Smapey Boarding House Manager Guide
Everything you need to set up your boarding house, register tenants, manage tenancies, issue rent and utility bills, record payments, and read the occupancy dashboard — step by step.
1. Set Up Your Boarding House
Create your Smapey account
Sign up at smapey.com and select Boarding House Manager as your product. Your private workspace is created instantly — no credit card required on the free plan.
Add your rooms
Go to the Rooms page and click Add Room. Enter the room name (e.g. Room 101, Bedspace A), floor number, capacity (how many tenants it can hold), and the monthly rate. Toggle the room Active when it's ready to accept tenants.
Invite your team
Go to Settings → Team and invite a co-owner or assistant by email. They can log in with their own account and access the same live system. Assign Admin or Member roles based on their level of access.
Configure your currency symbol
In Settings → Organization, confirm your currency symbol (₱ for Philippine Peso). This appears on all bills and the revenue dashboard.
2. Register Tenants
Open the Tenants page
Navigate to Boarding House → Tenants from the sidebar. This is where all your tenant records live.
Click Add Tenant
Enter the tenant's full name, contact number, and email address. Add an emergency contact name and phone number — important if you ever need to reach someone on their behalf.
Add ID information
Record the tenant's government ID type and ID number for verification purposes. This stays stored in their profile and is useful for move-out documentation or disputes.
View a tenant's profile
Click View on any tenant to see their full record — current room assignment, tenancy history, all rent bills, utility bills, and payment records in one place.
3. Manage Tenancies
Open the Tenancies page
Navigate to Boarding House → Tenancies from the sidebar. A tenancy is the active link between a tenant and a room — it records the move-in date, agreed monthly rate, and move-out date when they leave.
Create a new tenancy (Move-in)
Click Add Tenancy. Select the tenant and the room, set the move-in date, and enter the agreed monthly rate. Click Save — the room is now marked as occupied and the tenant appears on the dashboard's active tenants count.
Record a move-out
Find the tenancy and click Move Out. Enter the move-out date. The tenancy is marked as ended, the room is freed immediately, and the occupancy rate on the dashboard updates automatically.
Review tenancy history
Past tenancies stay in the system with their full history — who was in the room, for how long, and at what rate. Useful for resolving disputes or checking a room's rental history.
4. Rent Billing
Open the Rent Bills page
Navigate to Boarding House → Rent Bills from the sidebar. This is where you create and manage all monthly rent bills.
Create a rent bill
Click New Rent Bill. Select the tenant, enter the billing month, amount, and due date. The system pre-fills the amount from the tenancy's agreed monthly rate — adjust if needed. Click Save to issue the bill.
Record a payment
Click Pay on any unpaid or partially paid bill. Enter the amount received and select the payment method: Cash, GCash, Maya, Card, or Bank Transfer. If the amount is less than the total, the bill is marked Partially Paid and the remaining balance is tracked.
Monitor overdue bills
Any bill past its due date with an outstanding balance is automatically flagged on the dashboard's Overdue Rent Bills panel — tenant name, room, due date, and amount. No manual checking needed.
5. Utility Billing
Open the Utility Bills page
Navigate to Boarding House → Utility Bills from the sidebar. Utility bills are created separately from rent so tenants can clearly see what they owe for electricity, water, or internet.
Create a utility bill
Click New Utility Bill. Select the tenant, choose the utility type (Electricity, Water, Internet, or Other), enter the billing month, amount, and due date. Each utility is its own bill — you can create multiple utility bills per tenant per month.
Record utility payments
Same as rent — click Pay, enter the amount received, and select the payment method. Partial utility payments are tracked just like rent.
Review utility history
A tenant's profile shows all their utility bills alongside their rent bills in a single view — so you can see their full payment history at a glance without switching pages.
6. Dashboard & Analytics
Open the Dashboard
Navigate to Boarding House → Dashboard from the sidebar. This is your home screen — it loads every time you open the app and gives you the full picture of your boarding house at a glance.
Read the stat cards
The top row shows: Total Rooms, Active Rooms, Active Tenants, Occupancy Rate (%), Overdue Bills count, Unpaid Bills count, and Total Capacity (occupied / total). These update in real time as you add rooms, tenants, and payments.
Check monthly revenue
Below the stat cards are three revenue cards for the current month: Rent Collected, Utilities Collected, and Total Collected (the combined sum). This tells you exactly how much cash came in this month and from which source.
Read the 6-month revenue chart
The stacked bar chart shows the last 6 months of collections — orange bars for rent, cyan bars for utilities, stacked per month. Hover on a bar to see the exact amounts. Use this to spot seasonal patterns and set rent collection targets.
Review overdue bills
The Overdue Rent Bills table shows every rent bill past its due date — tenant name, room, billing month, due date, and amount. Click through to the bill directly from this panel to record a payment.
Monitor move-ins and move-outs
The bottom section shows Recent Move-ins (active tenancies) and Recent Move-outs (tenancies ended this month) side by side — so you can track tenant turnover at a glance.
Quick Tips
Things that will save you time once you're up and running.
Add all your rooms before assigning tenants — the tenancy form pulls the room list, so rooms must exist first.
Create a new tenancy every time a tenant moves in, even if it's the same tenant returning. This keeps a clean, accurate rental history for the room.
Issue rent and utility bills as separate entries each month — this makes collections clearer and avoids arguments over what each payment was for.
Check the Overdue Rent Bills panel on the dashboard weekly. The sooner you follow up, the easier it is to collect — don't let overdue accounts accumulate.
Monthly workflow at a glance
What to do at the start of each month to keep your boarding house running smoothly.
Create rent bills
Issue a rent bill for every active tenant — amount, billing month, and due date.
Create utility bills
Issue separate electricity and water bills per tenant based on meter readings or flat allocation.
Record payments
As tenants pay throughout the month, record each payment — cash, GCash, or bank transfer.
Follow up overdue
Check the Overdue Bills panel on the dashboard and follow up with tenants who haven't paid.
Review occupancy
Check if any rooms will be vacated soon and start lining up new tenants to minimize vacancy.
Check revenue trend
Review the 6-month chart to see if rent collected is growing, flat, or declining — and act accordingly.
Ready to get started?
Create your free boarding house account and have your rooms and first rent bills set up today.
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