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Resident invoices will allow you to quickly and easily create invoices for any one-off charge, like utilities, maintenance work, violation charges or special assessments, and share a unique invoice and invoice number automatically through email or EZmail.
- Preparing Resident Invoices
- Delivering Resident Invoices
- Invoice number and invoice details
- Resident Invoices for bulk charges
- Resident Invoices for meter readings
- Global and property level invoice settings
- Customize mailing and email templates for resident invoices
- Re-sending Invoices and creating invoices for past charges
With resident invoices, you can now create and share an invoice for any one off charge recorded in Buildium.
For example you may want to record a charge for maintenance work or a special assessment and have a unique invoice sent to the resident so that they can pay that charge online through the resident center.
Preparing Invoices
To prepare an invoice, first record a one time charge.
Adding a charge can be done either by clicking the Enter Charge button on the Lease or Ownership Account Financials tab, or by creating charges via the Bulk Charges or Meter Reading pages.
Note: Resident Invoices can only be prepared and created for non-recurring charges.
From the Enter Charge page, you can record the date, amount, and memo for the charge.
Once you have entered all the necessary information for the one time charge, click “Save and prepare invoice”.
From the “Prepare invoices” modal, you can change the charge description (this will automatically default to the memo for the charge if unchanged), and choose the delivery method for the invoice.
Sending invoices to residents
Invoices can be delivered directly to residents via email or EZmail, or you can choose to download and print a PDF to mail yourself or keep for your records.
For each delivery method you can select the desired recipients.
If an invoice was sent via email or EZ Mail delivery options, it will appear on the Communication Timeline for the lease or ownership account and also the resident’s personal communication timeline. If the invoice is sent via EZ Mail, then it will display on the Mailings grid page under the Communication menu as well. You can return there in the future to print manually or Email the previously generated invoice.
Clicking send invoice will automatically send the invoice to the chosen recipients via the delivery methods you have selected.
Invoice email:
From the invoice email, residents can click “Make Payment” (if they have access to ePay) to login to the resident center and submit payment for the invoice. If residents do not have access to ePay, the button in the email will say “View Charge” instead.
If ePay is not available for a resident, they will still be able to view the details of the charge and their total balance as long as they are able to access the Resident Center.
Invoice number and invoice details
Once an invoice has been prepared for a charge, you can view the invoice number from the ledger grid on the Financials page of the lease or ownership account. Every invoice created will have a unique invoice number assigned to it that will be tied to the charge which allows for easy tracking for you and your residents.
Clicking on the invoice number will open the invoice details modal where you can view all of the relevant information for that particular invoice. If you see a View More Details link in the modal that means the invoice was sent via Email or EZMail. Clicking the link will redirect you to the Communication Timeline of the lease or ownership account.
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Resident invoices for bulk charges
To prepare invoices for bulk charges, find the property or association that you would like to create invoices for in bulk. From the units tab of the property or association, click “Enter bulk charges”.
From the bulk charges screen, complete the required information including the bank account, and amount for each unit being charged. When the bulk charges have been set, choose “Apply and prepare invoices”. It is important to note that the option to “Apply and prepare invoices” will only be available if the Repeat field is set to “None”.
When preparing invoices for bulk charges you will have the option to enter a single Charge Description on all the invoices so residents know what the charge is for, or if any memos were entered for the charges on the Bulk Charges page, you will have an option to use that specific memo instead. It is important to note that the Charge Description is a required field, so if you decide to reuse the charges’ specific memos, if any charges do not have a memo, you will need to manually enter one in the Charge Description field of the Prepare Invoices modal to be used for all those without one.
Lastly, select the delivery method for the invoices, you will have the option to select email or EZmail mailing for bulk charge invoices.
- Note: when preparing invoices for bulk charges, there will be no option to select print from the delivery methods.
Resident invoices for meter readings
To prepare invoices for meter readings, find the property or association for which you would like to create meter reading invoices.
- From the units tab of the property or association, click “meter readings” and “Add meter reading”, or use a previously created meter reading.
- Complete the meter reading by entering the value and prior value if necessary and click “Charge owners”.
- Choose the appropriate income account and enter the base charge and rate
- Click “Charge and prepare invoices”
When preparing invoices for meter readings you will have the option to enter a single charge description on all the invoices so residents know what the charge is for, or if any memos were entered for the charges on the Bulk Charges page, you will have an option to use that specific memo instead. It is important to note that the Charge Description is a required field, so if you decide to reuse the charges’ specific memos, if any charges do not have a memo, you will need to manually enter one in the Charge Description field of the Prepare Invoices modal to be used for all those without one.
Lastly, select the delivery method for the invoices and click “Send invoices”, you will have the option to select email or EZmail mailing for meter reading invoices.
- Note: when preparing invoices for bulk charges, there will be no option to select print from the delivery methods.
Global and property level invoice settings
To set global invoice settings, navigate to settings >> application settings >> residents.
Under the invoices section, you can customize invoice communications by choosing a layout and default sender. If no custom sender or layout are selected, then invoices will use the same setting input for normal mailings and emails by default.
You can also set a preferred delivery method for each type of charge (Print, Email, EZmail).
To set property level invoice settings, navigate to rentals>>properties>>select a property>>financials>>lease payment settings OR associations>>associations>>select an association>>financials>>account payment settings. From here, you can override the global invoice settings and setup custom settings at the property level.
Customizing the mailing and email templates
The email and mailing templates for resident invoices is completely customizable. To make changes to the PDF templates, navigate to Communication >> Mailing and email templates. Here, you will see a Tenant Invoice template and an Association Invoice template.
Click into either invoice template and click edit. From here, you can customize the invoice based on the recipient type by changing the name of the template, the default email subject line, or the content of the invoice itself.
Re-sending invoices and creating invoices for past charges
With resident invoices, you will always have the option to resend an invoice at a later date if needed. In doing so, the system will use the same invoice number even if the details of the invoice and or the charge have changed.
To resend an invoice, find the charge on the related Lease or Ownership Account ledger and either click the drop down menu on the right, click on the charge itself to open the split screen view, or edit the charge and choose the Prepare Invoice option.
From the prepare invoice screen, you’ll have the option to update the memo if necessary and choose the method of delivery before re-sending the invoice. If you need to make changes to the charge associated with the invoice, you’ll want to edit the charge first and then resend the updated invoice to your residents.
Follow the same steps to create an invoice for a past charge. You will be able to see if a charge has an invoice associated with it by checking the invoice column on the ledger. If there is no invoice number listed, preparing an invoice will generate the unique invoice number for that charge.