Author: nigelgomm

You can download the recording of the May webinar (23 mins) about tenants and contractors accessing Rentman from video1721732279.mp4.

Please email any suggestions for next month’s topic to nigel@dotgomm.co.uk.

As promised the next version of Rentman gives you the ability to run your own automatic overnight backups.
It’s in 3 optional parts :

• A human readable backup. The most useful of the todo lists saved into Excel. As well as being saved to local disk it can be emailed to you
• A normal mysqldump (password protected).
• Archived files copied to your local disk. These are the older photos and journal attachments that are archived to Azure Storage Containers. These files can be sensitive (e.g. passports) and, when downloaded, are not password protected so make sure the disk drive is secure.

It creates a task in the Windows Task Scheduler of the PC being used. Obviously the normal backup and the archived files can take up a lot of disk space so make sure plenty is available. How much space will depend on your own database; you can get a rough idea by looking at “Total Database Size” in Rentman’s About screen.

It’s worth repeating that Rentman servers are constantly backed up by the Azure platform and you should never need these backups.

But after recent events this is simply so you never feel vulnerable to being held hostage again.

The Bill is still going through committee stage in the House of Lords.
After committee stage there will be “report stage” where amendments are agreed in the Lords, “Third reading” typically happens at the same time and then it is sent back to the Commons.

David d’Orton Gibson at TfP is guessing Royal Assent just before or after the summer recess with implementation Jan to April 2026.

I’ve been having this conversation a lot recently .

The backup options will be expanded next week.

In particular using a faster process; mysqlsh.schemaDump() instead of mysqldump (The former is 20x quicker but less ‘portable’ than the latter.).

I’m also thinking about including stuff in human readable form. i.e. an excel of all your landlords, another of all properties, another of all tenancies etc. just so if Armageddon comes you have SOMETHING.

I’ll send an email next week with instructions on how your IT people can set it up as an automatic process. Nightly/weekly as you wish.

Just so you can’t ever be held hostage again

(The servers are being continually backed up automatically; the Microsoft Azure platform has that built in. A local backup is just for your own reassurance.)

A reminder that all licences provided by the previous distributor (Rentman Software Ltd) will expire 15 May 2025.

(scroll down to 28th February’s post)

Many customers had problems launching Rentman this morning; this was caused by me rushing out an update with additional security checks and a diagnostic that expected to find a c:\temp folder.

Version .135 was rebuilt and there’s now a version .136.

My apologies

A routine security audit has uncovered that the master password I provide Rentman technical support to login to customer’s data has been shared with someone outside of Rentman Software Ltd.

There is evidence to suggest that on at least one occasion the person with whom the password was shared has attempted to connect to a live customer database.

This potential breach has been reported to the customer in question and I’m investigating as to what my other obligations are in this situation, and whether this was in fact a personal data breach.

The password was immediately reset, and we are confident that our additional multi-level security measures have prevented this password being used to access confidential customer data.

I wanted to notify you as an abundance of caution. Should you require any further information please do get in touch.

From 14 May 2025 Lettings agents will be required to “report to OFSI as soon as practicable if it knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that a person (i) is a designated person; or (ii) has committed a breach of financial sanctions regulations.”
see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-guidance-for-letting-agents/financial-sanctions-guidance-for-letting-agents

To this end Rentman now has the ability to add AML and proof of identity documentation to individual landlords , tenants, guarantors and occupants. There is a new list (under “tenants moving in” in the main desktop) where you’ll be warned when tenants are about to move in and these documents haven’t been saved.

Note. The integrated VorenSYS references include an AML report and if that came back OK Rentman won’t nag you for separate documents.

I’m pleased to announce a new distributor for UK and Eire.

All licences provided by the previous distributor (Rentman Software Ltd) will expire 15 May 2025.

This new distribution company is directly owned by me so will be much more active in terms of Webinars, Newsletters, Blogs, Ongoing Training as well as those individual scheduled appointments (bubble bottom right at www.dotgomm.co.uk) where we can discuss new features and changes to workflow.

All enquiries to info@dotgomm.co.uk

I’m in regular conversation with David d’Orton-Gibson at Training for Professionals who is monitoring the legislation as it progresses through Parliament.
TfP will issue updated documents when the legislation is in its final form and they will be distributed to Rentman users as soon as possible.

I’m also talking to users about expected changes in workflow.

Please schedule an online appointment with me if you have ideas you’d like to discuss (at http://www.dotgomm.ca – the bubble bottom right).