Rent overpayments are displayed as negative balances in the Tenant arrears column on the Property balances page.
It is strongly recommended that any rent overpayments be reviewed and corrected before landlord payment runs are processed.
1. Checking for overpayments
Go to Lettings properties > Property balances
Locate the Tenant arrears column and click on the column header (highlighted below)
The column will be sorted numerically, with properties showing negative balances displayed at the top of the list
2. Correcting a rent overpayment
If the rent has not yet been paid to the landlord, the overpaid rent can be reassigned as follows.
Go to Lettings properties > Property balances
Click on the value in the Tenant arrears column
At the top right of the page, click on Bank lines
Locate the bank line associated with the overpayment
Click on the edit pencil icon
Expand the Subcategory dropdown and select Rent overpayment
Make a manual payment to refund the tenant
Once the debit bank transaction has been imported into SME Professional, assign this to the property as a Rent repayment
Note: If only part of the payment is due back to the tenant, split the bank transaction into Rent in and Rent overpayment by clicking the bank transaction ID. For further information on splitting a bank line, please click here.
Note: If the overpaid funds are paid to the landlord in error, they must be recouped from the landlord before the tenant is refunded. For more information, please click here.
3. Tenant is in a negative balance, but the rent has not been overpaid
The rent has been paid in advance
The negative balance will resolve automatically when the relevant rent due date is reached. Otherwise, users can reassign the transaction to the subcategory Offset rent and set a future payment date. For further information on offsetting rent, please click here.
The rent invoice amount or date is incorrect
These can be easily updated on the tenant ledger. For further information on updating rent due dates, please click here.
A list of all balances assigned to the subcategory Rent overpayment can be found by following the instructions below:
Go to Lettings properties > Other balances > Overpaid rent
Click on the balance to view the corresponding bank transactions