Landlord tenant communication app, on WhatsApp
Bricky Bot is a landlord tenant communication app that works in the WhatsApp your tenants already use. Every tenancy gets its own group, every shared house its own chat, and an AI lettings team drafts the replies from your records. Nothing reaches a tenant until a person approves it.
The short answer
Good tenant communication software puts every conversation in one place, linked to the right house and tenancy, gets each message to whoever should answer it, and keeps a record of what was said. Most tools do that by asking tenants to download another app. Bricky Bot does it in WhatsApp and email, and every reply the AI staff draft waits for your ✅.
Built running real HMOs
Luke Ashton, founder of Bricky Bot and Based Lettings. Five years in property, responsible for 150+ HMO rooms across his own portfolio and clients’. Shared houses mean group chats, so Bricky Bot was built around them first. Here’s the tenant messaging side of Based Lettings on Bricky Bot today:
From Based Lettings’ own Bricky Bot records on 6 October 2026. More drafts were turned down than sent: that’s the approval step doing its job.
What tenant communication software needs to do
Whatever you choose, check it covers these six jobs. Here’s how Bricky Bot handles each one.
| The job | Why it’s hard | What Bricky Bot does |
|---|---|---|
| One place per tenancy | Messages arrive in private chats, old groups, email and texts, so nobody has the whole story | One WhatsApp group per tenancy and one house chat per shared house, each linked to its record. A tenant who messages privately gets a polite pointer to their group. |
| Knowing who should answer | A leak, a rent question and a room enquiry all land in the same phone | Every incoming message is triaged to the AI staff member who owns it (maintenance, rent, move-outs) and voice notes are transcribed first. |
| Answering from the facts | Bin days, the stopcock, the WiFi code: the answer is in someone’s head or a spreadsheet | The staff member drafts a reply from the house and tenancy record, so the answer matches what’s on file. |
| Nothing sent by mistake | An automatic reply that’s wrong is worse than a slow one | Every message a bot drafts waits for a person: ✅ it in the app, react ✅ in WhatsApp or just reply “yes”. Messages you type yourself go straight away. |
| Keeping groups tidy | Tenants move out and stay in the chat; new tenants never get added | The group organiser proposes standard names, the missing groups and removing tenants who moved out. Nothing changes until you accept it. |
| A record you can find | Proving what a tenant was told, and when | Every message and photo is kept on the tenancy’s WhatsApp tab, marked with who approved it, and searchable alongside your email. |
Most tenant messages are about repairs: what happens after the report is on our landlord maintenance software page. Each group sits on its tenancy in the letting agent CRM, so the answers come from the record. Running shared houses? Messaging is one of six jobs on our HMO management software page.
Communication is one job of seven; the rest of the week is covered on our landlord software page. Agencies talking to tenants for many landlords: see lettings agent software. Landlords get their own WhatsApp group too, for certificates, repairs and their monthly statement.
What the law expects
A group chat makes you easy to reach, but it doesn’t replace what the law asks for. In England:
| Rule | What it asks of you | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HMO manager’s details | In a licensable or other HMO, make the manager’s name, address and phone number available to each household, and display them prominently in the house. | HMO Management Regulations 2006, reg. 3 |
| Address for notices | Give the tenant, by notice, an address in England and Wales where notices can be served on the landlord. Until you do, rent is treated as not due. | Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, s. 48 |
| Keeping messages | Keep personal data, including tenants’ messages, in a form that identifies them for no longer than you need it. | UK GDPR, art. 5(1)(e) |
Bricky Bot keeps tenants’ messages on your own Mac or on Bricky Cloud, not on a third party’s portal. When a tenancy ends, the group organiser proposes archiving its group. Whether a house needs a licence is covered in our HMO licence guide; to check a specific address, Bricksmart’s HMO report (our sister product) covers licensing and Article 4.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules. Notices are changing under the Renters’ Rights Act: see our guide to tenant notice periods.
How it works
- A team, not a tool. Specialist AI staff for enquiries, listings, move-ins and move-outs, maintenance, landlord reporting, records and inbox triage, with Bricky in charge. What an AI lettings team is.
- You approve everything that goes out, in the app or straight from WhatsApp, and every message is kept with who approved it.
- Your accounts, your data. Bricky signs in to your own SpareRoom, OpenRent and WhatsApp accounts; it isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by them. It runs on your own Mac or Mac mini, or on Bricky Cloud.
- Your AI plan. It uses the AI plan you already have, such as a ChatGPT plan, so you pay your provider directly.
- Switching is included. We move your records and documents across from Arthur, COHO or spreadsheets, and link your existing WhatsApp groups to the right tenancies.
- What it isn’t. No SMS, no calls, no tenant app or portal login, no translation, and no one-tap broadcast to every tenant at once.
What it costs
One price per tenant, everything included, with the AI plan you already have. See the pricing calculator for your portfolio.
Is Bricky Bot right for you?
Compare tenant communication software
- Bricky Bot vs spreadsheets and WhatsApp, if your groups are already on your phone
- Bricky Bot vs COHO
- Bricky Bot vs Arthur Online
- Bricky Bot vs Latch
- Bricky Bot vs Brickwise, if you want AI that answers tenants’ phone calls too
- Best AI lettings software in the UK (2026)
Questions landlords ask about tenant communication
What is a landlord tenant communication app?
Software that keeps every conversation between a landlord (or their agent) and tenants in one place, linked to the right property and tenancy, so messages get answered by the right person and there’s a record of what was said and when.
Do my tenants need to download anything?
No. Bricky Bot works in the WhatsApp your tenants already use, and in email. There’s no tenant app or portal login to set up or forget.
Does it reply to tenants on its own?
No. The AI staff draft replies and a person approves each one, in the app or straight from WhatsApp. The only automatic replies are ones you switch on, such as a short pointer, at most once an hour, asking a tenant who messages privately to use their tenancy group.
Can I message every tenant at once?
Not as a broadcast. Each house chat reaches everyone in that house, and changes across many groups go out one at a time, spaced apart, so your WhatsApp number isn’t flagged.
Is WhatsApp enough for formal notices?
No. Chat is for the day to day. Formal notices, and the address where tenants can serve notices on you, still need to be given properly, usually in writing. Our guide to tenant notice periods covers the Renters’ Rights Act changes.
Does it do texts or calls?
No. Bricky Bot works on WhatsApp and email, plus SpareRoom and OpenRent messages from people asking about rooms. It doesn’t send SMS or make calls.
See a tenant message handled
A short demo of a WhatsApp message going from a tenant’s group to a drafted reply, with your approval in between.
Book a demo