Setting up condo fees: the three billing modes

When you set up a condo unit's fee on the Set Up Fees step, you choose one of three modes for how billing begins. Each does something different - pick based on when the fee actually started and whether you want a bill sent right away.

The three modes

Next schedule (default)

Nothing is billed immediately. The system sets up the ongoing schedule and works out the next real billing date on or after your chosen start date. The first bill goes out the next time that schedule runs, just like any other recurring charge.

Use this when: the fee is starting fresh going forward and there's nothing to catch up on.

Bill now (unpaid)

Creates one invoice right away for the current billing period, at the full fee amount, and leaves it open and unpaid.

Use this when: you want the current period on the books immediately - for example, the owner needs an invoice today - but they haven't paid yet.

Backdate (as paid)

Creates one invoice for every full month from when the fee actually started through the current month, and marks each one PAID with a matching payment - so the whole history is caught up and reflected as already collected, not owed.

Use this when: you're formalizing a fee that was already being paid outside the system (or was already agreed to start earlier), and you want the historical months reflected as paid rather than owed.

Each backfilled month is dated correctly and nets to zero:

• The invoice and its payment are both dated on that month's billing day - the same day-of-month (or End of month) you picked for the fee. A fee backdated to October with a billing day of 15 gets an October invoice dated October 15, a November invoice dated November 15, and so on through the current month - not all of them stamped with today's date. See "Choosing a billing day and End of month" for how that day is picked.
• Every backfilled invoice ends PAID and nets to zero. The invoice total and its payment always match exactly, so no phantom credit or leftover balance is left sitting on the account.
• Exactly one invoice and one payment per month. A 6-month backdate produces 6 invoices and 6 matching payments - no more, no fewer, even if the setup is retried.

Example: a fee backdated with a billing day of 15 - February's invoice and its payment both land on February 15, and the month nets to zero.

Important: Bill now and Backdate are silent

Neither Bill now (unpaid) nor Backdate (as paid) sends any email to the owner. No invoice notification, no payment receipt - nothing goes out automatically. If the owner needs to be told, that's a separate, manual step on your end.

Backdated months also stay silent in the invoice's own history: you won't see an "invoice sent" entry in the Activity timeline for a backfilled month, since nothing was actually sent. That's expected - it's not a sign something failed.

Next schedule doesn't send anything either at setup time - the first email (if any) only goes out whenever that first real bill is generated and sent normally, the same as every other recurring charge.

Backdated months show up on the unit's profile

Every invoice and payment created by a Backdate (as paid) setup - and by ongoing condo-fee billing generally - is tagged to the unit itself. Open the unit's profile and you'll find the backfilled charges and journal entries listed there under that unit, the same as any other charge, instead of only being visible from the billing account.

Safety limit: 600 months

A backdate can only catch up 600 months at a time. If the fee's actual start date is far enough in the past that the catch-up would exceed that limit, the setup still completes for the first 600 months, and a banner stays on screen telling you how many months were completed and how many are left:

This banner stays on screen - it won't disappear after a few seconds. If you see it, contact support to have the remaining months backfilled; nothing about the 600 months already completed needs to be redone.

Blocked: backdating into a closed or locked accounting period

If any month in the backdate range falls inside a fiscal period that's been closed or locked for that property (or a bank reconciliation has locked the cash account for that period), the setup is blocked before you can submit it. You'll see a message next to the Effective date field naming the affected period:

To move forward, either:

1. Reopen the affected accounting period, if that's appropriate, then retry the setup, or
2. Choose a later start date for the fee so the backdate range no longer touches a closed or locked period.

Choosing between them

After setup

Once a fee schedule is created, it behaves like any other recurring charge on the unit - it shows up on the unit's Charges tab under recurring schedules, and its next bill appears on the unit's Next Charge tile. Editing the fee amount later updates that same schedule in place; it never creates a second one.