Anyone who manages several rented properties, whether as an owner or as a property management company, needs one place that holds leases, payments, maintenance and accounts. That is what property management software in Saudi Arabia should provide: a system that links each unit to its lease, each lease to its payment schedule, and each payment to its journal entry and invoice.
In the Saudi market this matters more than ever. Leases are documented on the Ejar platform, commercial rent is subject to VAT and e-invoicing, and owners expect clear reports on the income and expenses of each building. Running all of this in scattered spreadsheets leads to missed collections and late reports.
This guide explains what a property management system should cover, how managing properties inside an ERP compares with a standalone tool, and how an Odoo-based system can be set up to handle the work.
What is a Property Management System?
A property management system records properties, units, tenants and leases, then tracks rent due, rent collected, maintenance and expenses for each property and each owner. Its job is to tell the manager at any moment who has paid, who is late and what each building earns net.
Two groups use it: owners who manage their own buildings, and property management companies that manage other people’s properties for a fee. The second group works within a clear regulatory framework. The Real Estate General Authority (REGA) issues a FAL licence for property management, and applicants need a commercial registration that includes the activity of real estate property management for a commission.
So it is not enough for the software to record rent. It has to keep each owner’s money separate and show the manager’s fee and each building’s expenses in a form that can be handed to the owner on request.
Core Features of Property Management Software
There are four core features: units and leases, rent schedules and collection, maintenance requests, and tax invoices where required. A tool that does not connect these four leaves gaps between operations and accounting.
Units and Lease Contracts
The system starts with a clear hierarchy: owner, then property, then units within the property (flats, shops, offices, warehouses). Each unit has a use type, residential or commercial, an area and a status: let, vacant or under maintenance.
The lease itself is documented on Ejar, which is the official record of the relationship between landlord and tenant. Once documented, the lease details are entered in the software: tenant, unit, term, rent amount, payment frequency and any deposit. Keeping the Ejar contract number in the record makes it easy to cross-reference.
Rent Schedules and Collection
From the lease data, the system generates the payment schedule automatically: monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly. Every instalment has a due date and an amount, so the accountant knows in advance what should come in this month.
Collection does not stop at scheduling. The software records each payment received, matches it against the bank account, reminds the tenant before the due date and flags arrears as soon as they appear. Ejar allows tenants to pay rent electronically through SADAD at a frequency both parties agree on; matching those amounts against your books is still the job of your accounting system.
Maintenance Requests
Each maintenance request should be logged against the unit and the property: who raised it, what type it is, who carried it out and what it cost. Maintenance then becomes a record you can analyse instead of a string of phone calls.
The financial point is to charge each maintenance cost to the right property and to decide, according to the lease, whether the owner or the tenant bears it. If the owner pays, it appears in the owner’s income report; if the tenant pays, an invoice is issued to the tenant.
E-Invoices for Commercial Rent
Residential rent is exempt from VAT under Article 30 of the VAT Implementing Regulations, while commercial rent is subject to the standard 15% rate. A VAT-registered landlord therefore needs to issue an electronic tax invoice for each commercial rent instalment.
Example: a shop rented at SAR 10,000 a month before VAT. The invoice shows SAR 10,000, VAT of SAR 1,500 and a total of SAR 11,500, and it goes through ZATCA’s Fatoora system. The software must know the use type of every unit so that VAT is never charged on residential rent or forgotten on commercial rent.
Financial Reports for Each Property and Owner
Reports are the reason the system exists: owners want to know the net income of their building, and managers want to see the whole portfolio. Every revenue and expense line should therefore be tagged by property and owner from the moment it is recorded.
The reports a property manager relies on most:
- Income and expense report per property: rent collected, maintenance, utilities and net income.
- Owner statement: what was collected on the owner’s behalf, what was deducted as fees and expenses, and what was transferred.
- Tenant statement: instalments due, instalments paid and the outstanding balance.
- Occupancy report: let and vacant units and the occupancy rate per property.
- Arrears report by property, tenant and age of debt.
- Lease expiry report, so renewals and notices can be prepared in time.
In Odoo-based systems these reports are usually built with analytic accounting, where each property is treated as its own cost and profit centre, so its results appear without separate ledgers.
Also read: online bank reconciliation in Odoo to see how collected rent is matched against the bank statement.
Property Management Inside an ERP vs a Standalone Tool
A standalone tool handles leases and collection well, but it usually needs data to be moved by hand into the accounting software. Managing properties inside an ERP puts the lease, the invoice, the journal entry and the report in one database.
| Criterion | Standalone Property Tool | Property Management Inside an ERP |
|---|---|---|
| General ledger | Re-keyed or imported from export files | Entries created automatically from invoices and payments |
| E-invoicing | Needs a separate connection to Fatoora | Issued from the same system |
| Bank reconciliation | Usually outside the tool | Inside the system against the bank statement |
| Owner reports | Available but detached from the books | Built directly on the accounting records |
| Other company activities | Not covered | HR, purchasing and inventory in the same system |
If you manage a handful of units, a simple tool may be enough. For property management companies, or owners with other business lines, a single ERP usually costs less over time because it removes double entry and cuts reconciliation errors. You can read more about Daysum’s ERP system to see what an integrated setup covers.
How Daysum Can Configure Property Management on Odoo
Odoo is an open-source ERP made of connected apps, and an Odoo-based system can be set up to handle property management using its standard apps plus suitable configuration. Daysum works on Odoo and provides cloud accounting and ZATCA-approved e-invoicing, and you can discuss your property requirements with the team to decide on the right setup.
In general terms, an Odoo-based system can:
- Define properties and units and link them to owners and tenants.
- Generate periodic rent invoices automatically according to the lease frequency, using recurring billing plans.
- Send payment reminders before and after the due date by email or message.
- Issue Phase 2 compliant e-invoices for commercial rent.
- Reconcile payments with the bank and produce a statement for each tenant and each owner.
- Log maintenance requests and charge their cost to the right property.
This describes what the platform can do; it is not a ready-made real estate package. Every portfolio works differently, so we suggest you talk to the Daysum team about the number of properties you manage and how you collect rent, and decide based on a practical walkthrough. To learn more about the platform itself, see the Odoo ERP page.
Conclusion: Choosing the Right Property Management Software
The right software links the lease to the payment, the payment to the journal entry and the entry to the owner report, with no double entry. Before you choose, ask five practical questions:
- Does it separate VAT-exempt residential rent from taxable commercial rent automatically?
- Does it issue Fatoora-compliant e-invoices from within the system?
- Does it give each owner a separate statement you can send?
- Does it send payment reminders without manual work?
- Can it grow to cover general accounting, HR and purchasing?
If you manage properties for yourself or for others and want to see how your leases, collection and accounts could run in one Odoo-based system, contact the Daysum team to discuss your case in detail.
FAQs About Property Management Software
It is software that brings together properties, units, tenants and leases in one place. It tracks rent due and collected, maintenance requests and expenses. It also produces financial reports for each property and each owner.
No single product is best for everyone; the choice depends on the size of your portfolio and the nature of your business. What matters most is that it links leases to accounting, separates residential and commercial rent for VAT, and issues e-invoices. If you run other business lines, a single ERP saves you from juggling several separate tools.
There is no single official rate for property management fees; they are agreed between the owner and the licensed property management company and written into the management contract. The contract should state clearly how the fee is calculated, for example as a percentage of rent collected or a fixed amount. The owner statement should then show the fee as a separate line.
Yes. Leases are registered on the Electronic Network for Rental Services (Ejar), which is the official record of the contract. Accounting software does not replace Ejar; it complements it by handling invoices, collection, journal entries and reports. Storing the Ejar contract number in the system makes cross-referencing easy.
Residential rent is exempt from VAT, while commercial rent is subject to the standard 15% rate. A VAT-registered landlord must issue a tax invoice for commercial rent. That is why the software has to record the use type of every unit accurately.
