The problem
Gas safety checks fall due every 12 months, EICRs every few years, and any license on its own cycle, with each date sitting in a different email or folder. With 5 flats, one of them a licensed HMO, that is about 12 dates a year to keep, and about 30 minutes a month spent searching emails and files to see what is coming up. A lapsed certificate puts tenants at risk and breaks the law.
What the AI does
August gives each property and tenancy a compliance task tracker, with guides for gas safety, EPCs, EICRs, deposit protection, prescribed information, right to rent and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. When you upload a document, August scans it, extracts the key dates and suggests reminders that you approve, edit or reject. Reminders arrive by push, email or SMS before documents expire; the page doesn't say how far ahead, so you set your own. Your own diary stays the primary record, and you check August against it every month.
A worked example
A landlord in Sheffield owns 5 flats, one of them a licensed HMO, and keeps certificates in an email folder. They record every expiry date in their diary from the certificate, add the same dates to August's Portfolio plan, and compare the two on the first of each month.
Before
About 12 dates a year spread across emails and paper files, with about 30 minutes a month spent checking what is due
After
All 12 dates in a diary and in August, checked against each other in about 15 minutes on the first of every month
What it's worth
The value here isn't monetary: August is a reminder layer behind your own diary, so the monthly value is set at nil. It also turns about 30 minutes a month of searching into a 15-minute monthly check, which isn't priced. Portfolio covers up to 6 properties at $19.94£14.99€17.84A$28.78C$28.18 a month, or about $16£12€14A$23C$23 a month billed annually since the page says annual billing saves 20%; the page doesn't say whether prices include VAT.
How to set it up
- Write every certificate and license expiry date in your main diary first, straight from the certificate, with a reminder two months before each.
- Set up August with each property and tenancy, and upload the gas safety records, EICRs, EPCs, deposit certificates and any license.
- Check every date August suggests against the certificate before approving it, and add manual reminders for anything it doesn't suggest, such as a license renewal.
- Choose push, email or SMS reminders, or all three, so a single missed email doesn't matter.
- On the first of each month, compare August's list with your diary and book any check due in the next 3 months.
What goes wrong
- Reminders can fail silently: an email filtered as spam, notifications switched off on a new phone. The monthly comparison with your diary is the control, not the app.
- Document scanning can misread a date. Never approve a suggested date without checking it against the certificate itself.
- Rules differ by nation and council: EICR rules differ between England, Wales and Scotland, and licensing depends on your council. August's guides don't replace checking them.
- The free plan covers 1 property and Growth covers 3, so 5 properties need Portfolio at $19.94£14.99€17.84A$28.78C$28.18 a month.