Overview
Although rare, you may need to issue a refund to a tenant. You might decide to refund late fees, or a tenant may have accidentally overpaid you for their rent. Here we'll show you how to record the refund on the lease and also how to issue the refund either physically or electronically.
The Steps
Record the refund on an active lease
To refund a tenant on an active lease, click on Leasing on the main menu and then click Active Leases.
Find the lease for which you want to give a refund and click on it.
Click on the Transactions tab and then the Give Refund button.
Enter the following information:
Paid To Tenant: pick the tenant on the lease you are paying back (there might be more than one tenant on the lease.)
Pay From Account: choose the property bank account you are using to pay back the tenant. (This is likely the same bank account the tenant paid into.)
Payment method: pick among several options to remind yourself later of how you paid the tenant.
Check - Enter a check number if you already have your own checks sent outside of DoorLoop. Otherwise, select "Add to Print Queue" if you plan on printing the check out in DoorLoop. Read: Print a Check for more information.
ePay - Choose this to send a payment electronically if you have already signed up for Checkbook.io.
All other payment method choices require payment outside of DoorLoop.
Due Date: change the date of the refund if needed.
Category: the refund should be associated with the same general ledger revenue account as the payment you are refunding.
For example, if you are refunding a rent payment, choose the Rent revenue account. If you are refunding a late fee payment, choose Late Fees.
Description: enter an optional explanation for the refund for informational purposes. (The tenant will see the word “Refund” on their lease ledger in the tenant portal.)
Add Line Item: use this link to add additional refund items if needed. (You could also create separate refunds for each line item.)
Add memo: add an optional note for your reference when reviewing the credit later.
If the payment being refunded was an overpayment, turn on the toggle for “This is a refund for an overpayment (creates a charge to offset the overpayment)”. If the refund is not part of an overpayment, then toggle this option off.
(For the refund to work in DoorLoop for overpayments, there has to be a charge associated with the money you are giving back to the tenant. DoorLoop can automatically create this offsetting charge for you.)
Add any relevant files and click Save.
You’ve now processed a refund. Don’t worry about the accounting and reporting for the refund—DoorLoop will handle all that for you.
Next Step: If you choose ePay as the payment method, send the electronic payment to your recipient. To do so, follow the instructions here: Send a Payment to a Tenant, Vendor, or Owner
For any payment method other than ePay, you’ll need to physically give the refund back to your Tenant, whether it be cash, check, money order, or any other method.