Overview
If your property owners hold onto the tenant security (or other) deposits, you can still record these in DoorLoop so that property balance sheets are correct. To do this, you add a bank account to DoorLoop that represents your owners' bank accounts. Next, you add this bank account to the properties, which will have owner-held security deposits. Finally, you will record payments for these deposits as going into the bank account for your owners.
The Steps
Step 1 - Create an owner-held deposit bank account
To create an owner-held deposit bank account, click Accounting > Transactions on the main menu.
On the Transactions page, click the + New Account button in the upper right corner.
On the New Account window, select type as Asset > Bank. Then, type in an Account Name for your account to remind you this bank account represents your owner-held deposits. (For example, you could call it Owner-held Deposits.) Adding a description is optional.
Click Save, and the bank account will appear on your list of bank accounts.
Step 2 - Add the owner-held deposit bank account to the owner's property
To be able to use this newly-created account for lease payments, you will need to add this bank account to the properties with owner-held deposits.
To add the owner-held deposit bank account to a property as a default escrow account, click Rentals > Properties on the main menu.
Find and click on the property you want to add the owner-held bank account to.
On the property, click the Settings tab and then the Bank Accounts button.
Select the option to Specify a bank account for this property. Then, under "Which account should we use as the escrow bank account for lease deposits?" select the Owner-Held Deposit account you created from the drop-down list.
Click Save when you are finished.
Now, this bank account will be available to choose from when recording lease payments for this property.
Step 3 - Record the Security Deposit into the Owner-Held Account
There are different ways to record this based on the outcome you want to show.
Scenario 1- The security deposit is received directly by the owner from the tenant.
Scenario 2 - The security deposit is received online, and you perform a bank transfer outside of DoorLoop.
Scenario 3 - The security deposit is received online, and you want to transfer the funds to the owner through DoorLoop, and still want to show in reports that a security deposit is being held.
Scenario 4 - The security deposit is received online, you want to transfer the funds to the owner, but you don't want it to appear on any reports that you are holding the security deposit.
Scenario 1 - Manually receive payment for the deposit
You will need to record that the tenant paid for the security deposit and that the payment was deposited into the owner's bank account. (Make sure you've already created the charge for the security deposit on the lease!)
Note: If the tenant paid online via ePay, it will be recorded automatically on the lease, and you'll need to perform a bank transfer. Skip to Option 2.
To manually record a lease payment for the security deposit, click Leases > Active Leases on the main menu.
Find and click on the lease you want to record the owner-held deposit payment for.
On the lease, click on the Transactions tab and then the Receive Payment button.
On the Receive Payment window, enter the relevant information:
Lease: automatically filled in
Date: change the date for the payment if needed.
Received from: this will automatically fill in the tenant you added to the lease.
Deposit account: pick the owner-held deposits bank account, which you added as a default bank account for this property in the previous step.
Amount received: enter the amount of the payment.
Payment method: pick among several options for informational purposes. (Choosing Check allows you to record an optional Check Number.)
The Automatically Pay toggle allows you to choose between the following options:
On will apply the payment to the oldest open charge first.
Off will allow you to choose the charge or charges to pay.
The Automatically Deposit toggle will automatically create a bank deposit when you complete the payment. This causes the payment money to immediately reflect in your bank account balance, rather than showing in Undeposited Funds until you create the bank deposit for this payment.
Use this if you’ve already deposited the money or if you don’t want to create a bank deposit later and don’t care that the bank deposit date will be the same as the lease payment date.
The Send Payment Receipt toggle will send an email to the tenant notifying them that you recorded their payment. This only works if you have an email address entered in the tenant’s info.
Add memo: add an optional note for your reference when reviewing the charge later.
5. Add any relevant files (optional) and click Save.
Good work, this deposit is now recorded as being held in the owner's bank account! You can review the deposit payment on the Transactions tab of your leases.
Scenario 2 - Make a bank transfer from the operating account to the owner-held deposit account
If the payment was made as an ePay from the Tenant Portal for the Security Deposit, it will go directly into the default Operating Account for the property. This is because the Escrow account can not receive electronic fund payments from the portal. That means that when the security deposit goes into your operating account first, you'll need to transfer that amount to the Owner-Held Deposit account.
To transfer a security deposit from your operating account to your owner's bank account, click the + Create New button at the top left-hand corner.
In the Other Transaction section, click Bank Transfer.
On the Bank Transfer window, under the Transfer Date field, enter the date that the transfer will occur.
In the Source Property and Receiving Property field, select the property that this bank transfer will be associated with. (This will both be the same property).
You’ll now see new fields called Source Account and Receiving Account:
Source Account - select the operating account that the money is coming out from.
Receiving Account - select the owner-held deposit account where the money is going in to.
In the Amount to Transfer field, enter the amount you want to transfer.
(Optional) Enter a note and upload a file related to this transfer.
Click Save to complete recording the bank transfer.
Note: Recording the transfer in DoorLoop does not transfer the money in real-life. You'll need to perform a bank transfer for the security deposit amount in the real world and physically move the money from your bank account into your owner's bank account. This can be done on your end by wire transfer, check, or whatever other means you use.
Tip: You can view the outcome of this transfer by going to the Transaction Details report and filtering the type by Transfer. You’ll see that funds came out of one account and into another. This can also be viewed under Accounting > Transactions and click the two bank transfer accounts. One will show a negative transfer while the other a positive one.
Scenario 3 - Create an expense to send the security deposit to the owner held deposit account
If the payment was made as an ePay from the Tenant Portal for the Security Deposit, it will go directly into the default Operating Account for the property. This is because the Escrow account can not receive electronic fund payments from the portal. Once you receive the funds, you can send the payment directly to the owner's owner held security deposit account by creating an expense in DoorLoop, and using out integration with Checkbook.io to send it directly to them. Doing it this way will still track the security deposit in your reports.
To create an expense to send the deposit to the owner, click + Create New at the top left corner.
In the Other Transaction section, click Expense.
On the New Expense window, fill in the following information:
Select Payee - The Payee will be your vendor account.
One Time Expense - Select one-time expense option.
Expense Date - Enter the date you are sending the payment.
Pay From Account - Select the operating account the payment was paid into.
Payment Method - Choose ePay as the payment method (this will send the payment via Checkbook.io).
Property - Select the property associated to the deposit transfer.
Unit - Select the unit associated to the deposit transfer.
Category - Select the Asset > Owner-Held Deposits account.
Description - Enter something like security deposit transfer.
Amount - Enter the transfer amount.
Add Memo - Enter notes such as this is a Security Deposit Transfer.
Click Save to finish.
Scenario 4 - Create an expense directly to the owner if you do not want to track held security deposits
Use this option when you do not want DoorLoop to track the held security deposit on your books at all. Instead of routing the deposit through an owner-held deposit bank account (Options 1–3), you simply receive the tenant's payment as you normally would, then immediately create an expense to send the funds to the owner. Once the expense is recorded, the deposit leaves your balance sheet entirely — the owner is fully responsible for tracking and returning the deposit going forward.
Note: Steps 1 and 2 of this article (creating an owner-held deposit bank account and adding it to the property) are not required for Option 4. You can skip directly to the steps below.
Note: With this option, the deposit will not appear in your Security Deposit liability account, on the Deposits tab, or on deposit reports — by design. If you ever need to verify what was paid, the original tenant payment is still on the lease's Transactions tab and on the tenant statement. If you later need to refund the tenant, you'll need to request the funds back from the owner first.
Make sure you've already posted a security deposit charge on the lease and received the tenant's payment normally into your operating account. (Follow the standard Receive Payment workflow — there's no need to use a special bank account.)
Click the + Create New button at the top left corner.
In the Other Transaction section, click Expense.
On the New Expense window, fill in the following information:
Select Payee — choose the property owner as the payee.
One Time Expense — select the one-time expense option.
Expense Date — enter the date you are sending the payment to the owner.
Pay From Account — select the operating account that received the tenant's deposit payment.
Payment Method — choose ePay to send via Checkbook.io, or select another method (check, manual, etc.) if you're paying the owner offline.
Property — select the property associated with the deposit.
Unit — select the unit associated with the deposit.
Category — select the Owner Distribution (or equivalent owner-disbursement) expense account. Do not select Asset > Owner-Held Deposits — that account is only used when you want to track the held funds (Options 1–3).
Description — enter something like Security deposit pass-through to owner.
Amount — enter the deposit amount.
Add Memo — enter notes such as Security deposit transferred to owner; not held by management.
Click Save to finish.
The deposit funds have now been expensed out to the owner. The tenant's original deposit payment remains visible on the lease, but the held balance is no longer carried on your books.
Tip: If you later switch this property to manager-held deposits, you'll need to record a deposit back into your operating account from the owner before re-establishing a Security Deposit liability.
Where an Owner-Held Deposit Appears on the Balance Sheet
Owner-held deposits are intentionally tracked outside your company's books, because the funds are not in your possession. This means:
The deposit will not appear in the Liability → Security Deposit account on your balance sheet.
The deposit will not appear in the Deposit Transactions Report as a company collection.
The deposit will appear on the lease and on the tenant's statement so the tenant can see what they paid.
The owner is responsible for tracking and returning the deposit to the tenant.
If an owner-held deposit is appearing as a company liability, it was likely recorded using the standard Receive Payment workflow by mistake — see Security Deposits on the Balance Sheet: Where They Appear and How to Fix Doubled or Inverted Balances to fix it.
Next Step
Send an Outgoing Payment to a Tenant, Vendor, or Owner - If you choose ePay as the payment method, send the electronic payment to your recipient.