Security deposits
Record a tenant's security deposit, top-ups, deductions and refunds in a dated ledger, and process the refund at move-out.
Overview
Each lease has a Deposit ledger. Every movement of the security deposit is a dated entry with a running balance, and each entry records who added it. The summary shows Agreed, Received, Deducted, Refunded and Held now, with a status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Not received | Nothing has been received yet |
| Partly received | Less than the agreed deposit has been received |
| Held | The full deposit is held |
| Partly refunded | Some of it has been paid back |
| Settled | Nothing is held any more |
Before you start
- Anyone who can see the property can read its deposit ledger. Only an owning landlord or a master admin can add or delete entries.
- The agreed deposit is set once on the lease, in Rent & Deposit.
Steps
Record the agreed deposit
- Open Master Data → Lease Management → Lease Dashboard and choose Edit from the tenant's ⋮ menu.
- Go to Lease Info → Rent & Deposit.
- Enter Security Deposit Amount, Date Received and Deposit Reference / Source, then save.
Add a movement
- In the same tab, find the Deposit ledger and click Add entry.
- Choose the Entry type:
- Received: the deposit paid by the tenant.
- Top-up: extra deposit, for example on renewal.
- Deduction: damages or dues taken from the deposit.
- Refund: money paid back to the tenant.
- Adjustment: a correction, either plus or minus.
- Enter the Amount, Date, Mode (Bank transfer, UPI, Cheque, Cash, Adjusted against rent or Other), a Reference such as the UTR or cheque number, and a Note.
- Click Record entry. To remove an entry, use its bin icon. The balance is recalculated and the deletion is recorded.
Refund at move-out
- When a lease ends, open Complete move-out & deposit from the tenant's ⋮ menu, or from Lease Info.
- Tick off the Move-out checklist. Items marked required must be done before a refund is allowed.
- Use Add deduction for each deduction. The panel shows Deposit paid, Less deductions and Net refundable.
- Enter the Refund amount, Refund date and Payment reference (UTR / cheque), then click Process deposit refund. The refund is added to the deposit ledger automatically.
Example
Acme Retail Pvt Ltd agreed a ₹3,00,000 deposit at Sunrise Towers. It paid ₹2,00,000 on 1 April and ₹1,00,000 on 1 May, so the status becomes Held. At move-out you deduct ₹25,000 for repainting and refund ₹2,75,000. Held now drops to ₹0 and the status becomes Settled.
FAQs
Where do I see deposits across all tenants?
The Rent Summary has Total Security Deposit and Cash Deposit columns, and Split by owner shares them by ownership %.
Is the Rental Deposits by Bank Account report about security deposits?
No. That report covers rent paid into each landlord's bank accounts. It does flag a tenant whose rent and deposit appear to be entered twice across units.
Why do some entries say "from lease" or "from move-out"?
The first time you open the ledger, it fills itself from what the lease already records: the deposit received, and any refund and deductions from a processed move-out.
Troubleshooting
A warning says part of the agreed deposit is still to be received
Received is less than Agreed. Add a Received or Top-up entry when the rest arrives.
"The ledger shows ₹X received against the lease's ₹Y"
The ledger and the lease's deposit amount disagree. Correct whichever is wrong.
The refund button says "Blocked"
Some required checklist items are still open. Complete them, then process the refund.