Skip to content

Properties

Properties are the core organizing unit in Credence. Each property has its own ledger, chart of accounts, and set of associated tenants, vendors, and financial reports.

What is a Property?

A property represents a real estate asset under management. Properties are grouped into portfolios and represent individual buildings. A property's physical layout is represented by its Units.

Legal entities represent the legally-incorporated entity through which the property is managed.

Key property attributes include:

  • Name and Reference ID — Human-readable identifier and optional external reference code
  • Address — Full mailing address used in reports and abstracts
  • Acquisition Date — Date the property was purchased or taken under management
  • Currency — ISO currency code for all financial activity at this property
  • Unit Type — Categorizes a unit at the property (e.g. office, retail, industrial)
  • Cost Breakdown Structure — Optional chart of cost codes used for development jobs at this property

Ownership Structure

Credence supports ownership trees between properties and legal entities. A property can have parent owners, but it cannot own children. An entity can have parent owners and can also own both properties and other entities. This lets you model holding companies, joint ventures, and layered ownership structures without flattening them into a single record.

Each ownership relationship includes an ownership percentage. Credence validates the full ownership split for a child so the total across all parents does not exceed 100%.

For example, if two entities each own part of a property, enter each parent's share explicitly. Credence keeps the relationships separate while preserving the full ownership picture for reporting and downstream setup.

Adding and Editing a Property

Navigate to Manage Properties → Add Property or open an existing property and select Edit. Alternately, leverage Global Search for quick access to either operation.

All financial setup (chart of accounts, accounting books, initial balances) should be configured with Credence support before going live on a property.

Cost Breakdown Structure for Development

If the property will have development jobs, assign a Cost Breakdown Structure. That assignment controls which cost codes appear on jobs and development purchase orders for the property. Credence requires a Cost Breakdown Structure before you can create a development job at the property.

Properties that are not used for development can leave this field blank.

Sold Properties

When a property is sold or otherwise removed from active management, set its Sold Date. This date marks when the property transitioned out of active management.

Effect on Bulk Operations

Setting a Sold Date excludes the property from the following bulk workflows:

  • Charge Rent — sold properties are automatically skipped
  • Accruals — sold properties are excluded from vendor accrual runs
  • Fixed Asset Depreciation — sold properties are excluded from depreciation runs

If you have a sold property in your current property selection when you visit one of these pages, Credence will notify you with an on-screen warning. The underlying operations will not process that property.

Viewing Sold Properties

Sold properties remain visible across the application and in financial reports — they are not hidden or archived. The Sold Date field appears on the property detail view for reference. To restrict reporting to sold or unsold properties, use the property selection controls available on most pages.

Tips & Best Practices

  • Set the sold date promptly — Setting the date as soon as a sale closes prevents inadvertent charges or accruals from running against sold assets.
  • Keep the property in your selection for reporting — Even after a sale, you may need to run historical reports against the property. The sold date affects bulk operations, not report access.
  • Use Reference ID for external system mapping — If your organization relies on property codes for internal reporting, store the external identifier in the Reference ID field to make cross-system lookups easier.