Contents
What You Need To know
This feature is available in the US only.
Online Rent Collection gives tenants the ability to transfer rent directly into their landlord's bank account and set up recurring payments.
Our Online Rent Collection is powered by Dwolla. In an industry where trust is paramount, Dwolla's sophisticated security practices give landlords confidence that their data is being protected. For more information about their privacy and security, please visit their website here.
Setting Up Online Rent Collection
You can set up tenant payments for any or all of your properties.
Step 1: Set up and Select the Property
Open the app and either set up your property or you can enable online rent collection for a current existing property by editing an existing lease.
Step 2: Enable Online Rent Collection
You can do this when creating the lease or you can go back and edit the lease at a later date and enable the feature then.
To enable the feature tap on the button at the top of the lease page and save.
You will get this pop-up detailing the processing fees for online rent collection. By clicking okay you are accepting these terms.
Step 3: Add/Confirm your Tenants
If you have already added tenants to the lease simply hit save, if not you will need to either link or add them now. Make sure they have an accurate and up-to-date email address entered into the system.
When you're ready, hit continue.
Step 4: Verify Your Identity
Next, the you will need to go through our security verification process.
This security check will only happen the first time when you enable online rent collection.
You will need to provide personal details, upload a copy of your ID, and add a short verification video when prompted to confirm you are the owner of the ID.
Note: you must use a valid address not a PO Box number to verify your identity.
Select whether the rent is being collected under a personal account or as a business.
Follow the prompts to supply the important security detail. Make sure these details match your ID exactly.
Upload a picture of your ID. Qualifying ID types include passports, driver's licenses, or state ID.
Finally, upload a short 5 second video showing your face and your ID clearly in the frame.
We do not save or store any of your personally identifiable information. This is processed by our provider Dwolla. You can view their security policy here.
Step 5: Connect Your Bank Account
Even if you have previously connected your bank account using our bank feeds feature you will need to reconnect them now for this service.
This bank account will be the account that the tenants pay directly.
We handle none of your banking details directly for this feature. This is handled by our provider Plaid who's security policy you can view here.
Use the search bar to search for your financial institute. Select it and enter your online banking details.
Step 6: Notify your Tenants
You will want to notify your tenant that Landlord Studio will be sending them an email with a link that they need to follow. They will be asked to create an account and will be able to pay through the online portal.
Note: Please have your tenant check their spam folder
How Do Tenants Setup And Pay Online?
Step 1. Tenants must create their account
Once online rent collection has been set up by the landlord in Landlord Studio Tenants will receive an email notifying them of the request to pay rent online.
They need to follow the supplied link to complete their setup. This will lead them to a log-in page.
We advise all landlords to notify their tenants of this incoming email and for them to check spam folders.
Step 2. Connect their bank account
To pay via our online rent collection feature they will need to select the bank account with which they will be paying their rent.
Click on the "Connect Bank" button.
And follow the prompts.
Step 3. Pay
The rent owed will now show on their portal dashboard.
Hit the "Pay" button to set up payments.
They will then have the option to set the number of days before the rent payment is due for it to be deducted from their account.
As the payment takes 3- 5 days to be processed we recommend that this is set accordingly so that rent arrives in the landlord's account on or by the rent due date.
This will then schedule all ongoing payments to be deducted from the tenant's account until the lease end date.
About Auto-Pay
Tenants can turn off auto-pay using the Automatic Rent Payment Toggle. If this is turned off the tenant will need to log in each month and manually pay the rent.
If "Automatic Rent Payments" is on the rent will be deducted automatically from their account the set number of days before the rent is due.
FAQs online rent collection
Are there any fees?
Yes. There is a small processing fee of $2.50 for each transaction which can be paid by either the landlord or tenant.
Who pays the ACH processing fee?
Landlords can choose to either pay the processing fee themselves or assign it to their tenant. This can be done when enabling it on the lease, or at a later date by editing the lease.
Tenants are charged a flat rate of $2.50 per transaction.
How long until the rent payment is in my account?
It will take between 3-5 days for the payment to be processed and funds to be received. We are already looking into initiating instant transfers.
What happens when the rent payment is completed?
We will automatically log the rent collected in our income tracker against the relevant property. Additionally, we will automatically log the processing fee as an expense.
Once funds are received you will be notified and you can simply log in to the app to double-check the income has been correctly logged.
Can tenant’s set up automatic payments?
Yes, once they've created their account they can turn on auto-pay and set the payment to be made at the same time each month.
What happens if my tenant doesn’t get the email?
Unlink your tenant from the property. Then double-check you have entered the email address correctly. Next, simply link the tenant to the property again. You will get a popup asking you if you want to email the tenant again. Select yes.
How can I be sure the process is secure?
Our Online Rent Collection is powered by Dwolla. We don’t handle or store any of your banking or payment details. In an industry where trust is paramount, Dwolla's sophisticated security practices give landlords confidence that their data is being protected. For more information please see their website.