The most expensive utility argument happens months after a tenant moves in: nobody wrote down the starting numbers, and now you're guessing who used what. A five-minute routine on move-in day prevents it.
Photograph every meter first
Before you hand over keys, walk each meter — electricity (both dials if day/night), water, gas — and take a clear photo of the display. In FinMan you can send each photo to the Telegram or WhatsApp bot and the AI reads the value, matching it to the right address and service.
The photo does two jobs: it fills in the reading automatically, and it's timestamped proof of the meter state at handover.
Set it as the baseline, not a bill
That first reading isn't a charge — it's the zero-point. Every future bill is the difference between the new reading and the last one, so a correct baseline means the tenant only ever pays for usage during their stay.
If you moved in mid-month or the reading is a few days old, use /historical to backdate the entry to the actual handover date. That keeps your consumption history honest.
Tip: for a multi-tariff meter, capture both the day and night registers on move-in. Missing one means every night-rate bill afterwards is a guess.
Give the tenant read-only access
Invite the tenant to the address so they get read-only access to their own utilities. They can see the tariffs and the readings you record, which cuts "I never agreed to that rate" disputes to zero. You stay the only one who edits services and prices.
Set up the address once
You can do the whole setup from the bot's Utilities menu — no web app needed:
- Add the address and each service (electricity, water, gas).
- Toggle a shared meter if one exists for the building.
- Add each tariff with its type — metered, subscription or manual — and price.
With tariffs defined, FinMan turns each new reading straight into a calculated bill.
Repeat on move-out
The exact same routine at move-out gives you the closing readings. Baseline in, final reading out — the whole tenancy's usage sits between two verified photos, and the final bill practically writes itself.
Do this once per property and you never scramble for old numbers again. The readings, photos and tariffs live in one place, and both you and the tenant see the same figures.