How to Create a Property Leasing App

Why Adalo Works for Building a Property Leasing App

Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. This makes it the perfect solution for property leasing apps, which rely heavily on databases to manage rental listings, tenant profiles, lease agreements, and payment histories across multiple devices.

Publishing your property leasing app to both major app stores ensures landlords, property managers, and tenants can easily access it on their preferred devices. With native app capabilities, you can send push notifications for rent due dates, maintenance updates, lease renewals, and new property alerts—keeping everyone connected and informed throughout the leasing process.

Looking to build a property leasing app without coding? Adalo, an AI-powered app builder, simplifies the entire process—letting you design, publish, and manage apps for web, iOS, and Android from a single build. Whether you're a landlord, property manager, or tenant, a custom app can streamline tasks like listings, rent payments, and maintenance requests while reaching users on their preferred devices.

Why Adalo Works for Building a Property Leasing App

Adalo creates database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published directly to the Apple App Store and Google Play. This makes it ideal for property leasing apps, which require robust database functionality to manage listings, tenant information, payment records, and maintenance requests across multiple devices.

Ada, Adalo's AI builder, lets you describe what you want and generates your app. Magic Start creates complete app foundations from a description, while Magic Add adds features through natural language.

Having your property leasing app available in both app stores ensures tenants and landlords can easily download and access it on their preferred devices. With native app capabilities, you can send push notifications for rent reminders, maintenance updates, and new listing alerts—keeping all parties engaged and informed. The platform's AI-assisted features, including Magic Start and Magic Add, accelerate development from months to weeks.

Key Steps to Build Your App:

1. Set Up Your Workspace: Use Adalo's real estate app builders and templates to save time.
2. Design Features: Create property listings, tenant dashboards, and admin tools with drag-and-drop elements.
3. Integrate Payments: Add Stripe for rent collection and secure transactions.
4. Enable Communication: Use in-app messaging for tenant-landlord interactions.
5. Publish Across Platforms: Deploy to web, iOS, and Android without rebuilding.

With Adalo, you can reduce development time to just weeks and start with a free plan. Paid publishing costs include $99/year for Apple and a $25 one-time fee for Google. Paid plans start at $36/month with unlimited usage and no record caps on your database—a significant advantage over platforms that charge based on data storage or workload units.

What makes the platform particularly well-suited for property leasing apps is its versatile publishing capabilities: build database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—published to the App Store and Google Play—from a single visual editor. The Adalo 3.0 infrastructure overhaul delivered 3-4x faster performance and modular scaling that grows with your user base, supporting apps with over 1 million monthly active users.

Step 1: Set Up Your Adalo Workspace

Create a New App Project

Start by logging in to Adalo and clicking "Create New App". When asked to pick an app type, go with "Mobile App"—this ensures your design works well on both mobile and web devices.

To save time, use Adalo's Real Estate Agent App Template. This template includes essential screens like listings, login, and property upload, along with a pre-configured database for properties, tenants, and payments. Alternatively, try Magic Start—describe your property leasing app in plain language, and the AI generates a complete foundation including database structure, screens, and user flows automatically.

Once your project opens, you'll see the builder interface. It features a top navigation bar, a central canvas for designing screens (which can display up to 400 screens at once for complex projects), and a left-hand toolbar with key tools. These include the Add Panel (+) for dragging in elements, the Branding tab for customizing colors and fonts, the Database tab for managing your data, and the Settings tab for adjusting your app name and icons.

Next, it's time to set up your database—and here's where Adalo's AI capabilities accelerate the process.

Use AI to Build Your Database

Adalo's AI can quickly create a database structure tailored to your app. The database relies on three main components: Collections (similar to spreadsheets that group related data), Properties (fields within each collection, like an address or rent amount), and Records (actual data entries). With paid plans offering no record limits, you can store as many properties, tenants, and transactions as your business requires without worrying about hitting caps.

Every app includes a default Users Collection for handling signups and logins. For a property leasing app, you'll also need a Listings Collection. This collection might include fields like:

• Address: Use the Location type, which requires a Google Maps API key.
• Bedrooms and Bathrooms: Number types for easy input.
• Monthly Rent: Another Number type for rental amounts.
• Primary Image: An Image type for the main property photo.
• Listing Photos: A one-to-many relationship to store multiple images per property.

You might also create collections for Tenants to store renter profiles and Payments to track rent transactions and deposits. Use Magic Add to create these collections by simply describing what you need—tell it "add a collection to track tenant payment history with dates and amounts," and the AI generates the appropriate structure.

To view and edit these collections, click the database icon. Replace the template's placeholder data with your actual property details. If additional fields are needed, click "Add Properties" to customize the database to your specific requirements.

With your database ready, the next step is to define user roles for better access control.

Set Up User Roles and Permissions

A property leasing app typically requires different access levels for various users. To manage this, add a "User Type" property to your Users Collection. Set it as a Text field with dropdown options like "Tenant", "Landlord", and "Admin."

This property allows you to control what each user type can access. For example:

• Tenants might see property search tools and maintenance request forms.
• Landlords can access property management features and payment tracking.
• Admins have full access to all properties and user data.

Use Adalo's conditional visibility rules to manage these permissions. When designing screens, specify which elements are visible to each user type. This ensures everyone sees only what they need—nothing extra. Since the Users Collection is a core feature of every Adalo app, this role property will remain active throughout the app's lifecycle.

Step 2: Design the Tenant Dashboard and Property Listings

Build Property Listings

Start by adding a Custom List from your Listings Collection to showcase essential property details like the address, rent, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and a primary image. This list dynamically pulls data, ensuring users see accurate and up-to-date information for each property.

For the property detail screen, include an Image Carousel at the top. This feature allows tenants to swipe through multiple photos, with indicator dots showing their position in the gallery. Beneath the carousel, create a grid of text labels to present important details such as square footage, rent (formatted as currency, e.g., $1,500/month), and lease terms.

Enhance the browsing experience with a search bar at the top of the listings screen. Add filters for price range, number of bedrooms, and location, using sorting and filtering options to help tenants refine their search results. Make sure the filtering system is straightforward and responsive—online property searches often set high user expectations. For mobile users, ensure touch targets are at least 48x48 pixels to avoid accidental taps.

The 3-4x performance improvement from Adalo 3.0's infrastructure means these property lists load quickly even with hundreds of listings, keeping tenants engaged rather than waiting for screens to populate.

This setup provides a solid framework for displaying dynamic property information. Once complete, you can shift focus to designing a customized tenant dashboard.

Create a Tenant Dashboard

The tenant dashboard will serve as the main screen for logged-in users. Use text labels with Magic Text (Adalo's dynamic data feature) and list components to build this interface. At the top, display the tenant's current property address alongside a "My Lease" section, which shows lease start and end dates pulled from your Leases Collection.

Include a Payments section to display the tenant's rent status. Add a "Pay Rent" button that only appears when a payment is due. Below that, create a Maintenance Requests list, filtered to show only the logged-in user's requests. Use status indicators like "New", "Scheduled", or "Completed" to provide real-time updates on service requests.

Finally, add a bottom tab bar with four sections: My Lease, Payments, Maintenance, and Profile. Use a filtering rule—User > Email equals Logged In User > Email—to ensure tenants only see their own information. This personalized dashboard keeps everything tenants need at their fingertips.

Step 3: Add Maintenance Requests and Messaging

Set Up Maintenance Request Forms

Start by creating a "Maintenance Requests" collection. Include fields like Issue Title (Text), Description (Long Text), Photo (Image), Unit Number (Number), and a Complete flag (True/False). Link each record to a user in the Users collection for better organization and tracking.

Next, design a form on a new screen and connect it to the Maintenance Requests collection. Make sure the Photo field is enabled so tenants can upload images, which helps speed up issue assessments. Set the form's submit action to create a new record and redirect users back to their dashboard after submission.

To help property managers stay on top of unresolved issues, add a status filter on the admin dashboard. Configure it to show only pending requests—those not marked as complete. This way, managers can quickly identify what needs attention without sorting through completed tasks. With unlimited database storage on paid plans, you can maintain complete maintenance histories without archiving or deleting old records.

Add In-App Messaging

Once maintenance reporting is streamlined, take communication a step further by incorporating in-app messaging. Use Adalo's User Chat feature template, which automatically generates the necessary screens and database collections for Conversations and Messages while linking them to your Users collection. According to the Adalo team:

"Adalo has a convenient messaging feature that you can plug into your app. Using this to directly chat with tenants keeps all your rental-related conversations in one place, so neither you nor your tenants need to fumble through text messages or other chat histories."

After adding the template, customize the chat interface to reflect your property management branding—adjust colors, fonts, and other design elements. Test the messaging system by creating tenant and landlord accounts, then use the Preview App button to send and receive messages. For added clarity, filter the message list to display only tenant-specific conversations, ensuring privacy and easy navigation.

This messaging system pairs perfectly with the maintenance workflow, enabling tenants to report issues and follow up seamlessly. At the same time, property managers can coordinate repairs and updates with their teams—all within one unified platform.

Step 4: Build the Admin Dashboard

Design the Admin Overview

Using the database relationships set up earlier, the Admin Dashboard serves as the central hub for managing properties, tenants, and maintenance tasks. Begin by creating a new screen named "Admin Overview" and include a Custom List component linked to your Properties collection. This list should display essential property details such as the title, location, status (Available, Leased, or Under Maintenance), and the number of tenants. To streamline property management, add "Edit" and "View Details" buttons for quick access to specific property information.

Next, create another list specifically filtered to show only pending Maintenance Requests. Include details like the issue title, unit number, submission date (formatted as MM/DD/YYYY), and tenant name. This layout allows property managers to quickly identify and address unresolved issues without sifting through completed tasks.

To support these features, ensure your database relationships are structured correctly using one of the best no-code relational database builders. Use a many-to-many relationship between the Properties collection and the Users collection to link tenants. Additionally, establish a one-to-many relationship between Properties and Maintenance Requests. This setup enables managers to click on a property and instantly view its associated tenants and any reported maintenance problems.

For financial tracking, include a summary section at the top of the dashboard. Display metrics such as the total number of properties, occupied units, and the monthly rent collected (formatted as $1,234.56). Use square feet (sq ft) for property measurements to align with U.S. standards. The X-Ray feature can help identify any performance bottlenecks in your dashboard queries before they affect users managing large property portfolios.

Finally, secure this overview by implementing role-based access controls, as outlined below.

Implement Role-Based Access Control

Once your data is organized, it's time to secure access to the Admin Dashboard. Using the user roles defined earlier, limit access to admin-specific features. Assign the appropriate role to each user to ensure they can only access the features relevant to them.

Set visibility rules for your admin screens. Group all admin components and configure their visibility so they are only accessible when the "Logged In User's User Type equals Admin." This ensures that even if a tenant manages to navigate to the admin URL, they will encounter a blank screen instead of sensitive data.

For menu items or buttons linking to the Admin Dashboard, add visibility conditions to ensure they appear only for users with the Admin role. Test the system thoroughly using accounts with different roles—Tenant, Landlord, and Admin—to confirm that only authorized users can access restricted features like editing property listings, approving maintenance requests, or viewing financial details.

An Overview of Adalo | A No Code App Builder Tutorial

Step 5: Integrate Payments and Booking Management

Bringing payments and booking management into your app ties together financial transactions and scheduling, creating a unified and efficient system.

Set Up Rent Payments

To enable rent collection, start by adding the Stripe Payment component from the Adalo marketplace. First, create a Stripe account outside the platform. Once that's done, go to your app editor, click on "Add Elements and Screens," and locate the Stripe Payment kit. Drag and drop the Stripe button onto your tenant payment screen.

Next, build a "Payments" collection and include the following fields:

• Payment amount: A number field for rent in USD.
• Due date: A date field in MM/DD/YYYY format.
• Payment status: Options such as "Pending", "Completed", and "Overdue."
• Relationships: Link data to the tenant and property collections.

This setup allows you to track rent payments for each tenant and generate automated reports. Use Magic Text to configure the Stripe button so it pulls the rent amount from the corresponding property listing, sends the receipt to the logged-in user's email, and includes a description like "Monthly Rent – [Property Address]."

Test the payment process by enabling Test Mode and using the card number 4242 4242 4242 4242. Once a payment is successful, set the submit button to update the payment status to "Completed" and record the transaction date. On the tenant dashboard, display upcoming payments, including the property address, formatted rent amount (e.g., "$X,XXX.XX"), due date, and payment status. Also, add a section to show the history of completed payments.

Unlike platforms that charge based on workload units or transaction volume, Adalo's paid plans include unlimited usage—no surprise bills when rent payments spike at the beginning of each month.

Once rent payments are up and running, you're ready to incorporate property booking management.

Add Booking Management

With payments integrated, booking management becomes seamless, ensuring accurate property availability and secure deposits. Start by creating a "Bookings" collection in your database. Include these fields:

• Check-in date and Check-out date (or showing date/time for viewings).
• Booking status: Options like "Available", "Reserved", "Occupied", and "Cancelled."
• Relationships: Link the collection to both Properties and Users.

This setup ensures properties can't be double-booked, and availability updates automatically.

Design a "Book Property" screen that includes the property summary (image, address, bedroom and bathroom count, square footage), date pickers for the desired dates, and a dynamically calculated total cost. To calculate the total, multiply the nightly rate by the number of nights and add any applicable fees. Include a Stripe payment button to finalize the booking and process the payment. This workflow is similar to building a Calendly clone where scheduling and payments are tightly coupled.

For property managers, add a Calendar component to the admin dashboard. Link the calendar to the Bookings collection, and use color-coding for easy navigation: green for confirmed bookings, yellow for pending, and red for cancelled. This gives managers a clear view of property availability and occupancy.

Finally, test the entire booking system. Use different user accounts (tenant and landlord roles) to ensure only available dates can be selected, payments are processed correctly, and booking confirmations appear on both the tenant dashboard and admin calendar. Use Stripe's Test Mode to simulate transactions and confirm database updates before going live with real payments.

Step 6: Test, Launch, and Scale Your App

Your property leasing app is almost ready to go live. The final steps are all about ensuring everything runs smoothly, launching your MVP on the right platforms, and setting the stage for growth.

Validate Cross-Platform Performance

Start by running usability tests with a small group of 3–5 target users. Focus on how they interact with key features like property booking, submitting maintenance requests, and rent payments. Use task-based testing—ask them to complete specific actions like booking a property viewing or processing a payment. Encourage them to share their thoughts as they navigate the app. This will help you uncover any areas of confusion or friction.

Next, test your app across web, iOS, and Android platforms using Adalo's preview tools. Pay close attention to interactive elements—make sure buttons and links are at least 44×44 pixels for easy tapping—and verify that layouts adjust seamlessly across devices. With the majority of internet users accessing apps and websites via mobile devices, a smooth mobile experience is critical. Research shows that about 57% of users say they wouldn't recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile interface.

Before submitting your app to the app stores, share a web-based preview link with external testers. This allows them to try the app on their own devices and provide feedback. Test role-based features by logging in as different user types—tenant, landlord, and admin—to ensure everyone only sees the screens and data they're supposed to access.

Use X-Ray to identify potential performance issues before they affect your users. This AI-powered diagnostic tool highlights bottlenecks in your database queries and screen logic, helping you optimize the app before launch rather than troubleshooting after users complain.

Once you've confirmed the app works flawlessly across all platforms, you're ready to deploy it using Adalo's tools.

Publish with Adalo's Deployment Tools

To publish your app, you'll need a paid Adalo plan (starting at $36/month for the Starter tier). Adalo's single-build system simplifies the process, allowing you to publish your app to the web, Google Play Store, and Apple App Store from one build—no need to manage separate codebases.

For the Apple App Store, you'll need an Apple Developer account, which costs $99 per year. In Adalo, go to the "Launch" tab, expand the iOS App section, and enter your Apple credentials and Bundle ID. Be careful with the Bundle ID—extra spaces can cause build errors. Customize your app's display name, launch screen, and permission requests as needed. Apple requires you to explain why your app needs access to features like the camera, photos, or location. Once set, initiate a Testflight build and wait for an email notification. Testflight allows you to invite up to 100 internal testers and 10,000 external testers for feedback. Most Apple apps are approved within 48 hours, though complex ones may take longer.

For the Google Play Store, you'll need an Android developer account, which requires a one-time fee of $25. In Adalo, click "Publish", upload your Android developer key, and submit the app through the Google Play Console. Prepare an app icon, 4–5 screenshots for each device type, and metadata like the app title, description, and keywords.

If you're publishing to the web, Adalo makes it easy to manage updates manually. Use the "Publish" toggle in your settings to control when changes go live, giving you more flexibility. Unlike some competitors that limit app re-publishing or charge for updates, Adalo's paid plans include unlimited updates to your published apps.

Update and Scale Your App

Once your app is live, keeping it updated and responsive is key to staying competitive. Adalo's visual builder allows you to make quick updates without rebuilding the app from scratch. Since the platform uses a single codebase, any changes you make are instantly applied across web, iOS, and Android. This means you can roll out updates quickly and keep all platforms perfectly in sync.

Use Adalo's built-in Analytics tab to monitor performance. Track metrics like daily active users, user locations, and the most-visited screens. This data will help you identify where to focus your efforts as you scale. Before expanding to a larger audience, stress-test your app with 50–100 realistic property listings and multiple user roles to ensure it can handle increased activity.

For more advanced functionality, you can connect your app to external data sources using REST APIs and workflow automation tools. As your user base grows, Adalo's modular infrastructure scales to support over 1 million monthly active users with no upper ceiling. With the right data relationship setups, your property leasing app can grow from a handful of properties to a large-scale operation without hitting platform limitations.

With 97% of homebuyers relying on online tools during their property search, your app has the potential to capture a significant share of the market.

How Adalo Compares to Alternatives

When choosing a platform for your property leasing app, understanding the trade-offs between different builders helps you make an informed decision.

Bubble offers extensive customization but comes with complexity. Its web and mobile wrapper offering starts at $59/month with usage-based charges tied to Workload Units—calculations that can be difficult to predict and may result in unexpected bills during high-traffic periods like the first of the month when rent payments spike. Bubble's mobile solution wraps the web app rather than compiling to native code, which can introduce performance challenges at scale. While Bubble users claim apps supporting millions of MAU, these implementations typically require hiring experts to optimize performance and manage infrastructure complexity.

FlutterFlow targets technical users with a low-code approach. Users need to set up and manage their own external database, which requires significant learning and can create scalability problems if not configured optimally. The ecosystem has many experts precisely because so many users need help—often spending significant sums chasing scalability. Pricing starts at $70/month per user for app store publishing, but this still doesn't include a database, which must be sourced, set up, and paid for separately. The builder also limits your view to 2 screens at once, slowing development compared to Adalo's canvas that can display up to 400 screens.

Glide excels at spreadsheet-based apps with fast deployment, but creates generic, template-restricted apps with limited creative freedom. Pricing starts at $60/month for custom domain apps, but includes limits on app updates and data rows that attract additional charges. Critically, Glide does not support Apple App Store or Google Play Store publishing—a dealbreaker for property leasing apps where tenants expect native mobile experiences.

Softr focuses on web apps with pricing starting at $167/month for Progressive Web Apps, still restricted by records per app and data source. Like Glide, Softr doesn't support native iOS and Android app creation or app store publishing.

Adalo's combination of native app compilation, $36/month starting price with unlimited usage, no data caps on paid plans, and direct app store publishing makes it the most complete solution for property leasing apps that need to reach users on their preferred devices.

Conclusion

Now you have a clear pathway to create a property leasing app for web, iOS, and Android—without writing a single line of code. By using Adalo's AI-powered app builder, you can dramatically reduce the traditional development timeline from months to just a few weeks.

With Adalo's single-build system, you can manage everything from one platform. Updates roll out instantly across all devices, giving you a competitive edge in a market where 97% of homebuyers turn to online tools during their property search. This level of efficiency ensures your operations remain smooth and effective.

The platform's infrastructure processes over 20 million daily requests with 99%+ uptime, and features like Stripe integration, role-based access control, and in-app messaging equip you with the tools needed to run a professional leasing business. You're not just building an app; you're launching a fully scalable business solution.

You can start with Adalo's free plan to design and test your app. When you're ready to go live, publishing is straightforward: submit your app to the Apple App Store for $99 per year and the Google Play Store for a one-time fee of $25. Adalo's visual builder also makes it easy to refine your app based on user feedback, ensuring it evolves with your audience.

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FAQ

Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store from a single codebase—the hardest part of launching an app handled automatically. Paid plans include unlimited database records and no usage-based charges, so you won't face surprise bills as your property portfolio grows.

What's the fastest way to build and publish an app to the App Store?

Adalo's drag-and-drop interface and AI-assisted building let you go from idea to published app in days rather than months. Magic Start generates complete app foundations from descriptions, and the platform handles the complex App Store submission process—so you can focus on features and user experience instead of wrestling with certificates and provisioning profiles.

Can I easily build a property leasing app without coding experience?

Yes. Using drag-and-drop components, pre-built templates, and AI-assisted database creation, you can design property listings, tenant dashboards, payment systems, and maintenance request features in just weeks. The visual builder has been described as "easy as PowerPoint" by users.

How do I integrate rent payments into my property leasing app?

Adalo makes payment integration straightforward through the Stripe Payment component available in the marketplace. Simply create a Stripe account, add the payment component to your app, and configure it to pull rent amounts from your property listings. You can track payment status, due dates, and transaction history all within your app's database.

Can I set up different access levels for tenants, landlords, and admins?

Yes, Adalo supports role-based access control through user type properties in your database. You can create conditional visibility rules that show specific screens and features based on whether a user is a Tenant, Landlord, or Admin. This ensures each user type only sees the information and tools relevant to their role.

How do I add maintenance request functionality to my app?

Create a Maintenance Requests collection in your database with fields for issue title, description, photos, and status. Then design a form screen where tenants can submit requests with images, and build an admin dashboard filtered to show only pending issues. You can also add in-app messaging to keep communication about repairs in one centralized location.

What does it cost to publish my property leasing app to app stores?

Publishing costs include $99 per year for an Apple Developer account and a one-time $25 fee for a Google Play Developer account. Adalo paid plans start at $36/month with unlimited usage and no record caps. The single-build system means you only maintain one codebase for web, iOS, and Android.

How does Adalo compare to Bubble for property leasing apps?

Bubble offers more customization but starts at $59/month with usage-based Workload Unit charges that can be unpredictable. Bubble's mobile solution wraps the web app rather than compiling native code, which can affect performance at scale. Adalo starts at $36/month with unlimited usage, creates true native apps, and publishes directly to app stores from one codebase.

Can my property leasing app scale as my business grows?

Yes. Adalo 3.0's modular infrastructure scales to support over 1 million monthly active users with no upper ceiling. Paid plans have no database record limits, so you can store as many properties, tenants, and transactions as needed. The platform processes over 20 million daily requests with 99%+ uptime.

Is Adalo better than Glide or Softr for property leasing apps?

For property leasing apps specifically, yes. Neither Glide nor Softr supports Apple App Store or Google Play Store publishing—they're limited to web apps. Tenants expect native mobile experiences they can download from app stores. Adalo creates true native iOS and Android apps from a single build, making it the better choice for reaching users on their preferred devices.