Four fields carry almost every question you will ask
Tenant names, monthly rent, start date, end date. That is the lease record. It is not a replacement for the signed agreement, it is the index to it, and it is what answers the questions that come up between signing and move-out.
One lease is active per unit at a time. The expired ones stay, because the history is the point.
Why not just keep the PDF
Because you cannot ask a PDF a question. "What is my total monthly rent across all units" and "which leases end in the next ninety days" are answerable in a second from four structured fields and not at all from a folder of scans.
Keep both. The signed document proves the terms if anyone disputes them. The record is what you actually use.
Fixed term or month to month
Leave the end date blank for month to month. Set it for a fixed term. That single field drives your renewal reminders and your vacancy planning, so it is worth getting right rather than guessing.
A fixed-term lease that has quietly rolled into month to month is the common trap. The record should say what is true now, not what was signed two years ago.
Old leases are not clutter
When a tenant asks when they moved in, or a lender asks for rent history, or a tribunal asks what the rent was in 2024, the expired lease is the answer. Deleting it to tidy up costs you the only proof you had.
Superseded leases also explain rent increases. A chain of leases showing $1,700, then $1,780, then $1,830 is a defensible record. A single current lease showing $1,830 is an assertion. Keep the notice that produced each step alongside it; the rent increase letter template writes that notice and dates it for you.
Lease records and the rent ledger
The lease says what was owed. The rent ledger says what arrived. You need both to settle a payment dispute, because the gap between them is the entire argument.
In UnitDocs
Open a property, click into a unit, click Add Lease. Enter tenant names, start date and monthly rent. Leave the end date blank for month to month, or set it for a fixed term. Save it, and it joins the unit's timeline alongside every event and document already attached.