Everyone has been getting emails from Rightmove about a new security requirement.

Just so you know, Rentman has the new certificate and everything will continue as normal with no action required by customers.

You’ll be updated in the usual course of things well before the November deadline.

Here’s a few things we’re currently working on that may be of interest.

• Key tag barcodes. Print tags from Rentman and check keys out by scanning instead of typing.
• Realtime import of applicant leads from rightmove
• Tenant’s previous landlord and emergency contact details can be added by the tenant themselves from the registration page at rentman.online

These should all be available within the next week.

This month’s webinar will be on References and AML checks. Thursday 17th July at 2pm. Invitations will be sent today (Tuesday)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88136206388

If you are a former customer of RentmanSoftwareLtd and have not yet contacted me… please do so.

DotGomm Inc still has access to backups from 26 March 2025. I don’t want to delete them until instructed by the data controller (i.e. you the customer) but i am still prohibited from contacting you direct.

We’re noticing an up-tick in customers enquiring about Rentman’s sales module; this could be concern about a downturn in the lettings market or responding to rental properties being sold.

In response we’re now offering the sales module on a 3 month free trial for existing users – just ask support to switch it on.

We’ll add some more training videos about sales in the coming weeks.

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)