Security deposits

Who this is for

Landlords and property managers who collect security deposits. Only the account owner can change the deposit setting and add bank accounts.

Before you start

• Know where you keep deposits: in a separate bank account, or in the same account as rent with a surety bond. Florida law (§83.49) allows the second when you post a surety bond. Check your state's rules.
• eSamaHomes doesn't calculate interest on deposits. If your deposit account earns interest, Florida law may require you to pay it to the tenant.
• A Security Deposit account in eSamaHomes. None is made for you.

Steps

Set up deposits

1. Open Settings, the Account tab, card Security Deposits. Under "How do you keep security deposits?", pick In a separate bank account or In the same account as rent, with a surety bond. It saves when you click.
2. Open Accounting, the Trust Accounts tab, and click New Trust Account. Give it an Account Name, pick Account Type Security Deposit, add the Bank Name and Last 4 Digits, and click Create Account.
3. If deposits are kept with rent, set Money is held in to your operating account. Its bank balance then covers both, and the two are reconciled together.
4. On each new lease, type the Security Deposit. When the lease starts, eSamaHomes creates a Deposit invoice for it, due on the start date.
5. Record the tenant's deposit payment like any other. Pick the deposit bank under Deposited to, or, for a check, record the deposit into that bank.

Settle a deposit at move-out

1. On the lease, click Complete Move-Out (see Move out and archive a property). The lease page shows the Security deposit card with Deposit held and Still owed. For a Florida rental, a note gives the date 15 days after the move-out date (to return it in full) and 30 days after it (to send a claim notice), from §83.49. For a rental in any other state, the note says to check your state's deadlines: eSamaHomes has deadlines and a notice letter for Florida only.
2. Click Settle deposit. The tenant's Forwarding address is optional: with none, the money and any notice go to the rental's address.
3. To give it all back, skip to step 5 and click Return in full.
4. Otherwise add a line for each thing you keep: Unpaid rent and charges (filled in from Still owed), Damage, Cleaning or Other, each with what it is for and an amount. To return shows what goes back as you type. Save deductions keeps the draft.
5. Choose How it went back (check, Zelle, Cash App, Venmo, Apple Cash, bank transfer, cash or other) and the Date, and add a Reference such as the check number if you like. eSamaHomes records the return; it doesn't send the money. You pay the tenant yourself.
6. Click Finish (or Return in full). For a Florida rental where you keep money the tenant didn't agree to, Finish waits for the claim notice: see below.

Example

Maria's lease starts November 1: rent $1,800.00, Security Deposit $1,800.00. You keep deposits in a separate bank account.

• When the lease starts, two invoices are created: rent $1,800.00 and deposit $1,800.00.
• Maria pays one check of $3,600.00 and you take it to your operating bank. eSamaHomes puts $1,800.00 on rent and $1,800.00 on the deposit account, and lists Money held for another account: the operating bank holds $1,800.00 that belongs in the deposit account.
• You move $1,800.00 at your bank, then click Move money on Deposits and Record transfer. Each bank now holds only its own money: $1,800.00 + $1,800.00 = $3,600.00.
• Paid online instead, the deposit lands in the bank your Stripe account pays out to, and Deposits lists it the same way. See Connect Stripe so tenants can pay online.

What happens next

• Deposit money is never counted as income, so it is not on Cash flow.
• Money in a deposit account pays deposit charges only. Rent paid from it is refused.
• For a tenant who lived there before eSamaHomes, turn on Tenant already lives here on the new lease and enter the Deposit already collected. No invoice is created for it. See Move your tenants in.
• If the tenant agreed to a line, tick Tenant agreed to this deduction and enter Agreed on and How they agreed. A conversation is enough. A line the tenant agreed to needs no claim notice.
• The claim notice (Florida). If you keep money the tenant didn't agree to, save the deductions, then click Create notice letter on the card. Open letter shows the PDF. Read it, print it, sign it and mail it certified by the claim date. The letter uses the sentences Florida law requires, word for word, and lists each deduction in a table with the totals. When the deductions are more than the deposit, it also says you may pursue the rest through legal action. A lawyer approved this wording for a landlord's own letter. For a property manager, a note on the card says a lawyer hasn't confirmed it yet: read it before you mail it. Until you record it as mailed, changing the deductions throws the letter away; click Create it again for a new one.
• After mailing, enter Mailed on and the Certified tracking number and click Save. When USPS tracking shows it delivered, enter Delivered on and save again. If the letter was refused or unclaimed, use the date USPS marked it so. Once the notice is mailed, the deductions can't be changed: to change them, void the settlement. The mailed letter stays in the lease's documents, and you can edit the deductions again; a claim then needs a new notice, mailed, and a new 15 days.
• The tenant has 15 days from receiving the notice to object. Until you enter the delivered date, the card estimates the end as 20 days after mailing. Finish waits until that day has passed; the card and the Settle deposit window show the date. If the tenant objects, tick Tenant objected and add a note. You can still finish: the dispute is between you and the tenant, and eSamaHomes doesn't decide it.
• The money you keep pays the tenant's unpaid charges and a new charge for each Damage, Cleaning or Other line. It is posted from the deposit account to your operating account. If they are in different banks, the card says "Move $X from … to … at your bank": make that move at your bank.
• If the deductions are more than the deposit, the card shows Tenant still owes. The rest stays owed on the lease; collecting it is up to you. The deposit always pays first: unpaid charges can be written off only once the settlement is finished. See Move out and archive a property.
• Undo settlement after a write-off opens the settlement again without the written-off charges: they stay written off. If the deposit paid part of a charge that was then written off, undo that write-off first on Rent & Payments.
• Void sets aside a settlement you haven't finished; nothing was posted, and you can settle the deposit again. Undo settlement reverses a finished one with mirror entries (nothing is deleted) and holds the deposit again, so you can settle it correctly. Only an account owner can settle a deposit.
• eSamaHomes writes the notice letter; it doesn't mail it. You print it and send it yourself.
• Reminders (Florida). Every account owner gets a notice in the app 5 days before the date to return the deposit in full, 5 days before the claim notice date (unless the tenant agreed to every line), and once the tenant's time to object has ended. Each is sent once.
• If a date passes and the deposit isn't settled, Diagnostics lists Deposit Past Deadline. See Diagnostics.
• What the tenant sees. In the tenant portal, My Lease shows a Your deposit card while the deposit is being settled, even after the lease ends: the amount held, the deductions once the claim notice is mailed, and what was returned, how and when. When you finish, each tenant on the lease with an email gets the same summary by email. The email is a courtesy; the certified letter is the legal notice.

If something looks wrong

• "No trust account configured for invoice type DEPOSIT". You have no Security Deposit account. Create one on Accounting, Trust Accounts, then apply the payment.
• Diagnostics shows an Escrow Mismatch. A bank holds deposit money that belongs in the deposit account. Move it at your bank, then record it with Move money on Deposits.
• "… is a security deposit account, so money in it can only pay deposit charges". Rent must be paid from money in an operating account.
• You can't switch back to a separate bank account. It is refused while a deposit account is held in an operating account.
• The Deposits page. It is for checks and cash taken to the bank, not security deposits.
• "Complete the move-out before settling the deposit." Click Complete Move-Out first.
• "Unpaid rent and charges can't be more than the tenant still owes …" Lower the Unpaid rent and charges line to the Still owed amount.
• "A bank payment on this lease is still processing." Settle the deposit once it clears.
• "This deposit is already settled. Undo it to change it." Click Undo settlement, then settle it again.
• "The deposit paid part of a charge that was then written off. Undo that write-off first." On Rent & Payments, click Undo write-off on that charge, then undo the settlement.
• "Mail the claim notice before keeping deductions the tenant didn't agree to …" Create the notice letter, mail it and record the mailed date, or mark the lines the tenant agreed to.
• "The tenant can object until …" The objection period is still open. Finish after that date.
• "The claim notice was mailed. Void the settlement to change the deductions." The deductions are what the notice claimed. Void the settlement to start again.
• "eSamaHomes has a claim notice for Florida rentals only." The rental isn't in Florida. Check your state's rules and send any notice yourself.
• "Add your company's mailing address in Settings → Company." The letter tells the tenant where to send an objection. Add the address, then create the letter.
• "A line the tenant agreed to needs the date and a note on how they agreed." Fill in Agreed on and How they agreed, or untick the box.
• "Finish the forwarding address, or clear it to use the rental's address." Fill in every field but the second line, or empty them all.