Start here: uploading fees, leases and bank debit agreements
This is the contents page for everything about the bulk upload. It is written for property managers, building staff and board members. No technical background is assumed anywhere in this set. If you...
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This is the contents page for everything about the bulk upload. It is written for property managers, building staff and board members. No technical background is assumed anywhere in this set.
If you are in a hurry, find your situation in the first table below and go straight there.
I need help right now
| If you are | Go to |
|---|---|
| New to this and want to understand what it does | Overview |
| About to do your first upload | What you need before you start |
| Building the spreadsheet | Preparing your fee and lease spreadsheet |
| Stuck partway through the wizard | Uploading step by step |
| Looking at an error message you do not understand | Find the error |
| Wondering whether anything has been charged yet | What exists after you commit |
| Answering a resident who is confused | What your residents see |
| Deciding how residents will give permission to be debited | How bank debit agreements work |
| About to declare you already hold signed paperwork | Declaring that you already hold signed agreements |
| Blocked by a greyed out button | What stops you committing |
Learning it, in order
Read these in sequence the first time. After that, dip in.
- Overview. What this does, where to find it, and the one promise that matters: nothing is written until you commit, and what residents are emailed depends on how they agree to bank debits.
- What you need before you start. The checklist, and what each greyed out button is waiting for.
- Preparing your fee and lease spreadsheet. Every column, what it holds, and why amounts are written in cents.
- Uploading step by step. The six steps, start to finish. An upload of bank details only skips the units and payer steps.
- Matching units and choosing who pays. The two steps that take the most time, and why the system never guesses silently.
- How bank debit agreements work. The three ways a person gives permission, and the one choice you make for the whole batch.
- Preparing your bank details spreadsheet. The second, separate file, and what happens to those account numbers.
- Declaring that you already hold signed agreements. Read this in full before choosing that option. It explains exactly what the property takes on.
- Choosing your dates and launch settings. Fee start date, the first period, and the ten day rule. A batch of signed paper agreements has a first debit date instead.
- Sending the messages. The Send card, scheduling, reminders, and what cannot be undone.
- What your residents see. So you can answer the phone without guessing.
- What exists after you commit. What was created, where to find it, and what you can still change.
When something goes wrong
Each of these takes a real message you can see on screen or in the error report, says what it means in plain words, why it happened, and what to do about it.
| The problem is about | Article |
|---|---|
| The file itself, or a column it could not read | Problems with the file you uploaded |
| Which unit a row belongs to, or a unit that already has a lease | Problems matching units and leases |
| Who pays, and email addresses | Problems with payers and email addresses |
| Getting bank debits set up, and the bank details file | Bank debit problems: setting up and the file |
| A single row that cannot have a bank debit agreement | Bank debit problems: rows and conflicts |
| The declaration, and what residents hit when signing | Bank debit problems: residents and the declaration |
| Amounts, fee dates, billing days, the ten day notice rule | Problems with amounts, fees and dates |
| Being told you do not have access | Problems with permissions and access |
| Being told something changed while you were working | When something changed while you were working |
| Messages that did not send | Problems sending messages |
| A status you do not recognise, or a button that will not enable | What every status means, and what stops you committing |
| A row in the downloaded error report | Reading the error report, row by row |
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions covers the short ones: has anything changed yet, can I close the drawer, why is my fee not split across a part month, what if a resident never signs, and why bank debit messages have to go out ten days ahead.
Three things worth knowing before you start
- Nothing is written until you commit. Committing writes the fees and leases. You can upload, review every row, close the drawer and come back, all without changing anything. When you ask residents to sign, committing sends nothing: sending is a separate, later action that emails people. When you declare that you already hold signed paper agreements, each resident gets one setup email automatically as soon as you commit, and there is no separate send.
- Amounts are written in cents. Four hundred and fifty dollars is written as 45000, not 450. This is the single most common mistake, and Preparing your fee and lease spreadsheet covers it with worked examples.
- How residents give permission to be debited is one choice for the whole batch. You cannot ask some people to sign and declare paperwork for others in the same upload. Decide before you start, using How bank debit agreements work.