How to choose a management tool for your community: 10 questions before deciding

The market offers everything: from the inherited spreadsheet to professional suites for property managers. For a self-managed community, these are the questions that matter.

The 10 questions

1. Can a 70-year-old neighbour understand it in 10 minutes? If it needs a manual, it is not for a community.
2. Is it built for chairs or for professional property managers? Professional suites overshoot in every direction: you will pay for (and suffer) back-office modules.
3. Does it cover the whole day-to-day? Notices, dues, expenses, incidents, meetings, documents — otherwise you will still be running three more tools.
4. Can neighbours SEE without being able to touch? Transparency with control is what keeps the peace.
5. What happens at handover? The role rotates: passing it on must be trivial, not a migration.
6. Is the data yours? Clear export and GDPR terms, a processor agreement, and if you leave, you take everything with you.
7. What does it really cost? Per-flat fees that look small add up: work out the full year. And watch out for lock-in periods.
8. Does it work well on a phone? That is where the neighbours will live.
9. Can you genuinely try it first? One real, usable demo says more than twenty screenshots.
10. Who answers when something breaks? A human you can reach, not a form shouting into the void.

The definitive test

Issue one month's dues and publish two test notices. If it is not up and understood in a single afternoon, it is not the tool — however many features it lists.