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Add Deposits Held on a Lease Received Before the Accounting Start Date
Add Deposits Held on a Lease Received Before the Accounting Start Date

What to do if you forget to record a lease deposit you are holding in your bank when you created a lease.

Samuel avatar
Written by Samuel
Updated over a week ago

Overview

In order to make sure that your accounting data is correct, it is vital that you enter security deposits, prepaid rent, and any other liabilities you are already holding for your tenants.

This can be done during Step 3 of lease creation, however the following article will guide you through how to manually add deposits and apply appropriate credits on leases you already created in DoorLoop.

Note: Because these deposits are already in one of your bank accounts, it is important to set up your bank account opening balances correctly to include these deposits.

The Steps

Create the Charge for the Deposit

In DoorLoop, the standard transaction flow on a lease is three steps: a charge, a payment, and then a bank deposit for that payment.

So first, we need to create a charge for the lease deposit.

  1. From the main menu, click Leasing and then click Active Leases.

  2. Find the lease you want to charge a deposit for and click on it. You can either sort the list by the various columns and filters or use the Search leases search bar.

  3. Click on the Transactions tab and then the Post Charge button.

  4. Enter the following information:

    • Account: choose the deposit liability account for the charge.

    • Description: enter an optional explanation for the deposit charge. What you enter here is what the tenant will see on their lease ledger in the tenant portal. If you leave it blank, the tenant will just see the word “Charge.” You will also see this description in the “Memo” column in relevant reports.

    • Amount: enter the amount for the deposit charge.

    • Due Date: change the due date for the deposit charge if needed.

    • Add note: add an optional note for your reference when reviewing the charge later.

  5. Add any relevant files (optional) and click Save.

Next, we'll create the credit showing you are already holding the payment for this deposit in your bank accounts.

Create the Credit for the Paid Deposit

Now we need to record a payment for the deposit charge. In this case, the payment was already made and the deposit money is already in the bank, so we will create a credit instead of a lease payment.

  1. On the main menu, click Leasing and then click Active Leases.

  2. Find the lease you want to receive a deposit for and click on it. You can either sort the list by the various columns and filters or use the Search leases search bar.

  3. Click on the Transaction tab and click the Issue Credit button.

  4. Enter the following information:

    • Lease: This should be automatically filled in already and be associated with the lease you are issuing a credit to.

    • Date: Enter the date when the Deposit was originally received.

    • Category: choose the account for the credit (This will be the Opening Balance account under Equity).

    • Description: enter an optional explanation for the credit. What you enter here is what the tenant will see on their lease ledger in the tenant portal. If you leave it blank, the tenant will just see the word “Credit.”

    • Amount: enter the amount for the credit.

    • Date Issued: change the date for the credit if needed.

    • Add Line Item: use this link to add additional credit items if needed. You could also create separate credits for each line item.

    • Add memo: add an optional memo for your reference when reviewing the credit later. You will also see it in the “Memo” column in relevant reports.

  5. Add any relevant files (optional) and click Save.

If you take a look at the Transaction tab now, you'll also notice a new line item which is a $0 Applied Credit item. Do not delete this payment line. Instead, click on it.

Once inside the Receive Payment window, make sure that the Charges item that it is applying the Opening Balance credit to, is the Security Deposit charge and that the amount matches that of the Opening Balance.

Once you've completed these steps, the deposit will now show as being held as of this new date on the Deposits tab and in your reports.

Next Steps

  • While we don't recommend recording lease payments prior to your accounting start date in DoorLoop, you can use the same steps in this article for doing this.

    • In this case, the charges would be for a revenue account, not a deposit liability account.

  • These steps can also be used to record old payments and charges that have been accounted for in the opening balance.

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