Agency Fee Management

There are several ways to charge owner fees in REST.  You can now setup default agency fees and charge any new tenancy fees by using Charge Agency Fees. Alternatively, you can also charge letting fees when receipting move in costs on the Tenant Receipts > Other Payments tab or charge the fees by journal. If you charge using this process go to Letting Fees in REST Professional.

Two new screens have been introduced in REST:

• Other > Utilities > Agency Fee Configuration
• Transactions > Charge Agency Fees

Prerequisites

To use Agency Fee Configuration, the System Options > Miscellaneous > Disbursements > Enable outstanding disbursements must be selected.

Agency Fee Configuration

Agency Fee configuration must be completed by a user with the REST security level Journals/EOM Wizard/Files Update & Above.

1. Select Other > Utilities > Agency Fee Configuration. The screen will load with 2 preconfigured fees from Company Details > Internal Accounts:

• Letting Fees defaults to the charge method saved in the System Options > Miscellaneous tab.
• Tenancy Agreement Fees default to the amount saved in Company Details > Defaults > Owner Tenancy Agreement Fee Default.

Notes:

• Letting Fees and Tenancy Agreement Fees cannot be altered on this screen; only included.
• These fees are separate from Letting Fees and Tenancy Fees on the rent receipt screen.
• If processed through the Charge Agency Fees screen and through the rent receipts screen, Letting Fees and Tenancy Agreement Fees will be charged twice.
• Fees that have previously been processed can only be included or excluded and will not be editable in the Agency Fee Configuration screen.

2. Select the green PLUS icon to add an additional fee to be levied against new tenancies eg. Advertising. You will need to assign an Internal Account and an Account Code for each new fee.
3. Select the Include checkbox for each fee to be included in the Charge Agency Fees screen.
4. When configuration of fees is complete, select the Save & Close button.

Charge Agency Fees

Agency Fees can be processed by a user with the REST security level of Disbursements/Cancellations & Above.

The following fields cannot be edited on this screen. If changes are required to these fields you will need to return to the Agency Fee Configuration screen to make the changes before you process any charges here. You will not be able to edit these fields in the Agency Fee Configuration screen for fees that have already been processed.

• Type of Charge
• Account Code
• Internal Account

To load the Agency Charges screen, select Transactions > Charges Agency Fees.

When the Charge Agency Fees screen loads, the following information will display:

• The Properties list will display all properties whose tenants have an Original Lease Date within the defaulted date range (the last 30 days). The Properties list can be filtered by changing the Area Code and Manager and selecting the Refresh button.
• The Fees list will display all the fees previously configured and selected to be included in the Agency Fee Configuration screen.
• Owner Balances will display in the Owner Details section when the property is selected in the Properties List.
• A Withheld checkbox will display for Advanced Commercial databases with Statement Style 13 enabled.

Notes:

• Selecting the Include All checkbox in the header of the Properties list will include/exclude all fees for all properties displayed in the list.
• Selecting the Include checkbox for a specific property will include/exclude all the fees for processing for the selected property.
• Selecting the Include All checkbox in the header of the Fees list will include/exclude all fees for processing for the selected property.
• Selecting the Include checkbox for a specific fee will include/exclude the charge for processing for the selected fee. Fees with an amount of zero will be excluded from processing.

5. When you’ve reviewed and selected all the fees to be processed, select the Process Fees button.
6. A prompt will display with a total for each type of charge. Select Yes to proceed. You will then be prompted to print an Agency Fees Processed Report before the screen closes.
7. Fees processed in the Agency Fees screen will function in the same manner as other outstanding journals in REST eg. you can edit and delete the outstanding disbursements.
8. After fees have been processed and the Agency Charges screen is reloaded, some additional information will be available:

• Previously charged fees and dates display in the grid for each property/fee. These fields will not be editable.
• Dates in red indicate that the outstanding disbursement is still outstanding.
• Dates in black indicate that the disbursement is no longer outstanding.
• Outstanding disbursements processed in the Agency Charges screen that are subsequently deleted will not display the amount and the date when reloading the Agency Charges screen.