Propertyware Knowledge Base

Situation this applies to:  Charges were applied against tenant’s security deposit at the time of move-out and you now need to refund this amount to the tenant.

Below are the steps that explain how to issue the refund if the accounting period in which the transactions occurred has not been closed.

1.        Navigate to the tenant’s ledger.

2.       Locate the Journal Entry transaction that may have been created when the move out was processed.   Delete the journal entry by clicking on the Del link.  (Note:  The Journal Entry will only be present if you have a separate security deposit bank account and “Transfer to Operating Account” had been selected when the move out was done.)

3.        Locate the Credit Memo transaction that was created when the security deposit was applied against outstanding charges.  Delete this transaction by clicking on the Del link.

4.      Delete any Unpaid Charge transactions by clicking on the Del link.
“Deposit Held” should now show the amount of the security deposit to be refunded to the tenant. 

5.       On the tenant ledger, click on the Move Out button.

6.      Verify the Security Deposit Refund information is correct and click Save.

7.       For checks to be printed:  From the Money Out section, under the Print Checks page, select the check to be printed, and print the check.

Below are the steps to issue the refund if the accounting period in which the transactions occurred has been closed.                   

1.        Navigate to the tenant’s ledger.

2.       Review the ledger for a Journal Entry transaction that may have been created when the move out was processed.  This confirms that the money was transferred from the security deposit account to the operating account.  Therefore, any refunds must be paid out of the operating account.  (Note:  The Journal Entry will only be present if you have a separate security deposit bank account and “Transfer to Operating Account” had been selected when the move out was done.)

3.       Create a journal entry on the tenant ledger as follows: 

         a.    Click on the New Journal Entry link located under Related Activities.  The new Journal Entry page displays. 

         b.    Debit the account that the tenant was overcharged (based on our scenario, this would be Cleaning Fees in the amount of $200).    

         c.    Credit the Prepayment account for the same dollar amount. 

         d.    Click Save to save the journal entry.

4.    Click the Refund, Discount, Adjustment button located on the tenant ledger.

5.      Select Refund.

        a.    Verify that the Pay from is the correct bank account.  (If a journal entry was found on the tenant ledger as indicated in step #2 above, be sure to the select your operating account).

        b.    For Electronic Refund? select either “No” or “Yes.”

        c.    If a check is to be printed, check the To Be Printed box.

        d.    Verify the Payable To information is correct.

        e.    For the Account verify the account is the Prepayments account. 

        f.    Enter as a negative value, the amount of the refund.

        g.    Enter a comment explaining the nature of the refund.

        h.   Click Save.

6.    For checks to be printed:  From the Money Out section, under the Print Checks page, select the check to be printed, and print the check.