For our Asia-Pacific customers, the term "Trust Account" is used, while European customers refer to it as "Client Account". It's important to mention that the Client/Trust Accounting functionality does not apply to customers in North America. For further information on regional terms, check out our Glossary of Regional Terminology.
This article outlines the steps for setting up management fees or commissions within your Client/Trust Account. It's important to note that late fees are handled differently; you can learn more about that here. Please be aware that if you're using an integrated version of Re-Leased, these fee settings are not available; they are solely for companies using Client/Trust Accounting.
Check out Section 7 of our self-guided learning video for an interactive demo: Settings for Trust Accounts
For our European users, see Settings for Client Accounts (EMEA)
Getting Started with Fee Rules
To access and manage Fee Rules:
- Go to the Settings menu.
- Click on Fees to set up and manage fees. The company you are configuring will be displayed at the top.
Keep in mind that fees can't be shared between companies; they must be set up individually for each.
Creating a New Fee Rule
- In Settings, click on Create New Fee Rule Definition.
- Enter the Title of your fee, which will be how it appears on owner statements.
- Choose a Fee Type: Owner Fee, Property Fee, or Tenancy Fee.
- Set the trigger under Raised at occurrence of, which determines when the fee is charged.
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Select the accounts affected by this fee by choosing from the Chart of Accounts.
Details on Different Fee Types:
- Owner Fees: Charged per owner contact file and can be set to deduct from only one ledger.
- Property Fees: Charged per property, with the option to specify account codes for both income and expenses.
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Tenancy Fees: Charged per tenancy and assigned to the owner. If a tenant charge is required, use an income invoice instead.
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Trigger / Type |
Owner |
Property |
Tenancy |
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Manual |
Allows total flexibility when raising charges which are not event or date driven. |
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On a Date Schedule |
Set and forget fixed price regular charges. |
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Owner Statement |
Charges a fee each time a statement is issued, when disbursing there will be an option to waive the statement fee for that disbursement. |
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New Tenancy |
Charges each time a new tenancy is entered, if each tenancy is treated differently, consider setting up as a Tenancy fee instead. |
Charges each time a new tenancy is entered. |
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Term Renewal |
Each time a renewal is performed the fee is charged, if each tenancy is treated differently, consider setting up as a Tenancy fee instead. |
Charges each time a term renewal is performed. |
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Rent Receipted |
Charges the fee based on receipts to 'rent' invoices, which have been generated automatically according to the tenant's rent template, or using the Generate Next Invoice or Generate Once-off Rent Invoice options on the Rent and Outgoings page of the Tenancy file. The fee is based on all line items on the rent template, which includes operating expenses/service charge on the same invoice as the rent. If your charges are for the rent portion only, and there are other charges on the invoices, use Money In/Out of an Account instead. |
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Money In/Out of an Account |
Charges fees by account code, this is used if rent and operating expenses/service charge are invoiced together, but the fees are charged at different rates. This is also used for charging fees on expenses paid for the related property on expense invoices. |
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Property Anniversary |
Raised annually based on the Anniversary Date entered on the property details. It can be charged as a flat fee, a percentage of the total rent or a period of rent. If charging by rent, rent for all tenants with current terms will be considered. Note that this fee must be raised manually from the dashboard calendar event, it will not be raised automatically. |
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Customizing Your Fees
Once you've created a rule, you can:
- Select which expense code the fee should record against.
- Enter the fee amount or rate, and specify if it should apply to new accounts.
- Choose an effective date and, if applicable, set the fee based on a rental period.
Fee Details:
- Record raised fee against this account - Fee invoices will use this expense code, this can be customised per customer
- Flat Fee Amount or Percentage - Enter the standard rate for this fee rule, this can be customised per customer
- Apply to New - Select Yes if this fee rule should automatically apply to new owners/properties/tenancies
- Effective Date - Enter the date you want this fee to be effective from. This date must be a date in the future. If you want the fee to be effective immediately, this can be selected from the drop-down menu.
- Is this fee based on a period of rent? - For New Tenancy, Term Renewal, Property Anniversary and Manual fees there is an additional option for the fee to be based on a period of rent.
Fees can also be customized for individual owners, properties, or tenancies after the rule is created.
Selecting and Confirming Fee Application
You can then select which owners, properties, or tenancies to include in the fee rule. Untick any that the fee should not apply to. Use the filter feature to streamline this process. After selection, confirm the details and save your fee rule.
Setting the Owner Ledger for Property & Tenancy Fees
The default ledger for fees related to a property or tenancy can be set in the Property's ledger settings:
- Under the Property, find the Ledgers tab.
- Click Edit against the ledger and Assign accounts to the selected ledgers.
You can now ensure that fees are automatically allocated correctly according to your preferences.
By following these steps, you can efficiently manage and customize fees in your Client/Trust Accounting system. Remember to review and adjust these periodically to align them with any new management agreements or changes in your business operations.