Refund a deposit held by the agency (insured scheme)

You can refund a deposit held by you as agents. The steps below outline how to fully refund a deposit held by the agency which is registered with an insured deposit scheme, TDS or MyDeposits.  

1. Click the Residential Lettings department tab
2. Click Tenancies on the main homebar
3. Search for the tenancy in the Find bar and click Go. Click View on the relevant tenancy
   1. Alternatively, find and click the tenancy from within the Last Viewed section
   2. You can also access the tenancy via Deposits to be returned in the Property Management section of My Dashboard
4. On the tenancy Summary tab, ensure that the Tenancy Status is Moved Out. Click Transfer Deposit 
   1. If the Tenancy Status isn't set to Moved Out, click Special Actions
   2. Click Transfer Deposit 
5. The Transfer Amount (£) field shows the total deposit, you can alter this if required
6. In the Transfer To dropdown menu, click the relevant client account to transfer the deposit to
7. Click Save

The transfer now needs to be reconciled out of the deposit account, then reconciled in to the client/rent account. 

1. Click Home on the main homebar
2. On My Dashboard, scroll down to Accounts. Alongside Deposit Account, click Reconcile 
3. Tick Reconcile? against the relevant item to reconcile the deposit payment out of the deposit account
4. Click Save
5. Click Home on the main homebar
6. On My Dashboard, scroll down to Accounts. Alongside Rent Account, click Reconcile 
7. Tick Reconcile? against the relevant item to reconcile the deposit payment into the client/rent account
8. Click Save

Now that the deposit has been reconciled, it's available to return. This can be done from Deposits to be returned within Property Management on My Dashboard, or from the tenancy.

1. Alongside Deposits to be returned, click the number
2. Find the property the deposit relates to and click View
   1. Alternatively, on the relevant tenancy Summary tab, click Special Actions 
   2. Click Return Deposit

The Return Deposit screen allows you to:

• View the total Deposit Held
• View any outstanding expenses that will be deducted from the deposit
• Withhold cash for future expenses - Add a reason to the Withheld Cash field and enter the deposit amount to be withheld in Amount (£)
• View the Payment Amount due to the tenant
• Set the Deposit Return Method to either Cheque or Automated Banking (This defaults to Cheque)
  • If you're returning by Automated Banking, select the tenants Bank Account the payment is going to. If the bank account isn't known at this time, this can be added later via Pay tenants, within the Accounts section of My Dashboard. Click No bank details exist
    For more information on Editing landlord and tenant bank account details, click here
• Save when complete

Any amount returned to the tenant shows in Accounts on My Dashboard, under Pay Tenants. This can now be paid.

Any amount withheld will sit on the Tenant Ledger as Cash Withheld until it is released. 
For more information on Using cash previously withheld on a ledger, click here

Deposit returned in error

If the deposit return was processed in error, as long as the tenant payment hasn't been made, it can be reversed and done again. An example would be where a charge had not been added to the Tenant Ledger, prior to returning the deposit, and this hadn't been noticed.

To undo the Deposit Return Statement:

1. Click Tenancies on the main homebar
2. Search for the tenancy in the Find bar and click Go. Click View on the relevant tenancy
   1. Alternatively, find and click the tenancy from within the Last Viewed section
      
3. On the tenancy Summary tab, click Special Actions
4. Click Undo Deposit Return Statement
5. To confirm that the statement should be reversed, enter Your Undo Code
6. Click Save
7. On the tenancy Summary tab, the Return Deposit button will re-appear. Any related pending
   payments in the Pay Tenants screen will be removed and the deposit return can be re-processed
   as required