Communications: how-to

Step-by-step instructions for every Communications task. For what each option means, see Communications; for problems, see Communications: troubleshooting.

Find your task

If you’re here because…	Go to
You need to send a letter, house rules or a statement to tenants	Send a document to tenants
You send the same document to many tenancies	Add a tenancy document template
You want the tenant’s name or dates filled in automatically	Use merge fields in a document
A tenant says they never got something	Check whether a tenant received a notice
You want to chase everything not yet acknowledged	Find notices that failed or are awaiting a response
You served a document outside COHO	Mark a document as acknowledged
You need proof of what was served, for example for a sale or dispute	Download a notices report for a tenancy
A page says “COHO has stopped sending emails to this address”	Unblock an email address
You get too many (or too few) notifications	Change your own notification settings
You want replies to come to your inbox, or a team address copied in	Set your sender details and email defaults
A tenant asks how to stop or change notifications	Help a tenant with their notification settings
A template is out of date	Archive a template

Send a document to tenants

Do this when you want to serve a document to one tenancy, or to every tenancy in a property, a building or your whole portfolio.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Tenancies. Check each tenant has an email address or a COHO account; anyone with neither won’t receive it. If you’ll reuse the document, add it as a template first.

1. Open the room or tenancy page, then its Communications panel.
2. Open Notices and click Send document.
3. Optional: choose a Template.
4. Under Send to, choose Tenancy, Property, Building or All properties.
   • For Tenancy, everyone on the tenancy is included. Click Change to choose only some Tenants.
   • For the others, choose the Tenancy status: Active (the default), Future and/or Prospective.
5. Enter a Title (up to 100 characters). Tenants see this, and the attachment is named after it.
6. Under Document, upload the file, unless you chose a template.
7. If the file has merge fields, click Preview and check the result for each tenancy.
8. Tick Require acknowledgement from tenants if you need tenants with a COHO account to confirm they’ve received it.
9. Check the CC, BCC and reply-to line. Click Change to edit them for this send.
10. Click Next. Check the summary: how many tenants, how many will see it in COHO, how many emails will be sent, and anyone who will not receive it (click Show to see names).
11. Click Confirm & send.

What happens next: COHO sends in the background. The panel shows “Sending documents… Depending on the scope, this could take a while”, then “Documents sent”. Each tenant gets an email titled “You’ve been served a new Tenancy Document record for [property]” with the document attached, and tenants with a COHO account see it on their dashboard. The document appears under Notices for each tenant, and on the organisation Communications panel under Tenancy Document.

Caution

All properties sends to every tenant on every tenancy with the chosen status. Check the numbers on the confirmation before you click Confirm & send; you can’t recall it.

Add a tenancy document template

Do this for documents you send to many tenancies, such as house rules or a standard letter.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Tenancies. For automatic filling, use a Word (.docx) file with COHO merge fields.

1. From your dashboard, click Menu > Communications.
2. Click the settings cog at the top right of the panel. Tenancy Document Templates opens.
3. Click New template.
4. Enter a Name (up to 100 characters).
5. Upload the Document. COHO checks it for merge fields and says how many it found; click Show to list them.
6. Click Add.

What happens next: the template appears in the list, and in the Template list when you send a document. Click View on it to see the file and its merge tags.

Use merge fields in a document

Do this when you want each tenant’s copy to include their own details, such as their name, the property address or the move-in date.

1. In Word, type the merge fields where you want the details, for example [COHO:TENANCY:MOVE_IN_DATE]. The full list is in the side menu under Help & Support > AST Merge Fields.
2. Save the file as a Word document (.docx) from Microsoft Word.
3. Upload it as a template, or directly in Send document.
4. In Send document, click Preview and check the fields have been filled in.

What happens next: COHO fills in the fields separately for each tenancy, converts the document to PDF and sends it.

Tip

Only Word (.docx) files are merged. A PDF is sent exactly as uploaded, with any merge fields left as typed.

Check whether a tenant received a notice

Do this when a tenant says they never got a document, notice or contract.

1. Open the tenancy’s Communications panel and open Notices.
2. For a joint tenancy, click the tenant’s card.
3. Find the document and read its history:
   • “Served on … via email to …” shows the address COHO used. Check it’s right.
   • “Delivered on …” means their email provider accepted it. Ask them to check spam and other folders.
   • “Bounced on …”, “Complaint on …” or “Email failed to send: …” mean it didn’t arrive. See Communications: troubleshooting.
   • “Available on their COHO account since …” means they can see it on their dashboard.

What happens next: if the address was wrong, correct it on the tenant’s details and send the document again. COHO doesn’t resend automatically.

Find notices that failed or are awaiting a response

Do this to check, across your portfolio, what hasn’t been acknowledged or couldn’t be delivered.

1. From your dashboard, click Menu > Communications.
2. Choose the type, for example Compliance or Tenancy Document.
3. In All statuses, choose Awaiting response and Error while serving.
4. Optional: choose properties, or search for a tenant.
5. Click Filter.

What happens next: the list shows matching notices, newest first. Click one to open its files. Open the tenancy’s Communications panel to see the full delivery history.

Tip

Make this a weekly check. Error while serving usually means a missing or blocked email address.

Mark a document as acknowledged

Do this only when you’ve served the document another way (for example by hand or post) and have your own proof.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Compliance.

1. Open the room page, then its Compliance panel.
2. Find the document and the tenant. The status must be Awaiting response, Served or Error while serving.
3. Click Mark as acknowledged.
4. Read the confirmation and click Yes.

What happens next: the status changes to Acknowledged manually, with today’s date, and it’s recorded in the tenancy’s history.

Download a notices report for a tenancy

Do this when you need a record of everything served to a tenancy, for example for a sale, an audit or a dispute.

1. Open the tenancy’s Communications panel and open Notices.
2. Click Generate report.

What happens next: a PDF called “Notices Report-[tenancy].pdf” downloads. For certificates in more detail, also use the report on the tenancy’s Compliance panel.

Unblock an email address COHO has stopped sending to

Do this when a tenant’s or team member’s details show “COHO has stopped sending emails to this address.”

Before you start: check the address is right and the inbox works. If the address is wrong, correct it instead; don’t unblock it. To unblock a team member’s address you must be the organisation owner (or the team member themselves).

1. Open the person’s details: for a tenant, the room page’s Tenant Information panel, next to their email; for a team member, the Users panel on your dashboard.
2. Next to “COHO has stopped sending emails to this address”, click Resolve.

What happens next: COHO can email the address again. Earlier emails that weren’t sent aren’t resent, so resend anything they need: an invite, a signing link or a document.

Caution

If the address bounces again, COHO will block it again. A bouncing address is usually mistyped or closed.

Change your own notification settings

Do this when you get too many emails or alerts, or are missing ones you need.

1. Click your name or picture (top right) and choose Settings.
2. Scroll to Subscriptions.
3. To stop everything you can control, turn off All COHO notifications.
4. Otherwise, open a channel (Email Settings, SMS Settings or Push notification Settings) to turn it off or change its default to Grouped, Immediately or Off.
5. If you have a mobile number, open WhatsApp Settings to choose WhatsApp or SMS for texts. Turn off WhatsApp notifications to get SMS only, or turn off a single notification to get just that one by SMS.
6. Open an area, for example Maintenance Settings, to turn the whole area off, or set each notification to Grouped, Immediately or Off for each channel.

What happens next: changes apply to new notifications straight away.

Note

Emails about new repair conversations and new messages are under Messaging Settings (New Repair, New Message), not Maintenance. To keep only urgent repairs, turn off New Repair and New Maintenance Issue but leave New Severe Maintenance Item on.

Help a tenant with their notification settings

Do this when a tenant asks why they get, or don’t get, notifications.

1. Ask them to log in to COHO, click their name (top right) and choose Settings.
2. Under Subscriptions, they can turn notifications on or off by channel or area.
3. If they get WhatsApp messages and would rather have texts, they can turn off WhatsApp notifications under WhatsApp Settings, or reply STOP to COHO’s WhatsApp message.

What happens next: you can’t change a tenant’s settings for them. Some messages always go, whatever their settings: invites, signing requests, documents you serve, rent reminders you send, rent change notices and credit control emails.

Set your sender details and email defaults

Do this to choose your SMS sender name, or to copy a team address into emails or have replies come to you.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Organisation Settings.

1. From your dashboard, open Your Account and click its settings cog. Company Settings opens.
2. Click Edit.
3. Set Company SMS Name (up to 11 characters; letters, numbers and spaces).
4. Set any of the defaults, separating several addresses with commas:
   • Email communication default cc, bcc and reply-to for Message Centre emails;
   • Credit control template default cc, bcc and reply-to for credit control emails;
   • Notices default cc, bcc and reply-to for documents and compliance notices.
5. Click Save.

What happens next: new emails use these defaults; you can still change them for each send. Emails already sent aren’t changed.

Archive or restore a template

Do this when a template is out of date.

Before you start: you need edit permission for Tenancies.

1. Click Menu > Communications, then the settings cog.
2. Click Archive next to the template.
3. To bring one back, turn on Show archived and click Unarchive.

What happens next: archived templates no longer appear in Send document. Documents already sent aren’t affected.