8 Best Student Housing Property Management Software Solutions on Campus

Whether dealing with property damage caused by wild college parties, high turnover rates as tenants churn through rentals, or difficulties collecting rent from broke dropouts, your day-to-day as a student housing landlord will present challenges.

Thankfully, student housing property management software can help ease your workload as you navigate the unique challenges that all college landlords face.

We’ve written this article to help you better understand student housing, know what key features to look for in property management software, and find a solution that makes sense for your specific portfolio.

From TurboTenant to Buildium to AppFolio (and more), plenty of property management software solutions are worth considering. Keep reading to find your best match.

What makes student housing unique?

Managing student housing can be unique and challenging for landlords. Trust us; we’ve been there and seen it all firsthand.

Here are a few reasons why:

• Inexperienced renters: Many residents will be living independently for the first time.
• High turnover rates: Students switch housing, graduate, and transfer frequently.
• Dense living arrangements: Tenants tend to pack into close quarters to save money.
• Unique rent collection: Parents often co-sign the lease or pay their children’s rent.
• Festive tenants: Frequent social gatherings (parties) often occur in rentals.

Stay tuned, and we’ll explore some hypothetical situations that you, the college landlord, could face and how each product on this list can help you maneuver them.

Why Property Management Software is Essential for Student Housing

Given the inherent ups and downs of managing student housing, finding property management software to help organize the chaos will go a long way to ensuring success. Here are a few (of the many) reasons why:

Tenant Screening Features Help Landlords Identify Desirable Renters

Gone are the days of picking a tenant and hoping for the best. Property management software can help property managers identify reputable renters by running comprehensive background checks, analyzing credit reports, and communicating with references.

Software Expedites Move-In and Move-Out, Reducing Turnover Time

Coordinating move-ins and move-outs with flighty college students can be time-consuming. Software can speed up the process by digitally documenting property damage, screening tenants, and processing applications faster.

Digital Rent Collection Encourages More On-Time Payments

Excuses, excuses, excuses — college students are full of them. Thankfully, your tenants will have a more challenging time coming up with alibis for late rent payments, as property management software allows tenants to pay for rent directly from their smartphones.

Automated Maintenance Management Streamlines the Repair Process

Some college students are like errant wrecking balls, destroying everything in their path. When these students inevitably damage your property, software can handle maintenance and repair requests, collect vendor quotes, and automatically deduct expenses from security deposits.

Top Features to Look for in Student Housing Property Management Software

Not all student housing property management software is alike. So, before you consider investing in a solution, ensure it has the following features, at a minimum:

• Rental advertising to seamlessly market your property across multiple platforms

• Digital rental applications that adhere to federal fair housing regulations

• Tenant screening for background checks, credit reports, and rental references

• Lease agreement generation that creates legally compliant state-specific rental agreements

• Online rent collection that allows autopayments, late fees, and more

• Maintenance management that coordinates with vendors and tracks repairs

• Tenant communication that centralizes your comms into a single location

• Financial tracking and reporting to ensure accurate accounting and bookkeeping

Note: A product must possess all the above essential features to make this list.

Best Student Housing Property Management Software

1. TurboTenant

Pricing: Free for landlords; tenants pay for screening and application fees.

TurboTenant tops our list of the best student housing property management software on the market today. Why? Because it can handle any challenge a college student throws at it.

For example, let’s say your tenant, Tanner, invites a few friends over for a “hookah sesh,” and they burn a large hole in your rental unit’s brand-new carpet.

While this scenario is a “buzz kill” for everyone involved, TurboTenant’s maintenance management feature will allow you to send a qualified vendor to repair or replace Tanner’s big blunder with a few taps on your smartphone. Buzz restored.

Not to mention, TurboTenant offers free rental marketing and listing syndication, online rent collection with late fee automation, tenant screening with credit and background checks, maintenance request tracking, and more.

Unlike most other options in this article, TurboTenant is free to use for life. You can upgrade to Premium features when necessary.

Sign up for a free TurboTenant account today to take our award-winning software for a test drive.

2. Buildium

Pricing: Starts at $52/month

Buildium is an alternative to TurboTenant because its well-rounded features cater to student housing landlords of all portfolio sizes.

For instance, Buildium’s convenient tenant communication portal will allow you to express dissatisfaction directly to your troublesome renter, known on campus as “Hurricane Hannah,” after she throws a raucous party and gets the cops called for the fifth time this semester.

During the process, Buildium’s software will automatically log and document all of this communication for future reference.

Buildium also allows landlords to collect rent online, track finances, create customizable lease templates, manage maintenance requests, and more.

While Buildium is worth your consideration, its pricing is among the more expensive options on the market.

3. AppFolio

Pricing: Starts at $1.40 per unit, with a minimum fee of $280/month

AppFolio is another solid option, especially since they’ve begun investing heavily in AI to automate landlord tasks and improve efficiency.

For instance, your tenant, Kolby, blames his fourth consecutive late rent payment on “getting canned from TGI Fridays.” While it’s okay for you to feel sorry for Kolby, use AppFolio’s handy rent payment portal to automatically assess late fees the next time he’s a day late and a dollar short.

In addition, we love AppFolio’s online lease signing feature, mobile inspection capabilities, Smart Maintenance management, customizable financial reporting, and more.

However, like Buildium, AppFolio’s pricing structure is on the higher end, which means small- to medium-sized landlords might find it too expensive for their budgets.

4. Rentec Direct

Pricing: Starts at $35/month

Rentec Direct is worth a look thanks to its reasonable pricing and money-back guarantee. Its complete set of features can directly benefit student housing landlords like you.

For instance, suppose you’ve recently run through a string of problem tenants — Elijah, the indoor weed grower; Hayden, the midnight drummer; and Aiden, the holdover tenant — and you really need to get this next one right.

To up your odds of finding the right match, you can utilize Rentec Direct’s handy tenant screening tool to run comprehensive credit reports, initiate criminal background checks, and access a renter’s eviction history.

We also appreciate Rentec Direct’s ability to collect digital rent payments, track revenue and expenses, manage leases within the landlord portal, accept digital rental applications, and more.

5. Yardi Breeze

Pricing: Yardi costs $1 per unit per month, with a minimum of $100/month

Many student housing property managers turn to Yardi Breeze for its effortless ability to scale and the company’s heavy investment in technology-forward features.

For example, let’s say your past Craigslist apartment rental postings have attracted subpar tenants to your properties. Like Tobias, for example, who unexpectedly dropped out of college, broke his lease, abandoned his belongings at your property, and drove to San Francisco to pursue a career as a “live streaming guerilla journalist.”

While you’re busy picking up the pieces from Tobias’ sudden departure, Yardi Breeze’s marketing software can post your rental across several popular listing sites and attract more quality applicants than Craigslist alone ever could.

Yardi Breeze also offers other helpful features, such as tenant screening and online rental applications, maintenance request tracking and vendor management, automated rent collection and late fee assessments, and more.

6. Innago

Pricing: Free for landlords; tenants pay application and payment processing fees

Judging by their impressive feedback across multiple review websites, Innago has some of the most valuable features in the property management software industry.

For example, let’s say the suboptimal tenants in your four-plex, known around town as the “Jungle Juice Palace,” have run up a laundry list of expenses on top of their rent payments — broken window replacement, drywall repair, and disturbing the peace fines (to name a few).

To assist you, Innago’s expense tracking and financial reporting will help you organize, classify, report, and deduct these charges from your tenants’ security deposits.

Other features we appreciate include online rent collection with automated reminders, free tenant screening, digital lease signing with customizable templates, maintenance request tracking with status updates, and more.

7. Hemlane

Pricing: Starts at $30/month plus $2 per unit

Though Hemlane made this exclusive list for many reasons, one service they provide is especially relevant to student housing property managers.

Let’s pretend for a moment that you have a real hothead of a tenant, Hunter, the super senior, who picks fights with the neighbors every chance he gets. When you finally decide enough is enough, Hemlane’s Tailored Eviction+ feature will guide you through every step of the pre-eviction process as you attempt to expel Hunter from your rental.

Other helpful features of Hemlane include lease management with automated renewals, maintenance coordination with local service providers, online tenant applications and rent payments, legal compliance tools, and more.

Though Hemlane offers a solid product, the lack of a mobile app is a bit of a head-scratcher. However, they mention that you or your tenants can complete your tasks in a mobile browser.

8. Rent Manager

Pricing: Custom pricing based on features and property size

Rounding out our list of the best student housing property management solutions is Rent Manager, a popular option with respectable features that can help landlords like you.

For instance, let’s say tenants in your multi-unit student housing property are complaining about a strong odor of marijuana coming from unit 420. Rent Manager’s handy communication feature allows you to send a pre-recorded voicemail to the unit’s three residents, Eli, Jesse, and Brayden, sternly reminding them of the unit’s no-smoking policy.

Beyond delivering fear straight to a glassy-eyed psych major’s voicemail box, Rent Manager will also allow student housing property managers to track tenant leases, accept online payments, list rentals across multiple listing sites, track maintenance requests, and more.

Though Rent Manager is a solid solution, some landlords report their property management software as complex and overwhelming for new users with smaller portfolios.

Why Choose TurboTenant for Student Housing Property Management

Thanks for giving it the old college try and sticking around while we studied the best student housing property management software solutions. Though many serviceable solutions are available, TurboTenant tops our list (perhaps unsurprisingly).

Our software’s stellar reviews, robust features, and affordable pricing structure make it a no-brainer for student housing landlords.

Check out exactly what TurboTenant can do, read a few reviews, and sign up for a free account today.

Student Housing Property Management Software FAQs