Tenancies
Council Emergency Accommodation (Placements)
For properties let to a council that places households at short notice. The council is the tenant; the households it places are recorded as placements; and each month you raise one invoice to the council for all its properties.
Getting Started
- Add the council — Contacts → Add contact → tick 'This is an organisation' and enter its name.
- Create the council's tenancy — Tenancies → New tenancy on the property, with the council as the tenant (a company let is usual).
- Set up the council let — Property → Lettings → Placements → 'Set up council let'. Choose a fixed monthly rent (rent invoices are raised as normal) or a rate per night or per week (no rent invoices; the council invoice charges the nights). The rent chaser stops emailing the council.
- Cancel rent already raised for a nightly let — If RentFig says unpaid rent invoices are already raised from the start of this month, cancel them (Rent Chaser → Invoices → the invoice → Cancel Invoice). Until you do, that property is left out of the month's council invoice so the council is never charged twice.
- Record placements — Add placement: who was placed, the council's reference, the room, move-in and move-out (the move-out night isn't counted), and an optional rate of their own. The tab shows who is there now, nights this month, overlaps and empty nights.
- Invoice the council — Accounting → Council invoices: pick the council and the month, choose how to charge households still placed (to the end of the month, or only up to a date), check the lines (anything left out is listed with the reason), then create it. Download the PDF, spreadsheet or CSV and send it yourself — nothing is emailed.
- Record the council's payment — Open the council invoice and use 'Council's payment': pick the council's payment from your bank transactions (or record one received), and RentFig pays each property invoice on it in order, holding anything extra as credit. When it covers more than one property, the bank line is split by property so Property Comparison and your P&L show each property's share.
Common Questions
Should households still placed be charged to the end of the month?
You choose each time you create a council invoice. 'Charge to the end of the month' bills them in advance; if someone then leaves early, set their move-out date, cancel that month's council invoice and create it again (not possible once money is against one of its invoices). 'Charge only up to a date' bills the nights up to that date; create the same month again later and the next invoice picks up from the day after, so no night is charged twice or missed.
Can I invoice next month in advance?
No — a month can only be invoiced once it has started.
We renewed with the council. What happens to the households?
End the council's tenancy and start a new one. Households still placed are charged to the new tenancy for the same room or flat from the day after the old one ended. If no single council tenancy takes over, the council invoice lists them as left out.
I matched the council's payment to the wrong council invoice.
Unmatch it from Accounting → Transactions (the bank line's Unmatch): its payments are removed, the property invoices go back to unpaid, and the split by property is taken off. Then record it on the right council invoice.
Do I need Right to Rent checks for the households?
Setting up a council let marks the tenancy's Right to Rent checklist item N/A, with a note: the checks are for the adults who live in a property, and for households a council places they're usually the council's to make. Check your agreement with the council — you can undo the N/A on the checklist. The council itself, as an organisation, has no Right to Rent check.
Who can create council invoices?
Members with full Accounting access who can see every portfolio, because a council invoice can cover properties in several portfolios.
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