Quick Start Guide

Go from zero to your first rental — set up your facility in LeaseLlama step by step.

Overview

This guide walks you through everything you need to do before you can rent your first space. Plan on about 30–60 minutes depending on how many spaces you have. By the end, you’ll have a fully configured facility ready for business.

Here’s the order we’ll follow:

  1. Sign up and log in
  2. Configure system settings
  3. Create your space categories
  4. Add your spaces
  5. Set up your rental contract
  6. Connect Stripe for payments
  7. Add your team (optional)

Step 1: Sign up

  1. Go to leasellama.app/register
  2. Enter your email and create a password
  3. Confirm your email address
  4. Your $1 trial for 14 days starts immediately

After signing in, you’ll land on your Dashboard — this is your home base.

Step 2: Configure system settings

Before you do anything else, tell LeaseLlama about your business. This information shows up on invoices, emails, and receipts — so get it right now and you won’t have to fix it later.

  1. Click Administration in the top navigation
  2. Click System Settings
  3. Fill in your Company Information: name, contact email, phone, and address
  4. Upload your logo (it’ll appear on invoices)
  5. Set your billing preferences: tax rate, late fee rules, default payment terms
  6. Configure email settings: reply-to address and email footer
  7. Click Save in each section

Tip: Spend a few minutes getting your late fee and payment term settings right. Changing them later won’t affect invoices that have already been generated.

For full details on every setting, see System Settings.

Step 3: Create space categories

Categories are groups of similar spaces. They define the default pricing and help you organize your facility.

Think about how your spaces naturally group together. For example:

  • “Outdoor RV Parking” — 40 spots at $125/month
  • “Covered Boat Storage” — 15 bays at $200/month
  • “10×10 Climate Units” — 30 units at $95/month

To create a category:

  1. Go to Administration → Categories
  2. Click Add Category
  3. Enter a title, daily rate, deposit amount, and any notes
  4. Click Save
  5. Repeat for each category

How pricing works: You set a daily rate, and LeaseLlama calculates monthly, quarterly, and annual prices from it. For example, a daily rate of $4.11 gives you roughly $125/month.

For full details, see Categories Setup.

Step 4: Add your spaces

Now add the individual spaces renters will lease. Each space belongs to a category.

Add spaces one at a time:

  1. Go to Administration → Spaces
  2. Click Add Space
  3. Select a category, enter a space ID (like “RV-01”), and add any notes
  4. Click Save

Or add up to 50 at once:

  1. Click Bulk Create Spaces
  2. Select the category
  3. Enter a prefix (like “RV”) and a count (like 40)
  4. LeaseLlama generates “RV-01” through “RV-40” automatically
  5. Review the preview and click Create

Tip: You can override the category’s default rate or deposit for individual spaces later — useful for premium spots or corner units.

For full details, see Spaces Setup.

Step 5: Create your rental contract

Your rental contract is the agreement renters sign before leasing a space. LeaseLlama supports one contract at a time, applied to all new rentals.

  1. Go to Administration → Contracts
  2. Enter your contract title, version, and content
  3. Click Save

Renters can sign your contract electronically (via an emailed link) or you can upload a manually signed PDF.

Important: Have a lawyer review your contract to make sure it meets your local requirements. LeaseLlama provides a placeholder to get you started, but it’s not legal advice.

For full details, see Contracts.

Step 6: Connect Stripe for payments

To accept credit card payments, connect your Stripe account.

  1. Go to Administration → Integrations
  2. Enter your Publishable Key, Secret Key, Account ID, and Webhook Secret from your Stripe dashboard
  3. Click Save Credentials
  4. Verify the connection shows as active

Don’t have Stripe yet? Create a free account at stripe.com. Start in test mode to try things out, then switch to live mode when you’re ready for real payments.

You can also track manual payments (cash, check) without Stripe — see Payment Methods.

For full setup details, see Integrations.

Step 7: Add your team (optional)

If other people need access to LeaseLlama:

  1. Go to Administration → Users
  2. Click Add User
  3. Enter their name, email, and choose a role:
    • Tenant Admin — full access to everything, including settings
    • Operator — can handle daily tasks (check-outs, payments, renters) but can’t change system settings
  4. They’ll get an email with instructions to set their password

For full details, see Users & Roles.

You’re ready!

Your facility is set up. Here’s what a typical day looks like:

New renter wants a space

  1. Go to Renters → click Add Renter → enter their details
  2. Go to Spaces → find an available space → click Check Out
  3. Select the renter, choose a billing interval, review pricing
  4. Collect the first payment → done!

Renter is leaving

  1. Go to Spaces → find their space → click Check In
  2. Review the final invoice and any refund due
  3. Complete the check-in → the space is available again

Morning routine

  1. Open your Dashboard — check overdue invoices and recent activity
  2. Follow up on any overdue payments
  3. Check occupancy to see what’s available for walk-ins
I want to…Read this
Understand my dashboardYour Dashboard
Learn how checkout worksChecking Out a Space
Add my first renterManaging Renters
Set up invoicingInvoices
Configure my admin settingsAdmin Overview