Rentals
Rental Charges And Balances
Booking charges, move-in charges, late fees, waivers, open balance, past due amount, missed amount, running balance, and on-time payment rate.
Overview
Rental balances come from the Rental Ledger. The ledger combines charges, payments, refunds, waivers, and due dates so the app can explain what a renter owes and why.
Use this guide when you need to understand Open Balance, Past Due Amount, booking charges, move-in charges, late fees, or why a balance changed after a payment, refund, or waiver.
Open Balance
Open Balance represents the total unpaid amount currently owed on a rental. It includes all unpaid charges that exist in the Rental Ledger, regardless of whether those charges are due today, overdue, or due in the future.
Open Balance answers: how much does the renter still owe overall?
A practical formula is: Open Balance = Total Charges - Payments Applied - Charge Waivers, with refunds reducing the payment amount available for allocation. In ledger terms, it is the sum of each visible charge remaining amount.
Open Balance updates automatically when charges are added, payments are recorded, refunds are issued, or waivers are applied.
What Open Balance Includes
Open Balance includes any unpaid charge remaining in the Rental Ledger.
- Monthly rent
- Nightly charges
- Security deposits
- Pet deposits
- Cleaning charges
- Late fees
- Other rental charges
What Open Balance Excludes
- Fully paid charges
- Fully waived charges
- Refunded payment amounts that no longer apply to the balance
- Canceled rental activity that has been removed from normal balance action queues
Open Balance Vs Past Due Amount
Open Balance and Past Due Amount are related, but they answer different questions.
Open Balance includes overdue charges, currently due charges, and future charges. Past Due Amount includes only unpaid charges whose due date is today or earlier.
Because Open Balance includes future charges, it is often larger than Past Due Amount.
Example
Assume a rental has June Rent of $1,500 due June 1 and July Rent of $1,500 due July 1. A $1,000 payment is received and applied to June Rent.
The remaining balance is $500 for June Rent and $1,500 for July Rent. Open Balance is $2,000.
On June 15, only June Rent is due, so Past Due Amount is $500. The July balance is still part of Open Balance, but it is not past due yet.
Why Open Balance May Look High
The most common reason Open Balance looks high is that future charges are included. Future monthly rent, future nightly rental balances, future deposits, and future move-in charges can all count if they are visible in the Rental Ledger and remain unpaid.
These amounts are still owed overall, even when their due date has not arrived yet.
Where Open Balance Appears
- Rental detail pages
- Property Rental History
- Open Balance Report
- Dashboard balance metrics
- Collection workflows
- Invoice calculations
Related Guides
Common Questions
- Why is Open Balance larger than Past Due Amount?Open Balance includes future unpaid charges. Past Due Amount only includes charges whose due date has arrived.
- Does Open Balance include security deposits?Yes. Any unpaid security deposit contributes to Open Balance until it is paid, waived, or otherwise resolved.
- Do future rent charges count?Yes. Future rent charges are included in Open Balance if they have been generated in the Rental Ledger and remain unpaid.
- Can Open Balance be zero?Yes. Open Balance becomes zero when all visible charges have been fully paid or waived.
- Why does Open Balance not match my bank account?Open Balance measures what renters owe. It does not represent cash on hand or bank account balances.
Last Updated
May 2026