Process Tenant Refunds

Overview

To refund a tenant, open Financials → Tenant Refunds → click the tenancy → select the tenant under Select a tenant to refund → set the Refunding amount → click Create Payment and confirm.

If the tenant can't be selected, click Add bank account on their row first.

If an extra payment was receipted as rent, reverse it in Financials → Bank Feeds → Reconciled and reconcile it again as Tenant Credit before you refund it.

To keep part of the balance, enter it in the Holding column before you create the payment.

Refunds Keyhook has already created sit under Existing Refunds. Click Pay on an Allocated row.

To send the money, open Financials → Payments → Staged → Tenants, tick the refund and generate the payments CSV for your bank.

Once the money leaves your bank, reconcile it in Financials → Bank Feeds → To Review.

Refund a tenant

1
Open Tenant Refunds
From the left sidebar, open the Financials menu and click Tenant Refunds.
You can also start from the tenancy. Click Properties, open the property, click Tenancy Overview in the left menu, then click Actions → Refund tenant. That opens the Refund Tenant page for that tenancy, so you can go straight to step 3.
2
Find the tenancy
The list shows every tenancy that has a refundable balance, with an Overpaid Rent and a Credit Balance column. Use the search box to find one by tenant name or address, then click its row.
If the tenancy isn't listed, it has nothing to refund yet. When an extra payment was receipted as rent, move it to tenant credit first, see Refund an extra payment receipted as rent below.
3
Review the tenancy
The Refund Tenant page opens with a summary of the tenancy, its Exit Inspection, Outstanding Invoices, Bond Status and arrears. Click View Tenancy Overview to see the full tenancy overview before you refund.
4
Select the tenant to refund
Under Select a tenant to refund, click the tenant's radio button. Only one tenant can be selected at a time, and only a tenant who has a bank account on file can be picked.
5
Set the refund amount
In Refund Amounts, the Refunding column already defaults to the full available Overpaid Rent and Credit. Adjust either figure if you're refunding less, or click Full refund to reset both to the maximum.
6
Create the payment
Click Create Payment (the button shows the total, e.g. Create Payment $65.00), then click Create Payment again in the Confirm Refund dialog. Keyhook records the refund and returns you to the list.

Note: Tenant Refunds is only available to Finance and Principal users. Other team members are redirected to the dashboard.

Add the tenant's bank account first
1
Spot the blocked tenant
If a tenant's radio is greyed out, their row shows No bank account on file. Keyhook can't pay them until you add one.
2
Open the add form
Click Add bank account next to that warning to open the popover.
3
Enter the account details
Fill in the Account Name and the Account Number in the NZ format 01-0123-0123456-00 (both are required).
4
Save
Click Save. The warning clears and the tenant's radio becomes selectable.

Note: The account number must be a valid NZ bank account number (bank-branch-account-suffix) or the form won't save.

Refund an extra payment receipted as rent
1
Reverse the payment
From the left sidebar, open Financials → Bank Feeds → the Reconciled tab. Find the payment, click its three-dots (…) actions menu → Reverse transaction, type a Reason for reversal and click Reverse Transaction. The payment moves back to the To Review tab.
If Keyhook shows Money has already been paid out, that rent has already been paid out to the owner, so it can't be reversed the usual way. If the owner's balance still has enough to cover it, you can force the reversal from the same screen, see Reverse a Reconciled Transaction. If it doesn't, the reversal can't be forced.
2
Reconcile it as tenant credit
In Financials → Bank Feeds → the To Review tab, open the payment's actions menu → Reconcile. Set the Type to Tenant Credit, choose the Property and Tenancy, check the Amount and click Reconcile. If the same transaction also paid rent that was owed, receipt that part as rent and only the extra as Tenant Credit.
3
Refund it
Open Financials → Tenant Refunds. The tenancy now shows the amount in the Credit Balance column. Click its row and carry on from step 3 of Refund a tenant.
Hold part of the balance instead of refunding it
1
Enter a holding amount
In the Holding column, type how much of the Overpaid Rent or Credit you want to keep. The matching Refunding figure drops automatically so holding plus refunding always equals what's available.
2
Refund the remainder
Check Total Refunding, then click Create Payment and confirm to pay out what's left.

Note: You can't hold the full amount from this screen. To retain everything, journal it to the desired ledger instead. The You cannot hold the full amount warning appears if you try.

Pay an already-allocated refund
1
Find the existing refund
Some refunds are created for you, for example when overpaid rent is clawed back from the owner. These appear under Existing Refunds as a Rent Refund or Credit Refund with a status.
2
Select the tenant
Pick the tenant under Select a tenant to refund. The Pay buttons stay disabled until a tenant is selected.
3
Pay it
On an Allocated row, click Pay, then confirm in the Confirm Payment dialog.

Note: A row marked Recovering from owner can't be paid yet. The funds are still being recovered from the owner before the refund can be released.

Pay out the refund
1
Open the Payments page
Creating the payment queues it but doesn't send the money. From the sidebar, open Financials → Payments and go to the Staged tab.
2
Open the Tenants tab
Switch to the Tenants tab to see the tenant payments that are ready to go out.
3
Generate the payment file
Tick the refund payment, then click Generate selected (1) payments CSV. The number matches how many rows you've ticked. Download the file and upload it to your bank to release the money.
4
Reconcile it in Bank Feeds
Once the money leaves your bank, the refund comes through in Bank Feeds as a money-out transaction. Open Financials → Bank Feeds → the To Review tab, click the … button on the transaction's row → Reconcile. Select the recommendation if one is shown, or click Select outgoing payments, tick the refund payment for that tenancy and click Add [number] payments. When the banner shows the amounts match, click Reconcile. See Reconcile Outgoing Payments.

Frequently asked questions

Who can access Tenant Refunds?

Only Finance and Principal users. Anyone else who opens the page is redirected to the dashboard with a permissions message.

What's the difference between Overpaid Rent and Credit?

They're the two buckets that make up a tenancy's refundable balance, rent paid beyond what was owed versus a general credit balance. You can refund or hold each independently, and Total Refunding is their combined amount.

An existing refund says "Recovering from owner". Why can't I pay it?

That refund is funded by money still being recovered from the property owner. Only rows marked Allocated can be paid; a Recovering from owner row becomes payable once the funds have been recovered.

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