Refunds now record whether the resident still owes the money

When you refund a payment, URBI asks one question it used to decide for you: after this refund, does the resident still owe the charge, or not?

You choose one of two outcomes.

The charge reopens and is still owed. Use this when the payment came back for a reason that does not cancel what was billed, for example a card dispute or a payment made in error. The charge goes back to being outstanding and the resident still has to pay it.

The charge is cancelled and nothing is owed. Use this when the resident should not have been billed at all. The charge is written off and the receivable is relieved properly, so your books do not carry a balance nobody intends to collect.

If the refund is being put back on the resident's account as credit rather than sent out, that is recorded distinctly again, and the resident is told the money is sitting on their balance.

What the resident sees

The resident's payment history now says what happened in plain words, one of:

• Charge reopened, still owed
• Charge cancelled, nothing owed
• Credited to account balance, nothing paid out

They see this on the resident app and in the online portal, and the refund email says the same thing. The reason you typed when processing the refund is for your records and is never shown to the resident.

Rows that relate to an invoice now show that invoice number, so a payment and the refund of that payment can be matched at a glance.

What happens to late fees and reminders

When staff reverse a payment, URBI stops chasing the resident for thirty days. Late fees and collection reminders both pause, then resume on their own. Late fees that were only charged because the payment was missing are removed, and removing one properly reverses its accounting entry.

The resident still sees the charge marked past due during those thirty days. That is deliberate. The money genuinely is still owed; the pause only stops the property chasing them while things are sorted out.

Where to find it

Open the invoice or the payment, choose to refund, and the outcome question appears in the refund window. Residents find their history in the Invoices area of the app and the portal, under the payments filter.