A 30 minute weekly routine for self-managing landlords, with an AI assistant

Daily, weekly and monthly are different jobs

A daily brief catches urgent things: late rent, new repairs, approvals. A weekly review looks ahead and cleans up. A monthly review closes the books and compares months. Keeping them separate keeps each short. The daily one is in the landlord morning brief, and the monthly one in the month-end checklist.

The 30 minutes

1. Leases ending in the next 90 days (5 minutes). Ask: "List leases ending in the next 90 days, soonest first, with current rent." Decide which to renew, and start those early.
2. Open repairs (5 minutes). Ask: "Which repairs have been open more than 7 days?" Nudge the vendor or the tenant.
3. Unmatched bank lines (5 minutes). Ask: "Which deposits and which money-out lines are not matched yet?" Confirm or categorize them.
4. Vendor bills (5 minutes). Ask: "Which bills are open and which are due this week?" Check each against its invoice.
5. Vacancies (5 minutes). Ask: "Which units are empty, for how many days, and are they listed?" See reducing days vacant.
6. Approvals (5 minutes). Review everything waiting, using the four checks.

Example a made-up owner of 18 units runs the routine on Friday. Two leases end in 70 days, so renewal drafts start now. One repair has sat for 9 days, so the owner texts the vendor. Three bank lines are matched and one bill is filed. Total: 28 minutes.

What to verify yourself

An assistant reads and summarizes. You verify the few numbers that drive decisions: a late balance before you contact a tenant, a bill amount before you pay, a lease end date before you let it roll to month to month. Spot check one or two lines each week against the source. If a total is ever off, stop and find out why before trusting the next answer.

Adjust the routine to your size

With one to five units, the routine may take ten minutes and several steps will be empty. With a hundred units, run it by property, or by the person responsible for each building, and ask for results grouped that way. Group questions by property or by LLC, such as "late rent by property", so one list does not bury the buildings that need you most. If a step takes more than five minutes every week, that is a sign something upstream, such as bank matching or repair intake, needs fixing, not a longer routine.

Keep the same day and time each week. A routine you do on Friday afternoon every week survives a busy month. One you do when you remember does not.

Finish with a short list

End by writing the two or three actions for the week ahead. A routine that ends in a list gets done. One that ends in a feeling that you should do more does not.

How DoorKeeping handles it

Each step has a read tool in DoorKeeping: leases sorted by end date, work orders with their status, deposits not matched yet, bills by due date, vacant units and their listings, and the approvals waiting. Ask in Claude or ChatGPT in your own words; reads change nothing. Money and legal steps wait for your tap on doorkeeping.com, and your assistant can reject an item but never accept it. Every tool call is logged. The full list is on the connect page.

Sources

1. Model Context Protocol: Tools (specification), read Oct 30, 2026
2. DoorKeeping: Connect Claude or ChatGPT (steps and tools list), read Oct 30, 2026

Questions

How often should a landlord review their properties?

A quick check daily for urgent items, a 30 minute review weekly, and a fuller review at month end.

What should a weekly landlord review cover?

Leases ending soon, open repairs, unmatched bank lines, bills due, vacancies and approvals waiting.

Can an AI assistant run the weekly review for me?

It can pull the lists in seconds if it is connected to your records. You still verify key numbers and make the decisions.

How far ahead should I start lease renewals?

Many landlords start about 90 days before the end. Check your lease and state for required notice periods.