Owner reserves

Who this is for

Property managers who hold back money for an owner's future repairs. Reserves exist only in Property Manager mode. Only the account owner can set a reserve rule or release reserve money.

Before you start

• Add a reserve bank account: open Money → Accounting, stay on the Trust Accounts tab, click New Trust Account and choose Reserve as the Account Type. Until you do, the property shows "Add a reserve trust account first."
• The property needs its owners. See Owners and who owns each property.
• Decide the rule: a percent of rent up to a cap, or a fixed amount to keep.

Steps

1. Open Rentals → Properties, click the property and open its Owners tab. The Reserve block is under the Management fee block.
2. Under Default reserve for this property, fill in Hold … % of rent collected until the reserve reaches $ … and pick the date it starts from. The cap is required.
3. Or click Keep a fixed amount and enter the amount to keep in reserve, filled from the first rent. Hold a percent of rent instead switches back.
4. Click Save default reserve.
5. To give one owner a different rule, click Set own rule next to their name and save it. Use default puts them back on the default.
6. To pay reserve money back out, open the owner's profile (Rentals → Owners, then the owner) and click Release reserve. Enter the Amount, choose the Property or "Any of the owner's reserve", pick a Reason (Repair, End of management or Other), add a Note and click Release to available.

Example

Cedar Row has one owner, Marcus Bell. The rent is $2,000, the management fee is 10% and the reserve rule is 5% of rent collected until the reserve reaches $1,500.

• Each rent payment: fee $200, reserve $100, and Marcus's Available goes up by $1,700 ($2,000 − $200 − $100).
• After 15 payments the reserve holds $1,500. From then on, nothing more is set aside and the full $1,800 after the fee goes to available.
• The water heater fails. You release $400 with the reason Repair and the note "Water heater replacement". Reserve held drops to $1,100 and Available goes up by $400.

What happens next

• Each rent payment sets aside the rule's percent of the rent, after the management fee, until the reserve reaches its cap. A set-aside is never more than what's left of that rent after the fee.
• Reserve money is never paid out in a payout. It shows on the owner's profile as Reserve held and on their statement as "Moved to reserve".
• If rent is refunded, the reserve share of it is taken back too.
• Reserve held for this property shows on the property's Reserve block. Money released goes to the owner's operating balance, with the ledger line "Reserve released" and your reason.

If something looks wrong

• Nothing was set aside. Check that the reserve has a rule and that you have a reserve bank account. Without one, eSamaHomes records the rent payment and skips the reserve.
• "The owner holds $… in reserve; release no more than that." You asked to release more than the reserve holds. Lower the amount, or choose "Any of the owner's reserve" instead of one property.
• The release is refused because of the opening balance. An owner can't be paid, including a reserve release, until their opening balance is confirmed. See Opening balances.
• You set a rule with the wrong date. A rule that hasn't started shows Cancel in History. A rule that has set money aside is kept on record; save a new rule from the right date instead.