Getting Started: Entering tenant deposits that have already been received

When you first start tracking your financial data in Buildium, an important step is to enter security deposits, prepaid rent, and any other liabilities that you are already holding for your tenants.

If you've gone through Buildium's Guided Setup, you were given the opportunity to enter your opening bank balances and deposits held in the setup screens.

If you skipped the guided setup, in this article you'll learn how to manually enter any liabilities you're currently holding for tenants, and make sure those credits are represented in your opening bank balances.

The easiest way to do this is to use tenant credits.

Before you take the step to enter credits to represent your tenant deposits, make sure you've entered the opening balances in your bank account.

Click here to learn about entering opening bank balances

To enter security deposits, prepaid deposits, or other liabilities being held by your company:

1. Navigate to Rentals > Rent roll.
2. Click on the lease you want to record the liability for.
3. From the lease summary page, click the Financials tab.
4. If you did not enter a charge for the security deposit or liability you are holding when you created the lease, you'll want to enter the charge before moving any further. The charge tells Buildium that the money was owed, and the following credit will tell Buildium that you have already received that payment.
5. Click Issue credit, and fill out the form.
   
   • Date: Enter the date of the beginning balance, which should be the day before your accounting start date.
   • Amount: Enter the amount of the money you're holding.
   • Credit action: Select Issue credit for payments previously deposited.
   • Offsetting account: Select Opening Balance Equity as the offsetting account for the credit.
   • Memo: Enter a memo like Security deposits previously held or something similar.
6. In the apply to balances section, indicate what the credit is for.
   
   For example, if you're entering a credit to show a Security Deposit you're holding, select Security Deposit Liability. If you don't see the right account, add it the list by adjusting your chart of accounts.
   
   
7. When the form is complete, click Save.