The PropertyFile Applicant Portal allows your applicants to view the details of both their rental and sales offers and viewings, up to the point of an offer being accepted.
It also provides the opportunity for applicants to submit viewing feedback directly in PropertyFile which will then show up in Alto.
This article includes:
- Activating the Applicant Portal
- Customising the Applicant Portal
- Inviting your applicants to PropertyFile
- Applicants booking and confirming viewings
Activating the Applicant Portal
Note
- You will need to have first activated PropertyFile before being able to activate the Applicant Dashboard.
For more information on Activating PropertyFile, click here - If you're already using PropertyFile, you'll need to enable the Viewings widget
- Within Alto, click Tools on the main toolbar
- In the dropdown menu, click Templates and admin
- On the side menu, under System Tools, click PropertyFile
- On Alto PropertyFile Administration, click the Pencil alongside your Domain
- The PropertyFile Dashboard will open. Click Manage Modules on the side menu
- Scroll down to Applicant Dashboard and slide the toggle to On
- Click Save
- Click Confirm
- This allows you to turn on Progression - Applicant and Request Viewings Online. Follow steps 5 - 7 to turn these two modules on
Customising the Applicant Portal
Once you've switched on the Applicant Dashboard, you can customise it to choose which features you'd like to make available to your applicants.
- From your PropertyFile Dashboard, click Advanced Configuration on the side menu
- Click the Applicant Dashboard tab
- Switch on/off any sections you do/don't wish to utilise by sliding the toggle(s)
- If you make any changes, click Save
Applicant Dashboard
When an applicant logs into PropertyFile, they land on their Dashboard. This will show an overview of their viewings for both sales and lettings - Booked, Awaiting Confirmation and Past.
Any Upcoming Viewings will be listed on this page and can be clicked into from here.
Viewings tab
The Viewings tab shows the applicant more information about their viewings.
Any Past Viewings can be accessed from here, and feedback can be left. This feedback will then show in Alto where you can share it with the vendor or landlord.
Offers tab
The Offers tab provides a list of all of the applicant's offers for both sales and lettings properties along with the status of the offer.
Once an offer is accepted, sales applicants will also then be able to access the Sales Progression tab to view the progress of their purchase whilst lettings applicants will be able to access the Tenant Portal to view further details about their tenancy.
Inviting your applicants to PropertyFile
You can resend PropertyFile invites, or invite your applicants to get started with PropertyFile either individually from their contact record in Alto or in bulk via the relevant contact Groups.
The process for doing this is exactly the same as it would be for your landlords, tenants and vendors.
For more information on Inviting contacts to PropertyFile, click here.
Applicants booking and confirming viewings
Booking
From your website, if you have the Viewings widget enabled, potential applicants can book a viewing from a property by using the time slot options that are presented to them.
- The applicant chooses 3 time slots and clicks Next
- They then have the option to log into their PropertyFile account or Continue as a guest. In this example, the applicant continues as a guest
- They fill in some basic property requirements, these will change depending on if the property is sales or lettings
- They then click Continue
- They have the option to confirm their viewing times along with a warning reminding them not to attend the viewing until they have received confirmation, as this is not confirmation of a viewing
- They can then click Confirm
Once they confirm, they'll be presented with a confirmation screen telling them their viewing request has been sent. They can either return Back to property or go to My account.
If they have requested the viewing as a guest, they will not be able to access their account yet so you will need to confirm the viewing and invite the applicant to PropertyFile before they can access their account.
Confirming
Viewing requests from the website are managed from Enquiries on the Home screen side menu.
- Within Alto, click Enquiries on the Home screen side menu (3 small concentric circles)
- Click Viewing Enquiries
- The new viewing request will be listed. Click the magnifying glass to expand the information
Dealing with duplicates and confirming the viewing time
There are 3 possible status for duplicates that appear on the right hand side of the Viewing Enquiries section of Enquiries.
-
Known Contact is when an applicant has logged into their PropertyFile account at the point of requesting the viewing
- Click one of the times they have requested
- In the Viewing window, click Save Viewing
-
New Contact is when an applicant has clicked Continue as guest when requesting the viewing and doesn't have a PropertyFile account, a contact record within Alto, and isn't a possible duplicate
- Click one of the times they have requested
- Alto asks if you are happy to accept the contact. Click Yes to proceed
- You can invite the applicant to PropertyFile from here, if required
- In the Viewing window, click Save Viewing
-
Possible Duplicate is when an applicant might already have a PropertyFile account or a contact record within Alto
- Click the magnifying glass
- Check what the applicant has Matched On
- If you're happy, click Merge
- You can also click Preview to open the contact record on the right hand side (click Open Contact to open the full contact record)
Actions
The Actions dropdown menu on the far right gives you the option to Decline and Email & Decline the viewing request.
- Decline will decline the viewing
- Email & Decline will open an email which can be edited. Click Send to send the email and decline the viewing request