Auto application of tenant fees

To ensure you don't overlook applying late rental payment fees rules can be created within Solo/Origin to automate this process.

For Origin users the definition and deletion of such fee rules is restricted to those users with a manager access level. To view existing rules, and add / delete rules select Admin - Rules from the main menu.  

To create a new rule click on the drop down list under the heading 'Rule Selection'. Only one item is currently available - 'Late Rent Fee'. Note that late rent fees automatically applied by RentPro will be created on the tenant's rent due date. To create such a rule you will be required to specify a number of settings:

• Fee Value - This is the value of the fee that will be automatically applied to the tenant.
• Threshold - The threshold value allows you to specify at what level of rent arrears a fee should be applied. The unit used here is rental periods, e.g. weeks, months, etc. Therefore if you define a value of 2 this means that for a tenant who pays £700 / month then the fee will be applied when their rent arrears figure is greater than or equal to £1400.
• Max Fees & Fee Period - These two values are used in conjunction with one another and allow you to limit the fees applied to a tenant over a specified period. Thus if you define a Max Fees value of 70 and a Fee Period of 30 this means that when £70 of late rent fees have been applied in the last 30 days then no more such fees will be automatically applied by RentPro.
• Effective Date - This is the date when the rule becomes effective. You can therefore change the value of fee to be applied, or the max fees that can be charged over time.

With a late fee rule defined it will, by default, apply to all tenants. It is possible however to exclude certain tenants from the rule. To allow for this a new check box has been introduced for landlords, properties or tenants - 'Suppress Auto Charging of Fees?'. Checking this box at a tenant level will ensure that fees are not automatically applied to this tenant; checking it at a property level will ensure that fees are not automatically applied to any tenants currently resident in the property and checking it at a landlord level will ensure that fees are not applied to any current tenants that reside in properties owned by this landlord.