Autopay: how automatic rent collection works

Autopay is the end state of rent collection: the resident sets it up once and rent arrives every month. It needs your Stripe account connected and at least one payment type turned on.

How residents enroll

On the portal's Payments page, the resident clicks Set up autopay, picks Bank account (no fee) or Card (a convenience fee on each charge — see online payments), and saves it with Save & enable autopay. The card then reads, for example, "Rent auto-charges on the 1st of each month · bank ending 6789". They can Turn off, Turn on or Remove it anytime. Enrollment is the resident's to manage — your team can't enroll someone.

On the dashboard's Rent due widget, a tenant who owes with autopay on shows an Autopay pill (or "autopay on" next to their days late).

When it charges

A daily run checks every enrolled resident against their lease's rent due day (the 1st unless the lease says otherwise), on your company's calendar:

• First attempt on the due day — or the first run after it. A resident who enrolls on the 12th with rent due the 5th is charged that day rather than skipping a month.
• A declined charge retries twice: 3 days and 7 days after the due day. Never daily, so a bad card isn't hammered.
• Once a charge succeeds (or a bank payment is processing), nothing more is pulled that month.

What it charges

Rent that's due — nothing else. Autopay charges the rent still unpaid once money and credits have paid it (the oldest unpaid month first), up to one month's rent: a credit on any account (an overpaid deposit, a goodwill credit) that already paid rent lowers the charge, and another charge the credit didn't pay stays owed on its own. A payment made early for a charge that's already on the ledger but isn't due yet doesn't lower it: that money stays on its own charge. Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and booking-site stays never count either way. It skips:

• deposits, move-in fees, utilities, damages and late fees — residents pay those deliberately, and the portal says so;
• next month's rent that has posted early under your charge posting lead time — that waits for its due date.

A resident two months behind is charged at most one month's rent per month by autopay; the rest needs a one-off payment.

Shared leases

When roommates share a lease, each can enroll their own method, and each can set Your share of the rent — a fixed amount autopay covers every month. Roommates with a set share are charged first; anyone without one covers whatever is left, so the same month is never paid twice. Clear (pay the remainder) removes a share.

When a payment fails

A declined card doesn't post. A bank payment that bounces after it was submitted reverses, and the rent is owed again. Both sides hear about it: your team gets an Autopay failed notification, and the resident gets an email asking them to pay manually or update their saved method. If rent stays unpaid past your grace days, late fees take over as usual.

Card vs bank

Autopay on a card carries the same convenience fee as a one-off card payment; on a bank account it's free to the resident. Worth mentioning when a resident picks their method.