How to build a short-term rental permit tracker for city governments with AI-flagged compliance risk in Formaloo

A public application form where short-term rental hosts submit property details, safety documentation, and complaint history. An AI field reads every submission the moment it lands and privately flags compliance risk before a reviewer opens the file. Logic routes high-risk and incomplete applications back for more information, sends the right email at every stage, and generates an official permit PDF the moment a permit is approved. Hosts track their status and renewal date from their own portal page, while your Code Compliance team works from a Kanban pipeline, an assigned-to-me queue, and a set of filtered views built around the workflow's real edge cases.

This is the form every host fills out to apply for a permit. It captures property details, the four required documents, and complaint history, all in one submission, so nothing arrives split across emails and attachments.

1. Open Magic Create: From your Formaloo homepage, click Magic Create. Describe the form in plain text, or upload your existing paper permit application and let Magic Create convert it into an online form.

2. Write the Magic Create prompt: Describe every field you need, including which ones should be admin-only. For example: "Build a short-term rental permit application with the property address, the host's full name, email, and phone number, the rental type (entire home, private room, or shared room), maximum occupancy, a yes/no question asking about prior code violations or complaints with a text field to describe them if yes, four file uploads for proof of ownership or lease authorization, a fire safety inspection certificate, a floor plan showing exits and sleeping areas, and proof of liability insurance, and a yes/no consent question asking whether the host agrees to allow a compliance inspection if requested. Add these as admin-only fields: a permit status dropdown (Submitted, Under review, Needs more info, Inspection scheduled, Approved, Rejected, Renewal due), an assignee field for the reviewer, an internal notes field, and an inspection date field."

3. Click Create: Magic Create generates the form and its fields in seconds.

Your form should look like this. Magic Create will have generated most of it. Verify each field and field ID matches exactly.

The four document uploads are left as optional at the field level on purpose. That's what lets an incomplete submission still come through, so the logic in Part 3 can catch it and route it back to the host, instead of the form silently blocking submission.

This is the part that does your reviewers' first pass for them. An AI Analysis field reads the four uploaded documents plus the complaint history the moment a permit is submitted, and writes a private risk read that only your team ever sees. The applicant never sees it, and there's no setting that changes that.

1. Add an AI Analysis field: In your form editor, add a field and select AI Analysis. It's admin-only by default and hidden from respondents automatically.

2. Write the prompt: Open the field's prompt box and use the @ menu to pipe in the relevant fields, including the four uploads directly. For example: "Read @ownership_proof_upload, @fire_safety_cert_upload, @floor_plan_upload, and @insurance_upload, along with @prior_complaints and @prior_complaint_details. Assess this short-term rental permit application's compliance risk as High, Medium, or Low, and explain your reasoning in one short paragraph, noting any missing documents or prior complaint history."

3. Name the field clearly: Title it "Compliance risk flag." This becomes the column header in your Responses table.

Once a host submits, Formaloo creates the response row and runs the AI Analysis field automatically, reading the uploaded files directly rather than just their filenames. While it generates, the cell shows a loading state, then displays the risk level and reasoning as plain text you can sort, filter, and export like any other field.

Note: the AI Analysis field is available on the Business and Enterprise plans only.

Now that every submission arrives with a compliance risk read attached, use logic to reveal the right follow-up fields, flag high-risk and incomplete applications, and fire the right email at every stage, including a reminder before renewal.

1. Open Advanced logic: In the form's settings panel on the right side, open Advanced logic and go to the Logic tab.

2. Click Magic Logic: In the top right corner of the Logic panel, click Magic Logic.

3. Describe your visibility rules: Paste a prompt like: "Hide 'Briefly describe the prior violation or complaint' by default, and show it only when 'Has this property had any prior code violations or neighbor complaints?' is Yes, and require it in that case. Hide 'Compliance inspection required notice' by default, and show it only when 'Do you agree to allow a compliance inspection if one is requested?' is No."

4. Describe your submission and routing rules: In the same prompt, add: "On submit, set Permit status to Submitted, then run the compliance risk AI field. If Compliance risk flag is High, set Permit status to Needs more info and send an internal notification email to the assigned reviewer. If any of the four document uploads is empty, set Permit status to Needs more info and send the missing-documents email to the host. When Permit status changes to Approved, send the approval email to the host with the permit PDF attached. When Permit status changes to Rejected, send the rejection email to the host."

5. Describe the renewal reminder: Add: "Thirty days before the date in Inspection date, set Permit status to Renewal due and send the renewal reminder email to the host." Magic Logic can generate this kind of scheduled follow-up directly from a plain-language wait period, tied to the date field rather than a fixed calendar date.

6. Click Generate Rules: Review the AI-generated rules, approve, redo, or cancel each one.

7. Save your logic: Once you're satisfied, click Save in the top right corner.

Hosts need to hear from you at every stage, when their application lands, when something's missing, when a decision is made, and before their permit needs renewing, without your team writing each one by hand.

1. Open the template library: Click your profile icon, go to Apps and Integrations, and open Custom Email Templates.

2. Create the submission confirmation: Click Add New Template, name it "Permit application received," and write a short confirmation using answer piping to pull in @host_name and @property_address.

3. Create the missing-documents notice: Add a second template, "Additional documentation needed," explaining plainly which document types are still required and linking back to the host's portal page.

4. Create the internal high-risk alert: Add a third template addressed to your reviewer, referencing @property_address and @host_name, letting them know a submission needs a closer look before deciding next steps.

5. Create the approval notice: Add a fourth template, "Permit approved," referencing @property_address, and note in the template that the generated PDF (built in Part 5) will be attached automatically.

6. Create the rejection notice: Add a fifth template, "Permit application update," referencing @property_address and, where useful, @internal_notes for the reviewer's reasoning.

7. Create the renewal reminder: Add a sixth template, "Permit renewal reminder," referencing @property_address and linking hosts back to their portal to start the renewal process.

Once a permit is approved, hosts need an actual document, the official permit with their reference number, property details, and renewal date, not just an email saying so.

1. Open the PDF template library: Click your profile icon, go to Apps and Integrations, and open Custom PDF Template.

2. Add a new template: Click Add New Template, name it "Short-term rental permit," and switch the editor to the HTML view.

3. Paste the HTML below: This is the exact template used for this workflow. Property and host information sit in a two-column grid, current status and the renewal date are called out clearly, and a compliance acknowledgement sits in a soft inset block referencing the inspection consent the host agreed to. For the reference number, @rowid is piped directly into the header text as STR-@rowid, there's no separate form field for it.

4. Save your template: Give it a clear name and click Save.

The internal-only fields, Compliance risk flag, Internal notes, and Assignee, are deliberately left out of this document. Only the host-facing status and dates appear, since this PDF goes straight into the host's inbox.

Hosts need somewhere to check status and renewal dates without calling your office, your Code Compliance team needs a pipeline and their own assigned queue, and city leadership needs a read on volume and risk without opening individual records.

1. Activate the portal: From your project, click the Settings icon and select Activate Portal. Open Manage User and run the Setup Wizard to connect a user directory, this is what lets hosts sign up and log in without needing a Formaloo account.

2. Add a Host role: In the User Directory, open Edit Profile Fields, scroll to User Roles, and add a "Host" role.

3. Build the host pages: Add "Apply for a permit" as the application form page, "My permit status" as a table filtered to the host's own records, and "Renewal due" as a table filtered to Permit status = Renewal due, also scoped to the host's own records. For both tables, switch to Edit Mode on the data block, click Options, scroll to Manage Access, select the profile field matching the host's email, and toggle on Allow users to view only their data.

4. Restrict the host pages to the Host role: On each page, click the three-dot menu next to the page name, select Access, and set external user access to the Host role you created.

5. Set up your Code Compliance team internally: Your reviewers and inspectors are internal users, not portal roles. Make sure they're workspace members, grouped into a team, for example "Code Compliance."

6. Build the "All applications" page: Add a Kanban board grouped by Permit status. Restrict it to your Code Compliance team via the page's Access menu → Internal users → Specific teams.

7. Build "My assigned permits": Switch to Edit Mode on that page's data block, click Options, scroll to Manage Access, select the Assignee field, and toggle on Allow assignees to view only their data.

8. Build the remaining filtered internal views: Add "High risk queue" filtered to Compliance risk flag = High, "Needs more info" filtered to Permit status = Needs more info and sorted oldest first, "Inspections scheduled" filtered to Permit status = Inspection scheduled and sorted by Inspection date, and "Renewals due soon" filtered to Permit status = Renewal due and sorted the same way. Restrict all four to the Code Compliance team the same way as step 6.

9. Build the Leadership reports group: Add "Permits by status," a bar chart grouped by Permit status, and "Risk distribution," a bar chart grouped by Compliance risk flag. Restrict both to internal leadership users, with full visibility across all properties.

A public application form that captures every document a permit review needs upfront, with an AI field quietly reading those documents and flagging compliance risk before a reviewer opens the file. High-risk applications and incomplete submissions route back automatically, so nothing sits unnoticed in a shared inbox. Hosts get a self-service portal for status and renewal, an actual PDF permit lands in their inbox the moment they're approved, and a reminder goes out on its own before the next renewal is due. Your Code Compliance team works from a pipeline, an assigned-to-me queue, and a handful of filtered views built around the workflow's real edge cases, while leadership gets a volume and risk read without opening a single record.

Don't build this from scratch, we've already put it together for you.