One QR Code Per Unit: The Tenant Handbook That Never Goes Stale
It is eleven at night and a tenant cannot find the water shut-off. Or the dishwasher is flashing a code nobody recognises. Or it is bin day tomorrow and they moved in on Saturday and no one told them which bin goes out. Every one of those is a phone call, and every one of them has the same answer every time.
A single code inside the unit answers all of them, and keeps answering after you have gone to bed.
What tenants actually ask
Landlords tend to build the page they think tenants need. The call log tells a different story. In rough order of frequency:
- Wifi. If the property provides it, the password is the single most requested item. A wifi QR code on the same page connects the phone without anyone typing anything.
- Appliance instructions. Not the full manual. The three things that go wrong: the filter, the reset button, the cycle nobody understands.
- Where things are. Stopcock, fuse board, meter, thermostat, bin store. A photo of each beats a paragraph.
- Bin day and recycling rules. Council specific, changes annually, and no tenant remembers it.
- How to report a repair. A form, not a phone number. A form arrives with the unit number attached and a photo of the problem.
- Emergency contacts. Out of hours, gas, water, and who is allowed to authorise a callout.
Put the repair form high on the page. It is the item that saves you the most work, because a form with a photo prevents the visit where you look at the problem and then leave to fetch a part.
Print once, repoint at turnover
The reason this belongs on a dynamic code is turnover. The sticker is fixed inside a kitchen cupboard door. The tenants change every year or two, the appliances get replaced, the letting agent changes, the bin schedule shifts.
| Reprinted sticker | Dynamic code | |
|---|---|---|
| New tenant moves in | print and refit in every unit | edit the destination, about two minutes |
| Appliance replaced | reprint that unit | swap one PDF |
| Bin schedule changes | reprint everything | one edit, all units |
| Agent or contractor changes | reprint everything | one edit |
| Empty unit between tenancies | code shows the old handbook | point it at a viewing page |
That last row is quietly useful. Between tenancies the same code can show the listing, the floor plan and a booking link, then go back to being the handbook on move-in day.
One code per unit, not one per building
It is tempting to print one code for the whole block. Do not. A per-unit code lets you put the unit number into the repair form automatically, and it turns scans into a map of which flats are struggling. If unit 3B scans the oven page nine times in a fortnight, the oven has a problem the tenant has not reported yet.
Name the codes by unit, exactly as the tenancy agreement writes them. FLAT-3B, not qr-copy-final-2. If you are setting up a whole building at once, create them as a batch and keep the spreadsheet you imported: it becomes the register that tells you which code belongs to which door.
Where the sticker goes
Inside the kitchen cupboard door, or on the side of the fridge. Two reasons. It survives, because it is out of the sun and away from cleaning. And it is found, because the kitchen is where people stand when they are confused about the flat.
Add a second small code by the consumer unit if the property has an unusual layout, pointing at the same page. The person looking for the fuse board is not going to open a kitchen cupboard first.
Laminate it, or print on vinyl. A paper sticker in a rental kitchen has a lifespan of one tenancy.
Do not put the tenancy agreement behind it
Keep the page to operations. Anything with personal data, rent, or contractual terms belongs in whatever portal you already use, behind a login. The handbook code should open instantly for anyone standing in the flat, including a contractor you sent, and that means it cannot hold anything private.
Start with one unit
Take your most-called-about property. Write the six sections above, keep each to a few lines, and put a photo on every location item. Create one dynamic code, print it on vinyl, stick it inside the kitchen cupboard, and tell the tenant it is there.
Count the calls for a month. If they drop, roll it out at your next turnover rather than all at once, because the handbook you write for the second unit will be better than the one you wrote for the first.
