The Residently Lexicon is a special dictionary that lists the words, phrases and acronyms in use at Residently. Terms and their meanings are presented in alphabetical order with additional information about their origin and usage. This resource has been produced to clarify the meanings of unfamiliar terminology and to help you understand the Residently workflow and the terms we ascribe to specific functions, stages and product features.
API - Application Programming Interface. A set of rules that allows software programmes to communicate and share data with each other.
Applications - the tab from which you administer rental applications on the dashboard, comprising four sub-tabs: 'New offers', 'Approved offers', 'Recently completed' and 'Declined'.
AST - Assured Shorthold Tenancy. This is the default legal category of residential tenancy agreement used in England with limited security of tenure.
Break clause - a term in a tenancy agreement that gives the tenant or landlord the legal right to end the tenancy before the specified term end date.
CCJ - County Court Judgement. A legal order from the County Court in England and Wales ordering a person to pay back their debt, affecting their credit rating.
Certificates - the tab on the task tracker for an application from which you can confirm the EPC, ESC and gas status for the property. Partners must complete this stage before they can issue contracts and request upfront payment.
Clara - Residently's resident-facing AI chatbot designed to help residents complete their application and self-solve their issues. Clara is accessible to applicants via the Help widget in the bottom right-hand corner of their application and the Resident Help Centre. [Origin: The name 'Clara' is derived from the late Latin verb clarificare, meaning 'to make clear' or 'to set forth clearly'; from the Latin adjective clarus, -a, -um, meaning 'clear' or 'bright'].
Community 🛝 - the tab from which you can manage community cards.
Community card - a customisable card that is displayed to residents in the Residently app to promote local offers, services and community events.
Contracts 📝 - the Contracts stage in the Join process enables you to generate and issue a contract for signature. Residents and partners must sign and countersign respectively in order to complete this stage.
CSAT - Customer Satisfaction (surveys).
Dashboard - the Residently hub from which you manage property marketing, leads and viewings, offers, contracts, payments, renewals and more.
DOB - Date of birth.
DPS - Deposit Protection Service. The DPS ensures tenants' security deposit is protected and allows them to recover it at the end of the tenancy.
EICR - Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). A legal requirement for landlords in the UK, meaning they must have their rental properties inspected and certified by a qualified electrician at least once every five years to ensure electrical safety. Landlords must provide a copy of the EICR to their tenants. Failure to do so can result in fines.
EPC - Energy Performance Certificate. A document that tells you how energy efficient a property is. You must have an EPC when you're renting out a property.
ESC - Electrical Safety Certificate. A document that confirms a property's electrical system is safe to use.
Find - the Residently term for the process of finding new residents for a property. Find is offered as a standalone Residently product. Find ends and Join begins once an offer has been approved by a property manager.
Ghost occupier - An unborn legal occupier added to a stay. Residents expecting a child during the tenancy term don't need to add any children that haven't been born yet to their application. Applicants must provide a name and date of birth for a legal occupier which can only be confirmed when the child is born. If a child is born during the tenancy term, the residents should inform the property manager so that they can add them to the stay as a mid-term legal occupier.
HD - Holding deposit. A holding deposit is a refundable payment made by a tenant to a landlord or letting agent to secure a property before signing a tenancy agreement. The HD is usually capped at one week's rent. If the applicants' application in unsuccessful, the HD is usually lost. A landlord or agent can retain the deposit if an applicant provides false or misleading information.
Housing Hand - the only guarantor service formally recognised by Let Alliance.
Individual paperwork - the individual paperwork option allows the lead resident on a join to choose who will be responsible for uploading details and documents for referencing after the offer has been approved. The lead resident is given the option at Offer stage to select one of two options: 'I'll upload everyone's details and documents' or 'I want each person to provide their own'. The lead resident is always responsible for submitting the application as a whole.
Insights ✨ - the tab from which you can get data-driven insights on comparable properties, residents and renewals.
In situ - residents already living in properties onboarded by our partners. [Origin: from the Latin in situ, meaning 'in position, in place'].
JMI - Just Move In. (See JUST MOVE IN).
Join - 1 the Residently term for the rental application journey from Offer through to Referencing, Contracts and Payment stages. 2 a Residently term used synonymously with 'application'. A join is considered complete when all five stages in the task tracker on the dashboard have been completed.
Just Move In - Residently's trusted, third-party services partner that offers residents a home setup service to manage council tax, energy, broadband, insurance and entertainment packages.
Landlord - someone who leases land or property.
Leads 🦮 - the tab from which you can manage leads, schedule viewings and start an application.
Legal occupier - the Residently term for permitted occupier. (Cf. PERMITTED OCCUPIER).
Lessee - another word for a tenant, i.e. someone who holds the lease of a property.
Let Alliance - Residently's trusted, third-party referencing partner.
Listings 🪧 - the tab from which you can create and customise property listings and manage pre-qualification thresholds.
LL - abbreviation of 'landlord'. (See LANDLORD).
Luna - Residently's partner-facing AI chatbot designed to help partners navigate the dashboard and self-solve their issues. Luna is accessible to partners via the Help widget in the bottom right-hand corner of the dashboard and the Partner Help Centre. [Origin: The name 'Luna' is derived from the Latin Luna, meaning 'moon'. In ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is a goddess and the divine embodiment of the moon. The chatbot's name, Luna, was inspired by the classic bot icon which somewhat resembles the appearance of the moon. The name 'Luna' aligns perfectly with the chatbot's humanoid qualities, mitigating the associated risks of anthropomorphising a chatbot].
MID - Move-in date.
Mid-term resident - a resident who joins a stay part-way through a tenancy term.
MRI Qube - a property management system that handles the finance, accounting and compliance functions for property managers including Touchstone. Residently relies on property management systems as a 'source of truth' for property and financial data (e.g. the rent ledger).
Navigation panel - the sidebar appearing as a permanent feature on the left-hand side of the dashboard, allowing you to quickly access different modules.
NPS - Net Promoter Score. A survey form sent to residents to rate their experience and our service.
Offer 📋 - the stage at which an agent submits an offer form with proposed tenancy details to the applicants. The lead resident fills in their information and gets to choose who will be responsible for uploading details and documents for referencing. (See INDIVIDUAL PAPERWORK). Partners must review and approve the offer before the residents can move onto the next stage in the Join process, Referencing.
Page - a document that is displayed in a web browser and is part of a website. Web pages are written in HTML and can include text, photos, videos and links to other web pages. (Cf. SCREEN).
Paperwork 📑 - 1 the Residently term for the stage at which residents upload their details and documents for referencing. 2 a colloquial Residently term referring to the information residents upload to their application, i.e. details and documents for referencing.
Partner - a Residently client.
Partner Help Centre - the knowledge base that contains a catalogue of self-help articles designed to support our partners.
Payment 💸 - the stage at which you make the upfront payment request and residents make the upfront payment. The stage is marked as complete once the partner confirms the upfront payment has been received.
Permitted occupier - someone that is legally permitted to occupy the premises. (Cf. LEGAL OCCUPIER).
PPW - abbreviation of 'paperwork'. (See PAPERWORK).
Presi - the Residently term for a prospective resident, i.e. a lead, and someone who is engaging with Find but has not yet had their offer approved. Once a presi's offer has been approved by the property manager, they become a resident. [Origin: portmanteau of 'potential' + 'resident'].
PRS - Private Rented Sector.
Properties 🏡 - the tab from which you can manage properties and property data.
Properties to let 🏘️ - the tab from which you can manage properties to let and get data-driven insights and recommendations on how to enhance your listings.
Pro rata - daily rental rate, calculated when a resident move-in date is not the first day of the month. Move-in date before the chosen cut-off date will pay the pro rata amount for those number of days. Move-in date after the cut-off date will pay pro rata for the rest of that month and the next month. [Origin: from late 16th century Latin pro rata, meaning 'according to the rate'].
Referencing 🗃️ - the stage at which applicants upload their details and documents and submit their application for referencing. Information is reviewed by Let Alliance, our third-party referencing partner. Partners can track progress from the Residently dashboard. Applicants can track progress from the Residently app. Both an initial and final report are generated for each resident and guarantor. Once the process is complete, partners can review and approve the reports to complete the Referencing stage.
Renewal - when a landlord and tenant agree to extend their rental contract for another tenancy term which can happen at the end of a fixed term tenancy.
Renewals 🎠 - the tab from which you can process renewals and add mid-term and in situ residents.
Resi - abbreviation of 'resident'. (See RESIDENT).
Resident - someone who has had their offer approved and is proceeding through the Join process.
Resident Help Centre - the knowledge base that contains a catalogue of self-help articles designed to support residents.
R2R - Right to rent.
R2W - Right to work.
Sandbox - a testing environment using dummy contact information.
Screen - the Residently term for a page in the app, much preferred over 'page' which is usually used in reference to a website page. (See PAGE).
Stay - the Residently term for a tenancy.
Stays 🛏️ - the tab from which you can manage stays and stay data.
Stay setup - the tab on the task tracker for an application from which you can submit bank details for upfront and ongoing rent payment, submit a payment reference, submit landlord and signatory details and submit a tenancy reference. Partners must complete this stage before they can issue contracts and request upfront payment.
Tab - a user interface element on the dashboard that allows you to quickly switch between different pages or panels.
TDS - Tenancy Deposit Scheme. The TDS ensures tenants' security deposit is protected and allows them to recover it at the end of the tenancy.
Term - a tenancy term.
Upfront payment - the total upfront amount payable which usually includes a security deposit and the upfront rent amount. The upfront rent amount can vary between the first month's rent, to six months, or a full upfront payment for the whole tenancy term.
Viewings 🔭 - the tab from which you can manage viewings and set viewing availability.
Vision Plus Portal - one of two names for Let Alliance's state-of-the-art referencing system, released in 2024. Click here to access the VISTA slide deck.
VISTA - one of two names for Let Alliance's state-of-the-art referencing system. (See VISION PLUS PORTAL). Click here to access the VISTA slide deck.
Void - the time period between tenants moving out of a property and the next tenants moving in. During this time, the landlord doesn't usually receive rental income.
Yield Control 🚜 - an insights feature on the Residently dashboard that automates data collection to guide renewals. Yield Control allows partners to get automated, personalised and dynamically-priced renewals insights and offers streamlined end-of-tenancy collaboration to minimise the impact of voids.
If you need further assistance, email us at partners@residently.com or reach out via chat.