Text tenants about short updates, such as a repair time or a showing reminder. Use a business number and save the thread with your rental records. Ask what texts the tenant wants to receive. Before you add scheduled texts or sales offers, check the consent rules for your service.
Updated October 8, 2026.
Give texting a clear job
A useful text says who is writing, what changed and whether the tenant needs to reply. Keep repair details in the work order so staff can find them in one place.
For example, send a brief update when a plumber confirms a visit. Put the full repair history in the work order. If a tenant reports a new problem by text, open or update the ticket. Do not leave the report on one staff member’s phone. Our guide to handling maintenance requests explains how to track the work until it is done.
Rent reminders need the same care. Check the rent ledger before sending a balance, especially when a payment is pending or just posted. Point the tenant to the usual place to pay. A text thread should not collect card numbers or bank details.
Keep email, phone and portal options open. A text can go unanswered, reach an old number or arrive while someone cannot check their phone. Do not assume a delivered text means the tenant read or agreed to it. Clear follow-up matters more than a claimed SMS open rate.
Separate individual messages, robotexts and marketing
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA, sets different rules for different texts. Under 47 CFR section 64.1200, an autodialer can store or produce numbers using a random or sequential number generator and dial them. In its consent rules, the FCC calls texts sent with an autodialer robotexts.
A service text you type and send to one tenant from a phone is different from a robotext. Being a landlord does not, on its own, bring each text under the robocall consent rules. But a software button marked manual does not prove which rules apply to that tool.
If your texts to mobile numbers fall under the autodialer rule, their purpose matters. For texts with no marketing, you generally need prior express consent. An emergency purpose or a specific exemption can change that rule. For covered sales or advertising texts, you generally need prior express written consent. The TCPA does not require that written form for every automated service text. Do not treat a routine rent reminder as an emergency exemption.
Federal do-not-call rules can apply to marketing texts even when the autodialer rule does not. A sales pitch for another rental or paid service needs a different review from a repair update. A sales offer added to a service text can change its purpose. State law and your provider may also set stricter rules.
Start by saving the tenant’s choice to receive routine texts, the number they gave you and the subjects covered. Keep sales offers separate. Ask your provider how its system and terms apply before you set up repeat sends. A lease alone is not consent for every future text.
Handle opt-outs under the rules in force
The rules on reasonable ways to opt out and the ten business day limit took effect April 11, 2025. The January 2026 waiver below delayed one narrow rule: extending an opt-out to calls and texts on unrelated matters. It did not delay all duties to honor opt-outs.
The eCFR text checked on October 8, 2026 accepts any reasonable method that clearly asks to stop covered texts. It names stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel and unsubscribe as valid text replies. Clear wording outside that list can also count. Staff should read replies rather than rely only on a keyword filter.
You must act on covered requests to withdraw consent within a reasonable time, no later than ten business days after receipt. That is an outside limit, not a reason to wait. Promptly remove the number from queued sends and save the request. Include requests staff receive through another reasonable route.
The current rule permits one text that confirms the opt-out and has no sales content. If sent within five minutes, it is presumed to fall within the prior consent. A longer delay requires a showing that it was reasonable. Keep the reply to that one purpose.
The October 2026 order has a separate effective date
The FCC adopted FCC 26-67 on September 30 and released it on October 1, 2026. Paragraph 24 says the rule changes take effect 30 days after they appear in the Federal Register. The FCC will announce the exact date in a Public Notice. The release date is not the date the new rules take effect.
Our October 8 recheck found eCFR text marked current through October 6. Under section 64.1200(a)(10), it still accepts reasonable ways to opt out. A sender cannot insist on just one way. We have not established the new publication or calendar effective date. Treat the changes as pending for this guide. Confirm when they take effect before you limit how tenants can opt out.
The adopted changes address which opt-out routes a sender can require and which types of service texts an opt-out covers. This guide does not treat them as rules you can use now. Keep acting on clear requests to stop.
The January 2026 waiver set January 31, 2027 as the delayed date for that narrow rule about unrelated service texts. Paragraph 10 leaves other rules and rulings on withdrawing consent unchanged. FCC 26-67 says its new rules replace that delayed part when they take effect. The waiver does not excuse ignoring an opt-out.
Check the FCC’s announced effective date before changing your setup. In your daily work, act on a clear request to stop. Use the tenant’s chosen route to keep in touch.
Registration is a separate provider requirement
Application-to-person messaging, or A2P, means texts sent through an app. Carriers and platforms use this label. It is a different test from the TCPA’s autodialer rule. A staff member can type a text in business software and still send A2P traffic.
Twilio’s A2P 10DLC documentation says you must register if you send app texts to U.S. numbers through a ten-digit local number. This covers SMS and MMS. Twilio treats all texts from its numbers as app traffic, even when one person sends them. You register the sender’s brand and campaign. That includes what the texts are for, how people opt in or out and how they get help.
Toll-free numbers and short codes are outside that 10DLC system. They still have their own rules. Ask the provider what approval your number type needs. Check the rules for the actual number and service you use rather than assume every business phone needs the same registration.
Your provider may set stricter consent rules than federal law. Twilio’s Messaging Policy requires informed consent and proof of it. You must say who is sending the text, with stated exceptions for ongoing conversations. The first text must also explain how to opt out.
If you use Twilio in software that serves your customers, its policy requires prior express written consent from those end users. That is a provider rule, not a TCPA rule for every service text. A reply to one incoming question does not give you consent to keep sending repeat texts.
Choose a tool by the record it can keep
Start with the software you already use. Check whether replies reach a shared inbox, whether staff can see the full thread and whether an opt-out stops queued texts. Ask the vendor to show you how it works with a test contact before you upload your tenant list.
For example, Buildium’s Resident Center lets you message one tenant or send news to the whole property. Staff can see past messages and schedule rent or renewal reminders. Its feature page also lists SMS updates, rent payments and ways to track repair requests. Check which features your plan includes; this example is not an app ranking.
A portal can keep payment and repair details together while SMS sends a short update. If rent reminders are your main need, review your online rent collection process alongside the texting tool. Check plan limits, costs, SMS replies and ways to export your records with the vendor.
For a separate texting service, test staff access and handoffs. Find out who owns the number, what happens when a staff member leaves and how you get your threads if you change vendors. A registered number and a saved template cannot fix a workflow in which nobody reads replies.
Set up a business workflow tenants can use
- Use a stable business contact. Tell tenants who checks it, when staff read routine texts and which usual route handles urgent problems. Avoid making a personal phone the only copy of the thread.
- Confirm how tenants want to hear from you. Save the current number, consent and text subjects. Offer another route for tenants who decline texts. Check the details at renewal and remove former tenants from routine sending lists.
- Protect private details. Send one-to-one texts or private copies rather than a group thread that exposes phone numbers. Keep screening files, medical details, access codes and payment passwords out of ordinary SMS.
- Say who you are and ask one clear question. Include enough property detail to help the tenant recognize the text, then state the update or requested reply. Use the known company domain for links. Let tenants reach the portal on their own if they doubt a link.
- Keep the full record. Save the number, dates, text content, replies, proof of consent and opt-out action with the tenancy or work order. Choose a record-keeping policy that fits your legal duties. Do not rely on a screenshot of the last text.
- Check the queue and follow-up. Review failed sends, unread staff tasks and changed repair times. When an opt-out arrives, pause the relevant sends and update other systems. Another staff member should not restart the same traffic.
These steps are suggestions, not Utopia’s SMS policy. If you hire a manager, agree on who reads replies and keeps records as part of the property management services you select. Clear follow-up helps with tenant retention, especially when a tenant has to ask again about a repair.
Keep legal notices out of the routine-text shortcut
A tenant’s consent to routine texts does not make every legal notice valid by text. Check the law for the property and the kind of notice. This matters for notices to enter, raise rent, end a tenancy or start an eviction.
For example, California Courts’ eviction-notice delivery guide describes ways to give a notice in person and specified routes that also require mailing a copy. It does not list texting as a substitute. That example concerns California eviction notices. It does not set the rule for all states or all notices.
Keep proof of required notice service apart from a courtesy text. A saved thread or a delivered status does not, by itself, prove you served the notice as the law requires. Neither does a reply.
Frequently asked questions
Can I reply to a tenant’s text without enrolling them in reminders?
You can keep the reply limited to the tenant’s question. Do not treat that exchange as permission for recurring reminders or promotions. Check your provider’s consent policy before adding the number to a campaign.
Does sending a message manually avoid business texting registration?
Not necessarily. Twilio treats messages sent through its service as application traffic, even when an individual types them. Its U.S. ten-digit local-number registration requirement is separate from the TCPA autodialer test.
Can a text replace a formal eviction notice?
Do not assume it can. The California Courts delivery guide describes physical service methods for eviction notices, not SMS substitution. Check the law for the property and notice, and keep proof of the required service.
Sources
Primary sources checked 2026-10-08. FCC rules concern federal communications law; the notice-service example concerns California. Platform documentation describes the named provider’s requirements and capabilities.
- 47 CFR section 64.1200: delivery restrictions — consent, autodialer definition, do-not-call coverage, current revocation methods and confirmation texts. Checked 2026-10-08.
- FCC 26-67: October 1, 2026 report and order — adopted changes, message-category scope and the Federal Register-based effective date. Checked 2026-10-08.
- FCC DA 26-12: January 6, 2026 waiver — limited delay of the unrelated-message revoke-all requirement. Checked 2026-10-08.
- Twilio: Programmable Messaging and A2P 10DLC — application traffic, number types and registration. Checked 2026-10-08.
- Twilio Messaging Policy — consent records, downstream-user written consent, conversational scope and opt-outs. Checked 2026-10-08.
- Buildium: Resident Center — documented communication, reminder, payment and maintenance features. Checked 2026-10-08.
- California Courts: Deliver the notice — eviction-notice delivery methods and service records. Checked 2026-10-08.
This is general information, not legal advice. Have a qualified attorney review your actual messaging program and the notice requirements for your property.
