Closing the Loop on Landlord Feedback — Automatic Task Assignment for Change Requests

Release: v0.1.353 · Workflow · Event Trigger

One of the most friction-filled moments in any deposit release process happens right after a landlord pushes back. They've reviewed your proposal, they're not happy with one or more deductions, and they've sent back a list of changes. What happens next?

Until now, the answer often involved someone on the agency side manually checking the portal, realising a response had come in, figuring out who needed to handle it, and forwarding the details. That lag creates risk — missed deadlines, unhappy landlords, and compliance exposure under the Renters' Rights Act.

v0.1.353 removes that gap entirely.

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What We Built

We've added an event-driven function that listens for a specific moment: when a landlord portal invite transitions to changes_requested. The instant that happens, the platform takes over.

It reads every item in the landlord's requestedChanges payload, assembles the relevant deposit release and deduction context, and immediately fires an in-app task notification to the two people who need to act — the property manager responsible for the release, and the agent who created it.

If the landlord also left comments (and they usually do), the system goes one step further: it opens a negotiation thread and posts those comments as the first message. The conversation is already started. The context is already there. The agent just needs to respond.

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Why This Matters

Deposit disputes don't become disputes overnight. They become disputes because small delays compound — a request not seen, a message not sent, a deadline quietly missed. Automating the handoff from landlord decision to agent action cuts that compounding off at the source.

This is also about audit trails. Every change request the landlord makes is now tied directly to a notification record and, where applicable, a structured negotiation thread. If a case ever escalates, there's a clear, timestamped record of exactly when the request came in and when the agent engaged.

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The Entities at Work

This workflow touches six entities in a single event cycle:

• landlordPortalInvites — the trigger source
• depositReleases & depositReleaseDeductions — context for the task
• notifications — the agent task delivery mechanism
• negotiationThreads & negotiationMessages — the structured conversation layer

Each one plays a distinct role in turning a passive landlord response into an active, tracked workflow item.

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What's Next

This release focuses on the inbound leg of the change request journey — getting the right people notified immediately. Future work will build on this foundation with resolution tracking, automated reminders for unanswered threads, and structured counter-proposal flows.

The goal is the same as always: fair outcomes, fast — with every step documented along the way.