Knowledge Base
Documents, E-Signatures and Retention
Where documents live, what happens when one is executed, and how to keep your own copy.
Where documents live
Documents attach either to a transaction or to the company. Transaction documents sit on the transaction record alongside its tasks, deadlines and required-document checklist. Company documents are brokerage-level files that do not belong to one deal.
Agents see their own documents by default. Whether office admins, brokers and transaction coordinators can see more is configurable under Company Settings → Document Visibility, including a separate control that restricts commission-sensitive documents to admins and brokers.
Required documents and review
A required-document template defines which documents each transaction type must have. Missing items surface on the transaction rather than being discovered at closing.
Documents move through review: uploaded, then approved, rejected, or returned for correction with a comment. Every step is recorded, so "who approved this and when" has an answer.
E-signatures
Signature packets are prepared from an uploaded PDF or a reusable template. You place fields, add signers in order, and send. Signers receive a link; there is also an in-person signing mode.
When every signer has signed, the packet completes and RealtySlate produces an executed document — the flattened, signed PDF — plus a signature audit certificate recording who signed, when, and from where. The executed copy is filed back against the transaction or the company automatically, so the signed version lives with the rest of the file rather than in somebody's email.
Signature settings let you choose signing methods, signer confirmations and the legal disclaimer shown to signers.
Storage and retention
Executed documents are treated differently from working files. Once a document is executed it is written to storage that is retained on a long horizon and cannot be quietly altered or removed — the point being that a signed instrument should still exist, unchanged, years later, and should not be deleteable by anyone who later regrets it.
Practical consequences worth knowing:
- Deleting a document in RealtySlate removes it from your working view. It does not shred the executed copy.
- Deleted items are recoverable for a limited window before they are purged.
- Long retention is deliberate. It protects you in a dispute, and it is the reason RealtySlate can answer questions about a closing from years ago.
Keep your own copy — document backup
This is the part most brokerages skip and later wish they had not.
RealtySlate can connect to your own Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive and place a copy of every document into storage you control, in folders you can browse without RealtySlate. Connect it during onboarding rather than after a problem.
Why it matters:
- You keep an independent copy that survives any change of software vendor, including us.
- Your accountant, attorney or auditor can be given access to a folder without being given access to your brokerage platform.
- It answers the "what if we leave" question before anyone asks it, which is a fair question to ask any vendor.
The connection is per company, set up under Connections → Document Backup. Once running, new documents are placed automatically and the queue shows what has been copied.
Getting everything out
Beyond the continuous backup, Export Data produces a copy of your records, and Document Backup can be used to place existing documents as well as new ones. If you need a complete extract for a specific purpose — an acquisition, an audit, a change of vendor — open a support ticket and say what it is for, so the right form is provided.
Common questions
- A packet says Completed but I cannot find the signed file. The executed copy files itself against the transaction or company. Check the transaction's documents first, then Signed Documents, which has its own search.
- Can I edit a document after it is signed? No. That is the point of an executed copy. Prepare a corrected document and have it signed.
- Can agents delete their own documents? Subject to permissions, yes, and deletions are recoverable for a limited period and recorded in document activity.
- Does e-signature cost extra? No. E-signatures are included; there are no separate module, document, storage or signature charges.