Pay your rent from your bank account

Who this is for

Tenants who pay rent online in the tenant portal. Online payments come from a bank account only; you can't pay rent by card.

Before you start

• Sign in to the tenant portal with the Google account your landlord invited, and accept the terms the first time.
• Your landlord must accept online payments. If they don't yet, Pay Rent says "Online payments aren't available yet" and shows their contact details, so you can arrange to pay another way.
• Have your bank login ready, or your account and routing numbers.

Steps

1. Open Pay Rent. The Total balance due card shows what you owe, and Open invoices lists each invoice with its due date and a status: Due, Partial or Overdue.
2. On the invoice, click Pay.
3. Choose the account: - With a saved bank account, it shows the bank and last four digits. Click Use a different bank account to pay from another one. - Without one, log in to your bank through Stripe, or enter your account and routing numbers. Leave Save this bank account for future payments and auto-pay on to keep it.
4. Click Confirm. You see "Payment started": banks take up to 4 business days, and you are emailed when it's done.
5. The invoice shows "Processing since" the day you paid. You can't pay it again while it processes.

If you typed your account and routing numbers, Stripe sends a small deposit to your account first. Click Verify your bank account, find the deposit on your bank statement, and enter the code on the page that opens. The payment goes ahead once the account is verified.

Example

Maria Lopez rents 8 Cedar Street, Unit 3, for $1,450.00 a month, due on the 1st.

• On October 30 she opens Pay Rent, clicks Pay on the November invoice, and pays from her saved Harbor Bank account ending 4417.
• The invoice shows "Processing since Oct 30".
• On November 3 the bank confirms. Maria gets a payment received email for $1,450.00, the invoice leaves Open invoices, and Pay Rent shows "All paid up!"

What happens next

• When the bank confirms, every tenant on the lease gets a payment received email, and you get a receipt by email.
• The payment appears in your payment history at the bottom of Pay Rent, with Date, Amount, Method and Status. Click PDF to download its receipt.
• On a lease with several tenants, Payments on your lease shows who paid what.
• An invoice due date that passes while your payment is processing is not charged a late fee.

If something looks wrong

• "Your bank payment of … failed." Your bank refused it, and the line gives the bank's reason. The amount is still owed. Fix the problem with your bank, or pay from another account.
• "… was returned by your bank." The bank took the money back after the payment went through. The amount is owed again; contact your landlord.
• "A bank payment for this invoice is already processing." Wait for it to finish. Banks take up to 4 business days.
• "Payments paused — contact your property manager" or "Payments temporarily unavailable". Online payments are switched off for now. Contact your landlord or property manager.
• "Payment cancelled". You left the payment page before finishing. Nothing was paid.
• "Your bank stopped this account. Add another one." (on Payment Methods). The bank returned a payment from this account. Add a different bank account.
• You want to pay by card. Rent can't be paid by card in eSamaHomes.