Once you've conducted owner ID checks & buyer verification checks with Thirdfort, and configured whether to automatically send quotes from our vetted approved panel of conveyancers, you'll need to add further details to the property record in preparation for it going on the market.
The simplest way of doing so initially is by using our new property workflow, which helps you manage properties through the lifecycle of a transaction.
The first step focuses on the property details.
The first step involved in Pre-marketing of the property is to add or edit the property details. This can be done in 2 parts:
- To speed up the listing process, you can share a Property questionnaire to gather National Trading Standards material information about the property from the owner
- You can then review the questionnaire information, complete any outstanding property details fields yourself where there are gaps in the listing content, and then import it directly onto the Alto property record
Configuring your property questionnaire questions
In addition to the default set of 50+ questions included in the questionnaire that are published to portals, as a one off process, you can now configure it to your needs by choosing to include from over 250 optional questions.
The full process of configuring your property questionnaire questions within Keyflo can be viewed here.
Property questionnaire
As part of our new property workflow, the Property questionnaire 'owner task' lets you share a questionnaire to gather National Trading Standards material information about the property from the owner.
- Click Properties on the main navigation bar
-
Select the relevant property from Recent & Favourite Properties
- Alternatively, find the property using the Search Properties bar in the top right
-
Properties at any of the following status (Instructed, Available, Let (Marketing), Withdrawn, Suspended) will have a Prepare Property banner at the top of the page.
Click Manage below Owner questionnaire to open up the property workflow and land on the Pre-marketing tab - In the Gather information section and alongside Owner property questionnaire, if you click Details alongside this 'owner task', you can choose which owner (and email) to send the task to, and then click Send task to share it with them
Note
At this point, the option to Sign off/skip appears as well as Resend task.
You might choose skip to keep on top of your client task list in situations where the property details are being sourced another way. By skipping, it'll:
- mark the task as Skipped
- remove it from the list of properties awaiting client action on the Client activity notification page
- remove it from the contacts (clients) Tasks list in Keyflo
Equally, you might choose Resend if you want to transfer the task from one owner to another, i.e. if owner 1 is sent the questionnaire but doesn't action it, you can then resend it to owner 2.
This is the 4th 'owner task' that is sent (via Keyflo) we ask them to complete. As a prerequisite, Alto will send the owner an email with a secure link to register for Keyflo if they aren't already, as well as an email to notify them they have a task to complete.
Once the owner is registered/logged in, they'll be prompted about
a Property details form task they have - upon selecting
Start, they will be asked to complete a series
of
questions to provide material information about the property.
Any
questions they can't currently answer can be skipped, and if
they
need to provide more information to you, i.e. if any rights/restrictions
have been marked as Yes, they can do so at the end.
(This information will get imported into the Viewing Notes
field and won't be published to portals).
Reviewing and importing the questionnaire information
Once they submit the form, back in Alto, if you are the assigned
negotiator, you'll be notified the task has been actioned within
the Timeline, and via a Client activity notification.
Selecting the Client activity notification will take you to the Client activity page. Here you'll be able to see which properties you've sent requests for, the status of each request, and you can click Review to check the questionnaire information provided by the owner and complete any outstanding property details fields yourself where there are gaps in the listing content.
Once complete, you can then click Import to Alto to import the information directly onto the Alto property record.
To finish, it opens up our new property workflow on the Pre-marketing tab where you can see the time and date stamp for when this 'owner task' was Sent and Completed.
Note
Once imported, the information provided by the owner will be stored as read-only. This gives you a record of the data submitted by them and it won't be changed if you make any edits
With the Property details added, you'll now want to move on to adding the Media.
FAQs
- Is the questionnaire compliant with UK requirements?
Yes. The default questions are based on the National Trading Standards’ material information guidance (Parts A–C) plus you can include over 250 questions informed by Propertymark guidance.
- Can we add bespoke questions to the questionnaire?
You can choose which of the 250 additional Propertymark-based questions to include for Sales and Lettings. Bespoke questions are not currently supported but may be added in the future.
- What additional steps are needed for gifts or family/friends loans?
For family or friends lending towards a property purchase, they can be added to Alto and a Source of Funds check can be ordered. If your buyer has received a gift, they should include this in the Source of Funds questionnaire. Verifying gifts is not yet supported via Alto’s Thirdfort integration but is on the roadmap.
- Can we preview the property questionnaire before sending?
Yes. Create a test property and contact in Alto to assign yourself tasks and see the client experience.
- Can the property questionnaire be printed for non-email users?
No - this is a digital form, though we're aware of some agents creating paper forms by printing the tabs.
- Do questionnaire answers automatically update the property details?
Yes. Once contacts (clients) complete the questionnaire, you’ll be notified under Client Activity. You can review, compare, and import the information to the property record.
- Once a contact (client) has completed the questions, do they need to sign this off?
When submitting the questionnaire, your contact (client) is prompted with the folowing text: "You wil have an audit trail of when and who submitted the Property Questionnaire for each property. By selecting 'submit form' I confirm that all information provided is accurate to the best of my knowledge. If I should become aware of any change to the information supplied I wil update my agent".
- Would a saved copy of the contacts (clients) answers be available to refer back to?
Yes - the completed questions are accessible against the property record so you can check what information was provided.
- How does the submitted property questionnaire information feed to the portals?
Once you review and import the information directly onto the Alto property record, the relevant information fields are mapped to the portal schemas, and therefore feed to the portals once the property is published.
There are however some subtle differences between Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket - not all fields are consumed by all the portals, and some will only show the field if a restriction is noted as true.
At a later point (i.e. when the property is set as Available and is being marketed), you can change the property details from the property record, if necessary.
- Click Properties on the main navigation bar
-
Select the relevant property from Recent & Favourite Properties
- Alternatively, find the property using the Search Properties bar in the top right
- Click Property on the side menu
-
Click the Property top tab.
Amend the relevant fields in the Address and the About the Property
section. Remember, as a minimum:
- Ensure Rooms information is added - (number of each room type of Beds, Bath, Recpt)
- Ensure the property Type is selected
- Ensure the Construction materials are added
-
Ensure a council Tax Band is selected
from the dropdown menu - (bands A-I
are applicable to properties in England, Wales and
Scotland.
If the property is a new build and hasn't had its council tax band assigned, select New Build - rate not available yet.
If the property is located in Northern Ireland, select Northern Ireland - Domestic Rates. The Domestic Rate field will become visible - ensure a rate is entered (£)
If the property is exempt, select Exempt. The Exemption Reason field will become visible - ensure an exemption reason is entered) - Amend the relevant fields in the Parking section to highlight the availability of parking for property matching and for the portals
- Amend the relevant fields in the Utilities section to highlight the supplies for Water, Electricity, Sewerage and Heating. Then, the Internet connection type, the Internet Speed and the Mobile Coverage
-
If the property is affected by an issue, amend the relevant fields in the Issues with potential impact on the property section
-
Click the Marketing top tab.
Amend the relevant fields in the Sale Information/Rental Information
section. Remember, as a minimum:
- Ensure the sale Price (£) is added if it's a Sales property or a rental Price (£) if it's a Lettings property. Then ensure a security Deposit (£) is added as this is what new tenants will be charged at the beginning of their contract
- Ensure the property Tenure is selected from the dropdown menu - (Non-traditional should only be used for properties with non standard tenures such as park homes and houseboats)
-
If the Tenure is Leasehold or
Leasehold - Share of Freehold, the
Shared Ownership section is visible.
If appropriate, tick if the property is Shared ownership. Then, complete all the fields in this section to highlight the Ownership Share %, the Rent amount (£) and the Rent frequency for the remaining share -
If the Tenure is Leasehold or
Leasehold - Share of Freehold, the
Lease Details
section is also visible.
Ensure you enter the length of the Lease Term and the Years Remaining
Ensure you enter the Annual Ground Rent amount (£). Then, ensure you tick if the ground rent is fixed for the tenancy term (Fixed for Term), and enter the Ground rent Review Period (years) followed by the Ground Rent Increase (%)
Ensure you enter the Annual Service Charge amount (£)
-
Click Save