Can Tenants Text a Virtual Landlord Number?

A tenant who's used to texting will often reach for that first — a quick "running 10 minutes late" or "the leak's back," instead of picking up the phone. Whether that message actually reaches you depends on the number sitting behind it, and it's not always the same answer for every channel.

Standard texts, yes — for most numbers

TenantCall numbers are set up to send and receive standard SMS text messages, the same way the automatic "sorry we missed your call" reply works today — both draw on the same monthly text allowance, so texting stops in both directions once that's exhausted. A tenant texting your dedicated number lands in the same Activity feed as your calls and voicemails, so a text and a call about the same issue sit next to each other rather than living in two separate places.

Not every number is guaranteed to support it

The exception comes down to the specific number — not every number is SMS-capable, which is a limitation of the underlying telephone network, not something TenantCall controls or can add to a number after the fact. That can leave a trade-off when you're choosing a number: not every number matching your property's local area code will support SMS, so if both a locally-recognisable number and SMS support matter to you, it's worth checking a few options before finding one that offers both.

Which matters more is a judgement call — a local-looking number if that matters more to how tenants perceive you, or a texting-capable number if SMS is something you actually plan to rely on. It's worth thinking that trade-off through before you choose a number, rather than finding out which one you got after a tenant's text goes nowhere.

What this means day to day

• A text from a tenant behaves like a call: it lands in your Activity feed, tied to the property it came from, as long as the number supports SMS and your monthly text allowance isn't exhausted
• The automatic text reply after a missed call keeps working regardless of whether the tenant has texted you before — that's a message TenantCall sends on its own, though it needs an SMS-capable number and, like any text, it stops once your monthly text allowance is exhausted
• WhatsApp isn't a supported channel on any TenantCall number — treat a standard text as the alternative to a phone call, not WhatsApp

Getting started

If texting is how you'd rather tenants reach you for anything that isn't urgent enough for a call, our pricing page covers what's included at each tier, and the Get Started page is the quickest way to confirm SMS support for your own number before you switch.