
• Garage / off-street parking — informational only.

Click Continue.

Step 3: Rooms & EPC

Every field on this step is optional — fill in what you know. You can come back and update these any time from the property detail page.

Room counts

• Bedrooms — 0 means studio.
• Bathrooms (incl. ensuites) — total bathroom count, including any ensuites.
• Ensuites — bathrooms inside a bedroom.
• Off-suites — private bathrooms outside the bedroom they belong to.
• Reception rooms, Kitchens, Dining rooms — self-explanatory.

Size and parking

• Floor area (m²) — useful for the HHSRS / Decent Homes assessment and for accurate listings.
• Parking spaces — number of dedicated spaces.
• Floor number — only appears if Building Type is Apartment or Accommodation Style is Flat.

EPC Rating

Pick A through G. This records the rating only — you upload the actual EPC certificate later from the property's Compliance tab, where it'll be tracked with an expiry date and renewal reminders.

Weekly Rent

• For non-HMO properties: enter whole pounds per week. Example: 150 for £150 per week. PropFlow stores this in pence internally but you only ever see pounds.
• For HMOs (Shared House): the single rent field is replaced by a Room Details panel. Add each lettable room with its name, size in m², weekly rent, and flags for ensuite, off-suite, cooking facilities, couple-allowed, and vacancy.

Click Continue.

Step 4: Review & Submit

1. Check the summary card — it lists the address, classification, room counts, and rent you've entered.
2. Click ← Back if anything needs fixing.
3. Click Add Property to submit.

What happens when you submit

When you click Add Property, PropFlow:

• Creates the property record in your account.
• Triggers the Intake Agent, which figures out which compliance obligations apply based on your inputs (usage, accommodation style, year built, furnished status).
• Seeds the compliance items with sensible default deadlines — you can adjust them on the property's Compliance tab.
• Redirects you to /properties/{id}, the new property's detail page.

Common gotchas

• Building Type vs Accommodation Style. Building Type is the building (terraced, semi-detached, apartment building); Accommodation Style is the unit being let (house, flat, studio, HMO). For a single-family terraced house let to one household: Building Type = Terraced House, Accommodation Style = House.
• The EPC field doesn't upload the certificate. It just records the rating letter. Upload the PDF later from the property's Compliance tab.
• Year built before 2000 = asbestos obligation. PropFlow adds an APT (Asbestos Property Type) check automatically. If you don't know the year, leave it blank — you can update it later, and the obligation will be added then.
• Furnished toggle adds PAT testing. Only turn this on if the let is actually furnished with electrical appliances. Toggling it on by mistake creates a compliance item you'll either have to fulfil or remove.
• HMOs change everything. Choosing "HMO — Shared House" replaces the single rent field with a per-room panel and triggers HMO-specific compliance (HMO licence, fire safety, etc.). Switching a property in or out of HMO later is possible but requires redoing the room details.

Next steps

Once the property is in:

• Compliance tab — upload your Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, and any other certificates. (Article coming soon: The compliance dashboard explained.)
• Tenancies tab — add or invite a tenant. (Article coming soon: Invite a tenant.)
• Maintenance tab — view any maintenance jobs once the tenancy is live.

If you need to add multiple properties at once, see Bulk-import properties (CSV) — coming soon — or get in touch and we'll import them for you.