> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nyumbazetu.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Owners and landlords

> The owner workspace — owners, contracts, statements, disbursements and schedules for managed property.

**Owners → `/owners`** <sup>Beta</sup>

When you manage property on someone else's behalf, the owner is a party you owe money and a report
to. The owner workspace holds everything about that relationship in one place.

## The owner workspace

A single navigation strip runs across the whole module:

| Destination       | Route                        | Purpose                                               |
| ----------------- | ---------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **Overview**      | `/owner-overview`            | Portfolio-level position across all owners.           |
| **Owners**        | `/owners`                    | The owner directory.                                  |
| **Contracts**     | `/owner-contracts`           | Management agreements and their commercial terms.     |
| **Statements**    | `/owner-statements`          | Periodic statements of income, costs and net payable. |
| **Disbursements** | `/owner-disbursements`       | Money actually paid out.                              |
| **Schedules**     | `/owner-statement-schedules` | Automated statement and payout cadence.               |

All owner detail pages are addressed by UUID, so a link you copy from the address bar opens the
same record for a colleague.

## The owner record

Opening an owner gives you tabs for:

| Tab                | Contents                                         |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------ |
| **Overview**       | Summary of the owner's position.                 |
| **Contracts**      | Their management agreements.                     |
| **Units in scope** | What you manage for them.                        |
| **Statements**     | Statement history, with **Download latest PDF**. |
| **Disbursements**  | Payout history.                                  |
| **Ledger**         | The owner's account movements.                   |
| **Allocations**    | How receipts were attributed.                    |
| **Bank accounts**  | Payout accounts.                                 |
| **Contacts**       | People to deal with.                             |
| **Documents**      | Agreements and correspondence.                   |
| **Activity**       | Audit timeline.                                  |

### Payout accounts

An owner's bank accounts are managed on the owner record, with one marked **default**. The default
account is what disbursements pay to unless overridden on a specific payout.

<Warning>
  Verify a change of payout bank details out-of-band, by phone to a number you already hold. A
  request to update owner banking details arriving by email is the most common fraud attempt in
  property management.
</Warning>

## Adding an owner

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create the owner">
    **Owners → Add.** Name, contact details, tax identifier, and address.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a payout bank account">
    Mark one default. Without it, disbursements cannot be paid.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Attach the units">
    Link the units you manage for them — this is what drives their statement.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a management contract">
    The commercial terms: commission, cadence, thresholds. See
    [Owner contracts](/guides/owner-contracts).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## How the money flows

```
Tenant pays rent
   → allocated to invoices on the owner's units
      → owner statement: gross income − management commission − attributed expenses
         → net payable
            → disbursement paid to the owner's bank account
```

Two things determine whether this works:

1. **Units must be attached to the right owner** — otherwise income never reaches their statement.
2. **Expenses must be attributed to the right unit or block** — otherwise costs are never
   recovered. See [Expenses](/guides/expenses).

## Owner overview

`/owner-overview` shows the position across all owners: what has been collected, what is owed out,
what has been disbursed, and which statements are outstanding. It is the page to open before a
payout run.

## Reporting

| Report                          | Answers                                           |
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| **Owner statement**             | What does this owner earn and owe for the period? |
| **Landlord report / statement** | Legacy landlord reporting surfaces.               |
| **Expense report**              | What was spent on the owner's units.              |

See [Reports](/guides/reports).

## Common problems

| Symptom                                   | Cause and fix                                                                          |
| ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Owner statement shows no income           | Units are not attached to the owner, or the lease income is against a different unit.  |
| Costs missing from a statement            | Expenses were recorded without unit or block attribution.                              |
| Commission looks wrong                    | Check the contract's commission terms and their effective dates — terms are versioned. |
| Disbursement cannot be paid               | No default payout account on the owner.                                                |
| Owner balance shows zero despite activity | Check the statement period and that statements have actually been generated for it.    |

## Next steps

<Columns cols={3}>
  <Card title="Owner contracts" icon="file-contract" href="/guides/owner-contracts">
    Commission, cadence and thresholds.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Owner statements" icon="file-invoice-dollar" href="/guides/owner-statements">
    How a statement is built and read.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Owner disbursements" icon="money-bill-transfer" href="/guides/owner-disbursements">
    Paying owners what they are owed.
  </Card>
</Columns>