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April 8 2024 17:35

PayProp, a rental payment platform for property practitioners, has unveiled its new automated arrears interest billing feature, available to all PayProp users in SA, the UK and US at no extra charge.

The feature gives rental agencies using PayProp greater control over timely tenant payments and will help earn landlord confidence by protecting their cash flow, failing which daily interest can automatically be levied for the landlord’s account.

Duty of care

Payprop has been entrusted with processing agencies’ client funds since 2004. PayProp said it took this custodial duty very seriously.

The PayProp platform enables agents to place only reliable tenants through its integrated Tenant Assessment Report and credit checks. It sends automated payment reminders to late payers; and automates arrears recovery right up to legal proceedings, if need be. This is backed by a permanent auditable transaction log that can be used as evidence in court.

Adding automated interest on arrears billing to this formidable set of protections will give landlords the confidence of another line of defence against defaults.

Handle with care

Jan Davel, Managing Director of PayProp SA and Group Head of Regulatory Compliance and Risk, said that a rental agency can only charge interest on rent arrears if this is provided for in the lease agreement. He emphasised that it was only payable to the landlord and an agency may not take this interest as their own fee.

Under PayProp’s End User Licence Agreement, the feature may at any rate not be used for debt collection in terms of the Debt Collectors Act (114 of 1998), even if an agency is registered as a debt collector.

The amount of interest must further be reasonable and not contravene any applicable legislation.

How it works

The new interest on arrears billing feature automatically calculates and applies interest on overdue rent payments, based on flexible rules set by the agent.

PayProp users can choose a billing start date and set the percentage interest to charge daily, after which billing will automatically happen on the total outstanding amount at month-end, along with the new due rent.

Freeing up your time to do more

By streamlining the payment recovery process, property businesses can redirect resources towards core operations and growth initiatives, while incentivising prompt payment and improving landlord and agency commission cash flow.

“At PayProp, we constantly strive to make property managers’ work easier by automating as many of their payment administration tasks as possible,” said Bruce Jackson, PayProp’s Chief Technology Officer.

“We are confident that the automated interest on arrears billing feature will save you time and allow you to focus on your business’s real priorities, rather than on time-consuming payment administration,” he said.

Sarah Fourie, PayProp’s Head of Client Services in South Africa, said she was excited about what the new feature represents.

“With each new feature, PayProp continues to empower the residential rental industry and add value through innovative solutions that empower businesses,” she said.

PayProp is an automated rental payment and reconciliation platform for the residential rental industry. Launched in South Africa in 2004, the company has grown quickly to become a processor of rental payments for residential properties in SA, the UK and North America. PayProp serves a large and diverse customer base of property professionals, processing more than R53bn in rental payments annually on behalf of thousands of rental agents.

The PayProp Rental Index, published quarterly and based on live payment data, is one of SA’s most developed sources of rental market data.

On December 4 2023, Reapit and PayProp announced that the two companies were merging, signalling a long-term strategic move towards offering clients greater functionality, they said.

247@propertyflash.co.za

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