Set Up Home Assistant
Set up your Home Assistant as shown in its installation guide.
In Settings → Home Assistant Cloud, ensure you have a Nabu Casa subscription set up and can see your unique remote access link — you'll need this URL for RentalHelm.
Add Your Devices in Home Assistant
In Settings → Devices → Z-Wave, add all your Z-Wave devices such as door locks and pool thermostat controls.
If your devices are Wi-Fi controlled (not Z-Wave), add them manually on the Home Assistant Devices page before moving forward.
Connect RentalHelm to Home Assistant
Log in to rentalhelm.com, add your property, then go to Integrations → Home Assistant and paste your Home Assistant remote URL.
To generate a Long-Lived Access Token: in Home Assistant, tap your name (bottom left) → Security tab → scroll to "Long-lived access tokens" → click Create Token → name it "RentalHelm" → copy the token and paste it into RentalHelm → click Save & Connect.
If successful, you'll see a green connected banner showing the HA version detected.
Add Your Devices in RentalHelm
Go to Integrations → click Add Lock to add your Z-Wave smart locks. You can add multiple.
Under Thermostats & Climate, add your pool heaters and smart AC thermostats.
Note: Skip the PMS (Property Management System) integration for now — we'll come back to this later.
Set Up Access Control
Go to Access Control → New Profile.
Access Profiles let you group locks and assign them to different types of people — guests, property managers, owners, etc.
Example setup for 4 locks (Front Door, Pool Bathroom, Owner Closet, Janitor Closet):
Enable "Default for PMS-synced bookings" on the profile to be used for guest codes — this lets RentalHelm automatically program guest codes.
Add Permanent Users
Under Permanent Access, click Add User to add owners, property managers, and cleaners with their codes and check-in/out times.
Under Guests, manually add guests with check-in and check-out dates if you don't use a supported PMS.
Set Up Pool Controls
Go to Pool → Filter Schedule and set your preferred start/end times for the filter pump. You can set different hours per day or use Continuous mode.
You can also control pool heating and set pool/spa target temperatures from this page.
Connect Your PMS (Optional)
Once everything above is set up, go to Integrations → Property Management System and connect OwnerRez, Hostaway, Ciirus or Lodgix. You can run more than one side-by-side if you list the same property on multiple PMSs.
This enables automatic guest code programming from your bookings.
Set Up Automations & Alerts
Go to Actions to create automations and email notifications.
Recommended: enable example templates such as automatically turning pool heat on/off for guests who have paid for it (requires PMS tags like "pool_heat" on bookings).
You can also set up low battery alerts for your locks.
Invite Your Team
To invite a co-host, family member, or property manager, go to User Manager and invite them by email.
Sounds complicated? Hire us from $299
Our team will handle the full setup — hardware configuration, Z-Wave pairing, lock profiles, pool controls, and PMS onboarding. Hardware must be purchased separately before booking.