Unit Turns: the Make-Ready Board
Follow every unit from the day the tenant gives notice to the day the next lease starts — move-out inspection, make-ready checklist, work orders, ready to rent, listed and leased — with days vacant and an estimated vacancy cost.
A unit turn follows one apartment between two tenancies. It starts when the current tenant is on notice and ends when the next lease is signed. In between it holds the move-out date, the move-out inspection, a checklist of make-ready work and the date you want the unit ready by. Unit turns are under Operations → Field work on the website, and in the Tools hub on the iPhone and Android apps.
Where a turn stands
Seayora works out the stage of every turn from what has actually happened — the move-out date, the inspection, the checklist, the listing and the next lease. You never move a card by hand: finish the last work order on the maintenance board and the turn moves on by itself.
| Stage | What it means |
|---|---|
| On notice | The current tenant has not moved out yet. |
| Move-out inspection | The unit is empty and the move-out inspection is next. |
| Make-ready | Repairs, cleaning and checks before the next tenant. |
| Ready to rent | Everything is done and the listing is not live yet. |
| Listed | The listing is live and waiting for the next tenant. |
| Leased | A new lease is signed. The turn closes by itself. |
| Closed | Finished. |
A turn past its ready-by date is marked overdue on every screen, and the board has a view for exactly those.
Starting a turn
Press Start a turn and choose the unit. If the unit has a lease ending, the move-out date comes from it; otherwise type one. The ready-by date defaults to your setting (for example 10 days after the move-out). The checklist comes from your default template unless you pick another.
Seayora can also open turns by itself: in Turn settings, set how many days before a lease ends a turn should open. A turn opened that way says so, and you are told when it happens. A unit can only have one open turn at a time.
The checklist: tasks and work orders
| Kind | What it is |
|---|---|
| Work order | Raised on the maintenance board, so a technician or contractor can be assigned. |
| Task | Something your own team ticks off. |
Each item can be due a number of days after the move-out, so moving the move-out date moves every unfinished item with it. A turn holds up to 40 items. A work-order item is finished when its work order is completed on the maintenance board, not by ticking it here — ticking it would claim a repair nobody finished.
Work orders go on the maintenance board through the same path as any other request, so your response targets, technicians and contractors apply. A make-ready item can never be filed in an emergency category, so a paint job never pages an on-call technician at night. When work orders are raised is your choice:
| Setting | What happens |
|---|---|
| When the unit is empty | Work orders are raised on the move-out date (or when you confirm the unit is empty). |
| After the move-out inspection | Work orders wait until the move-out inspection is finished or waived. |
| Only when I press Raise | Nothing is raised by itself. |
You get one summary alert a day when work orders are raised for a turn, rather than one message per job.
The move-out inspection
Start the move-out inspection from the turn, and fill it in from Inspections as usual. It is the report a deposit deduction is argued from, so the turn waits for it. If a unit genuinely needs none, mark it not needed and say why; the turn records who decided.
Ready, listed and leased
When every item is done or marked not needed, the turn is ready to rent. You can also mark it ready yourself. Publishing the listing moves it to Listed, and a signed lease for the unit moves it to Leased and closes the turn.
Closing a turn
A turn can also be closed for another reason. A closed turn keeps its record and can be reopened.
- Leased to a new tenant
- The owner is moving in or using it
- The unit was sold
- Taken off the market for a renovation
- The tenant is staying after all
- Something else
A turn that never raised a work order can be discarded instead, if it was started by mistake.
Days vacant and vacancy cost
Each turn shows how many days the unit has been empty and an estimated vacancy cost: days empty times the advertised monthly rent, divided by 30.44. It is an estimate at the asking rent, not money lost — a unit can be empty on purpose, for a renovation. A unit with no rent on file shows no cost rather than $0. The board also shows the average days from empty to the next lease over the last year.
Templates
A template is the checklist a new turn starts with. Seayora provides a starter template; it cannot be changed, so copy it and change the copy. Changing a template affects turns started afterwards — a turn already open keeps its checklist.
| Starter item | Kind | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Patch and paint the walls | Work order | 3 days after move-out |
| Deep clean the unit | Work order | 4 days after move-out |
| Clean or replace the flooring | Work order | 5 days after move-out |
| Rekey or change the locks | Work order | 2 days after move-out |
| Replace the heating and cooling filter | Task | 2 days after move-out |
| Test every smoke and carbon monoxide detector | Task | 5 days after move-out |
| Check that every appliance works | Task | 5 days after move-out |
| Photograph the unit for the listing | Task | 6 days after move-out |
| Final walk-through | Task | 7 days after move-out |
On your phone
The iPhone and Android apps have the same three screens — Unit turns, Turn tasks and Turn templates — and every action the website has: start a turn, change its dates, confirm the unit is empty, start or waive the inspection, add, finish, skip or remove checklist items, raise work orders, mark it ready, close, reopen and discard.
Who can see turns
The owner of record, the management company and any employee assigned to the building. A team member needs the Maintenance permission. Tenants never see a turn.
Asking your assistant
A connected assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT can read your board with the list_unit_turns tool — which units are between tenants, which are overdue and the estimated vacancy cost. It cannot start, close or change a turn; those stay in Seayora.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my turn move to the next stage on its own?
The stage is worked out from what happened — the move-out, the inspection, the checklist and the listing. Finishing the last work order on the maintenance board, for example, moves the turn to Ready to rent.
Can I mark a work-order item done from the turn?
No. A work-order item is done when its work order is completed on the maintenance board. You can mark it not needed, or cancel the work order.
Is the vacancy cost money I lost?
No. It is an estimate: days empty times the advertised rent. It shows nothing for a unit with no rent on file.
Can I change Seayora’s starter checklist?
Copy it and change the copy, then make the copy your default in Turn settings.
Can I have two open turns for one unit?
No. Close or discard the open turn first.
Related features and guides
- How the legal-rent audit works — the orders, the steps and the findings — Documentation. Each lease in a stabilized unit's history is checked against the Rent Guidelines Board order that governed it, in order, from the base date. The guideline compounds on the rent the previous step produced, preferential rents follow the 2019 rules, and every gap becomes a finding with its law.
- NYC rent stabilization — the legal rent, audited step by step — Documentation. Seayora keeps each rent-stabilized unit's rent history, works its legal regulated rent out lease by lease from the Rent Guidelines Board orders and the law, tracks DHCR registration and renewals, and flags what does not add up — with the citation beside every figure. It never files anything with DHCR.
- Projects: Renovations, Replacements and Capital Work — Documentation. Plan and run work bigger than one repair — phases and tasks, work orders on the maintenance board, a budget line by line, actual cost from the Expense Center, change orders, capital versus repair, alerts and templates.
- Rental Listing Software — 60 Days Free, Then $9/Month — Feature. Advertise apartments, houses, condos, and townhomes for rent. Every listing gets its first 60 days free, then $9/month while the unit stays vacant — charged a month ahead, with the unused days refunded the moment it rents. No brokerage fee, no setup fee, no subscription.
- Maintenance Requests & Work Orders — Feature. Tenants submit work orders with photos and video from their phone. Landlords triage, dispatch, and track every request to completion in one place.
- Compliance Alerts & Required Filings — Feature. Seayora watches your properties for new violations and works out which recurring filings each building owes, turns both into a dated checklist, and emails you when something new appears. Live violation data for New York City; rule-based filing obligations across the NYC metro.