An innovative new communications log feature has been added to PayProp, the leading trust accounting and automated rental payment solution. It promises to make it easier to gather evidence for arrears disputes and court cases, which can otherwise be an onerous burden on agents.
The feature records every e-mail sent from the PayProp platform, including automated tenant invoices, debit orders confirmations, payment receipts, arrears reminders and tenant statements. The log shows a copy of the e-mail, whether it could be delivered to the recipient’s inbox, whether it was opened, when and how many times.
Bank integration benefits
Thanks to PayProp's bank integration, the financial information held on the platform always reflects the money held in the agency trust account, which means the figures in these client e-mails are always correct at the time of sending. As a result, the information in the new communications log, combined with information held in PayProp’s existing audit log, gives property managers a complete picture of a tenant’s indebtedness and response to rental invoices and arrears reminders. This data can then be used as evidence in arrears disputes or if a court case is necessary to recover unpaid rent.
The communications log is the latest in a long line of ongoing enhancements to PayProp’s award-winning platform, and comes at no additional cost to PayProp-powered agencies.
Proof provided
Sarah Fourie, Head of Client Services at PayProp South Africa said: “We know residential rental agents and landlords are worried about unreliable payment performance in light of the high cost of living. That’s part of the reason why our development team has been so focused on getting this feature ready.”
“Armed with the new communications log along with our existing audit log and suite of reports, rental agents will be able to clearly demonstrate to a tenant when they were asked to pay the rent, when they opened the e-mail, how much they needed to pay, when payment reminders were sent and how much rent was paid. The hope is, with this weight of evidence, PayProp-powered agencies can help their landlords resolve disputes and avoid going to court for arrears evictions.”
Reassurance for landlords
“The fact that rental agents now have the ability to track all of this in real time should also reassure landlords that their investment is safe when their property is fully managed by businesses using PayProp.”