Can several tenants sign the same lease?

Yes. A signature request can include any number of signers, in a fixed order if you like. A lease with two tenants and the property manager counts as a single request.

Can the owner approve the lease before it goes to the tenants?

Yes, on the Enterprise plan. In the request, the owner gets the approval role instead of a signature: they review the lease at their position in the order and approve it without signing themselves. Only then do the tenants receive their signing link; nobody is contacted before that. If the owner rejects it, the request ends with a reason for everyone involved. The owner does not need their own account for this: like a signature, the approval works via a personal link. It leaves nothing in the lease itself; the completion certificate records it with the time and the person.

Does the apartment handover work without the tenant's email address?

Yes, with kiosk mode: the tenant signs directly on your tablet, your employee confirms the verified identity, and the copy can be printed or sent to any address.

How do I prove who signed when if there is a dispute?

Every request generates an audit trail with timestamps, IP addresses and a cryptographic hash chain, plus a completion certificate as a PDF. You can download both at any time and present them as evidence.

For property managers and agents

From lease to handover report: signed digitally

Leases (Mietverträge) go out as a signing link to all tenants, and handover reports are signed on a tablet in the apartment. Legally binding and fully documented, without stacks of paper in the property file.

Hand holding apartment keys on a house-shaped key ring in front of an apartment door

Typical documents

Which document, which signature level?

From the first viewing to move-out: every document has the right signature level.

Document	Signature level	Note
Residential lease (open-ended)	AES recommended	No form requirement; the SMS code strengthens the evidential value.
Fixed-term lease of more than one year	QES	Meets the statutory written form under § 550 BGB (German Civil Code); otherwise the lease counts as open-ended.
Handover report	SES in person	In kiosk mode in the apartment, with meter readings and verified identity.
Rental application and viewing report	SES	In advance via link, or right at the appointment on the tablet.

Which level for what? See the overview on the page Signature levels, or to dig deeper: Guide: sign a lease digitally .

Workflow

From prospective tenant to complete file

Here is how a new rental runs when neither mail nor printer is involved:

Send the lease

All tenants receive the lease as a signing link and sign one after another. SmartDocs handles the order automatically.

Real-time status

Management can see at any time who has not signed yet. Reminders go out automatically, without anyone chasing by phone.

Handover in the apartment

The handover report is signed in kiosk mode on the tablet. The sealed PDF goes straight into the digital file.

What this looks like in practice: A property management company with 800 units now sends leases only as a signing link: instead of two weeks in the mail, signing takes two days on average. Handover reports are created on the tablet in the apartment, and every file contains the completion certificate with a complete chain of evidence.

Matching features

Built for everyday work: Property management

Handovers right on site

Kiosk mode turns your tablet into a signing station, even for tenants without an email address.

Learn more

Roles, approvals and separate organizations

Roles control who sends and who manages. On the Enterprise plan, the owner approves the lease before it goes to the tenants. For clients or locations that need to stay fully separate, you create separate organizations.

Templates with versioning

If your standard lease changes, ongoing requests keep their version. New ones start with the current one.

Complete chain of evidence

Every step is documented in the tamper-evident audit trail, from sending to the last signature.

FAQ

Questions from property management

Yes. Open-ended residential leases have no form requirement and can be concluded electronically. For fixed-term leases of more than one year, § 550 BGB (German Civil Code) requires the statutory written form: for these, use the qualified electronic signature (QES); otherwise the lease is deemed concluded for an indefinite period.

Your next new rental skips the mail

Start for free, set up a lease template, send your first signing link. No payment details, no minimum term.

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