Recurring Transactions (Legacy)

This help article contains instructions for the Legacy Version of Rentec Direct. More information about the latest version of Rentec Direct can be found here:The Remodel | Rentec Direct’s Newest Software Update

It would become tedious to post every transaction manually and fortunately, your property management software allows you multiple ways to save time with data-entry tasks. One such was is creating recurring transactions to post automatically for you.

Create a Recurring Transaction

There are two ways to create recurring transactions within the system.

One - A recurring option is available while posting a manual charge or expense on a ledger. Instructions for posting a charge on a tenant ledger and marking it recurring can be found here: Adding 'Other' Charges for Tenants

Two - Follow the below instructions to add recurring charges directly to the advanced settings in the system. This is an advanced option

System Advice : This process is an advanced option, please pay special attention to adding, editing, or deleting within this tool. It is advised to read the below instructions prior to using this feature.

Navigate to The Advanced Recurring Transaction Option

In your Rentec Direct account:

Click on the Settings tab.
Click on the Recurring Transactions option.

Recurring Transactions: Tenant Charges and Property Expenses

The system uses the information from this Recurring Transaction setting to automatically post charges and expenses for you at the interval and amount you choose. Within this advanced setting, there are two types of transactions that are stored.

Tenant Charges - The system stores the recurring rent charge created when the tenant was placed in a unit as well as any 'other' recurring charges such as a pet fee, utilities, or tax that you've added to the tenant ledger directly or within this tool.

Property Expenses - The system will store any recurring expense you add directly to a property or bank ledger or within this setting.

Recurring Tenant Transaction - Rent Charge

System Advice: When moving a tenant in, the system will automatically create a recurring rent charge for them. Be careful when editing or deleting any tenant rent charge. All tenant charges should look similar to the below picture.

Edit recurring transactions

Recurring Transaction - Recurring Expense

System Advice: The selections below will indicate to the software which ledgers to post this expense simultaneously so be sure to select only the property, tenant, and/or bank account associated with this transaction.

In this example below this recurring expense is set up to post to the tenants ledger as an additional amount owed. Notice that the bank and the property are both 'None' which means this specific charge will only be placed on the tenant. It would not have a property or bank assigned as this is just a request for the tenant to pay an additional amount.

Setting Intervals: Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly.

System Advice: A common mistake is not setting the interval day correctly. This setting sets the day in which this charge will occur. It is important that this setting is accurate, otherwise, your recurring transaction may not function as intended.

Setting the interval for recurring transactions

For example: If you set the Interval to Monthly, and the Interval Day to (1), this means that you want the transaction to post on the 1st of the month...so, the Begin Date must also be set to the 1st. The Interval Day and the Begin Date must be the same day of the day of the week or month, depending on which Interval you have selected.

Posting Recurring Transactions

The Settings tab Recurring Transactions setting was designed for you to see all the recurring transaction in the system and to modify or cancel that list. However, it is rarely necessary to add a recurring transaction from that setting and the system allows you to mark any property expense or tenant charge into a recurring transaction from the ledger.

The below example will be setting an automated charge on a tenant ledger.

In your Rentec Direct account:

Click on the Tenants tab.
Click on the Red Dollar Sign [$].
Add the amount of the tenant charge.
Add a memo description (ie: parking fee, garage fee, utilities).
Check the Option Recurring box, and then:
1. Set the frequency of how often the fee should be posted to the ledger.
2. Set the begin date for the next and subsequent transactions.
Click Post Charge to save this recurring transaction.

Note

Whenever charging a tenant, we recommend leaving the Category field set as a 110 Charge. Categories withing the software were designed for charges related to Properties, so we've created the 110 Charge specifically for these additional charges related to Tenants.

Setting the beginning and ending recurring transaction dates

In the example shown above a charge for $50.00 will be posted to this tenant's ledger monthly beginning 6/1/2017 for Garbage Service. This item will display as a separate line-item on their statement.

System Advice:

If you find that your recurring transaction is posting on the wrong interval date it is best to delete the transaction in the Recurring Transactions on the Settings tab and then set up a new recurring transaction in the tenant ledger.
If you enter a historic begin date, a recurring transaction will post retroactively. If you posted an incorrect frequency date and need to make changes, the system will not delete those historic charges. They will need to be removed manually.

Important Note: Regarding the End Date, recurring transactions will only post up until the day BEFORE the End date. For example, if you have the Frequency set as Daily and you set the end date as 12/15/2019, the recurring transaction will stop posting to the account on 12/14/2019. In this case a transaction will not post on 2/15/2019 as that is the date the recurring transaction will be removed from the Recurring Transactions screen.