Custom tenant service charge statement software development
Appfront builds software that helps landlords and property managers collect service charges per complex, allocate them across tenants according to the agreed keys, and produce an accurate, explainable settlement for each tenant. On time within the statutory deadline, with the supporting breakdown per item that a tenant or the Huurcommissie can request.
What is service charge settlement software?
Service charge settlement software collects the actual costs per complex for each item: cleaning, energy for shared areas, garden maintenance, lift maintenance, glass insurance and whatever else is agreed as service charges in the tenancy agreement. Each item gets an allocation key, for example per dwelling, per square metre or per share, and the software divides the costs among the tenants who lived in the complex during the period, pro rata to their length of residence. The difference with the advance payments made is the settlement.
Without software this happens in a spreadsheet per complex, with costs copied over from the accounts, allocation keys applied slightly differently each year and tenants who moved mid-year calculated manually. The result is a settlement that arrives late, even though the law sets a deadline, and that cannot be substantiated in an objection because last year's spreadsheet has been overwritten.
We build custom solutions because the items, keys and agreements differ per landlord and per complex. What is named as service charges in the tenancy agreement, how the key per item was agreed and which advances have been paid: all of this is in your contracts and your accounts. The software should follow that, not introduce its own structure alongside it.
Costs from the accounts
Actual costs per complex and per cost item, taken directly from your accounts and linked to the items in the rental agreement.
Allocation key per item
For each item, the agreed key applied to tenants pro rata to their length of residence, including for mid-period moves.
Settlement with supporting detail
Per tenant, the settlement against advances paid, showing the costs, key and share for each item. Explainable if challenged.
How we build your service charge settlement software
We start with your tenancy agreements and your accounts, because that is where the items, keys and costs are. From that we determine what the software needs to collect and how it should allocate.
Which items are agreed as service charges per complex, which key applies to each item and which advances are paid. We review a handful of tenancy agreements and last year's settlement together.
Costs per complex and per item from the accounts, the keys per item, and the allocation across tenants according to length of occupancy.
A settlement per tenant against the advance payments, with the basis for each item, issued via the portal, email or post within the deadline.
Recording and handling objections with the file to hand, the settlement to the tenant administration, and collection. After that, we take over the software.
What service charge settlement software actually does
The components below come up for almost every landlord with service charges. Which ones you need depends on the number of complexes you manage and the variety of keys.
Items per complex
The service charge items per complex as agreed in the tenancy agreement, with the ledger accounts to which the costs are posted.
Costs from the accounts
Actual costs per item and per period from your accounting package, with the invoices as support.
Allocation keys
Per cost item the allocation key: per home, per square metre, per share or your own split, with the period of occupancy per tenant.
Advance payments and settlement
Advance payments made by each tenant set against their share of the actual costs, with the amount payable or receivable.
Issue within the deadline
The settlement for each tenant via the portal, email or post, with the date recorded and a flag for complexes still outstanding.
Objections and file
An objection to a settlement, with the supporting detail for each item attached, handled and recorded.
Who we build service charge settlement software for
The software is intended for landlords who settle across several complexes and who want to deliver accurate, well-documented settlements on time.
Housing associations
Hundreds of complexes, each with its own items and keys, and a settlement that must reach every tenant within the deadline every year.
Investors with residential portfolios
Complexes with shared facilities and tenants who ask questions about their settlement.
Property managers
Settlements on behalf of several owners, with reporting per owner and a process that runs the same way everywhere.
Owners' association managers with rented flats
The owners' association costs that flow through into tenants' service charges, with a clear separation between what the owner pays and what the tenant pays.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
The software is a web application integrated with your accounting and tenant administration, with a portal for tenants. For managing the complexes themselves, see our page on housing association software, and for the owners' association side, see owners' association software. You can read about our approach at custom software development.
For tenants and the managing agent on site, with documentation and questions handled by post, there is our app for service charge settlements.
Why choose Appfront for your service charge settlement software?
A service charge settlement is a calculation that comes round every year and, when challenged, has to stand up to scrutiny down to the invoice. That is what we build for.
Costs come from the accounts
Not retyped but integrated, with the invoices attached. A tenant who asks where a cost comes from can see the invoice.
The key is fixed per item
The agreed key for each item, applied the same way every year, including for tenants who moved out part-way through. That is what makes a settlement explainable.
On time, tracked per complex
The software knows for each complex whether the settlement has been issued and warns you before the statutory deadline passes.
Security and privacy for service charge settlement software
Settlements contain tenants' personal and financial data. Access is governed by role and by complex: a tenant sees only their own settlement and the supporting detail for their complex, and a manager sees the complexes they manage. Every view of a settlement is logged.
Settlements are immutable once issued. A correction results in a new version with the reason recorded, and both versions are retained. In the event of an objection or a case before the Huurcommissie, you can therefore trace exactly what was issued, when, and on the basis of which costs and keys.
Frequently asked questions about service charge settlement software
Questions landlords ask before getting started.
It gathers the actual service costs per complex and per cost item from your accounts, apportions them across tenants according to the agreed key for each item and by length of occupancy, reconciles against the advances paid, and issues each tenant a settlement with supporting detail. Objections are handled with the file attached.
The law requires the landlord to provide the annual service charge statement within a fixed period after the end of the calendar year. The software tracks per complex whether this has been done and warns you in advance. The exact deadline and the consequences of missing it are set out by the Huurcommissie; we build the monitoring.
By length of occupancy: a tenant who lived in the complex for part of the year bears that proportion of the costs. On a change of tenancy, the outgoing tenant receives a settlement for their period and the incoming tenant for theirs, using the same keys.
Yes, that is the default. Cost items and keys are recorded per complex as they appear in the tenancy agreements, and the software applies them consistently each year. If an arrangement changes, the setting changes from the agreed date.
Yes, through a portal: for each cost item, the complex's costs, the key, their share, and the invoices behind it. This prevents most objections and forms the basis should one be raised.
Yes. Costs are drawn from the accounts by ledger account and complex, tenants and advances from the tenant administration, and the settlement feeds back into direct debit collection. We connect to the packages you already use.
Sometimes, and we'll say so. Custom development pays off when the allocation keys vary too much per complex for the package, when costs are currently retyped rather than integrated, or when you want tenants to be able to see supporting evidence down to the invoice.
Service charges settled on time and fully supported?
Tell us how many complexes you settle and where last year became difficult. We will review a few settlements with you and show what software would concretely deliver in your situation.