Move out and archive a property

Who this is for

Landlords and property managers whose tenant is leaving, or who no longer rent a property. Only an account owner can move a tenant out, archive or restore a property.

Before you start

• Decide what happens to the deposit. Moving out doesn't change any invoice. See Security deposits.
• Rent is billed up to the move-out date. The last rent billed is the one due on or before it. A part month is not worked out for you: add it by hand with Create Invoice.
• To archive a property, everything on it must be finished: no active, upcoming or draft lease, no invoice with money owed, no open maintenance request, no open application, and no check or cash not yet deposited.

Steps

Move a tenant out

1. Open the lease and click Move Out.
2. Fill in Move-Out Date and, if you want, Notes, then click Initiate Move-Out. The lease page shows the Move-Out Date. A date today or earlier ends the lease at once: it shows Terminated. A later date keeps the lease Active and billing until that day, and eSamaHomes ends it on the day.
3. When the unit is empty, click Complete Move-Out. The lease shows Expired, the unit is vacant and auto-pay on the lease is turned off.
4. If a deposit is held, click Settle deposit on the Security deposit card to return it or keep part of it. See Security deposits.
5. If the tenant still owes money, the lease page shows a Former tenant balance card with the total. Collect it and record the payment as usual, or click Write off balance when you stop counting on it. See Write off rent a former tenant won't pay.

The money at move-out, start to end

1. Rent is billed up to the move-out date.
2. Extra charges the lease allows, such as rent for the rest of the term or an early termination fee, are added by hand with Create Invoice (type Other, with a description) while the lease is still active. eSamaHomes doesn't decide what the lease allows.
3. The deposit pays first. Settling the deposit pays the tenant's unpaid charges from it, oldest first.
4. What's left shows as the Former tenant balance on the lease. It stays owed, and you can still collect it.
5. Write off what you've given up on with Write off balance. No money moves and nothing is posted to your books. See Write off rent a former tenant won't pay.
6. Money that comes in later is recorded as a normal payment on the written-off invoice.

Archive a property

1. Open the property and click Archive.
2. Read what archiving does and click Archive property.
3. To bring it back, open it from the Archived list on the Properties screen and click Restore.

Example

Ben Cole tells Lena Park he's leaving 40 Cedar Street, Unit 3 on May 31. His May rent of $1,450.00 was billed on May 1 and is paid. On May 2, Lena clicks Move Out, sets the Move-Out Date to May 31 and writes "Tenant gave 30 days' notice". The lease stays Active until May 31, and no June rent is billed. On June 1, after the walk through, she clicks Complete Move-Out and the unit is vacant again, ready to list.

Ben left $300.00 of damage and owes a $1,450.00 rent from April. His deposit is $1,450.00. Lena settles the deposit: it pays the April rent, oldest first, and she adds a $300.00 Damage line. The card shows Tenant still owes $300.00, and the lease shows Former tenant balance: $300.00. Ben doesn't answer her letters, so in August she clicks Write off balance, picks Couldn't reach the tenant and clicks Write off $300.00.

Later Lena sells 12 Oak Avenue. There are no leases, no money owed and no open requests on it, so she clicks Archive and then Archive property.

What happens next

• After a move-out, the unit is vacant and can be listed again. See List a unit for rent.
• The deposit is held until you settle it on the lease page.
• A written-off balance is no longer counted as owed anywhere, and no late fee or notice acts on it. The Write-Off Report on the Reports page lists it.
• An archived property is hidden from your property lists and pickers. Its listing is unpublished and comes down from listing sites. It stops being charged monthly fees and stops counting toward your plan.
• Its history is kept: leases, payments, statements, reports and documents still show everywhere, including the tenant and owner portals.
• Nothing new can be added to an archived property: no lease, unit, listing, lead, expense, maintenance request or owner. Restore it first.
• Restoring brings it back to your lists. Its listing stays unpublished until you publish it again.

If something looks wrong

• "This property can't be archived yet: it has …" The message names what is still open, such as "an invoice with money owed" or "a payment not yet deposited". Close those first, then archive it.
• "Restoring it would go over your plan." Upgrade your plan or archive another property first.
• "This property is archived. Restore it before adding anything to it." Click Restore first.
• "This property can't be deleted because it has … Its history has to be kept." A property or unit with leases, payments or other records can't be deleted. Archive it instead.
• Rent for a part month. Rent is billed whole, up to the move-out date. Add a part month by hand with Create Invoice while the lease is active; it lists active leases only.
• The tenant renewed instead of leaving. Renewing the lease clears its move-out date, and rent keeps being billed.
• "Write off balance" is greyed out. The reason is shown. Finish the deposit settlement first, so the deposit pays what it can.