Based on the information you have entered into the tenancy record, when you are renewing a tenancy, if the deposit amount that you have set exceeds the threshold, you may need to issue a refund to the tenant.

If you have a custodial deposit

For those agents that have custodial deposits that will be refunded from the scheme to the tenant directly, we are suggesting that you archive the deposit at the point of renewal, adding a note (via the 'add a note' button alongside the deposit in manage deposits) that the deposit is in excess of the deposit limit as per the tenant fee ban.

You can then re-charge the deposit for the lower amount you will continue to hold via the tenancy record, record that the deposit has been received into your client account and then record that the deposit has been paid over to the scheme (as you normally would with a new deposit). You may wish to use the renewal date as the date for all three of these transactions.

In terms of your reconciliation, you will be able to reconcile the receipt from the tenant and the payment to the scheme off as they will contra each other out and won't have any overall effect on your accounts.

Your manage deposits section will then correctly reflect the amount of deposit that is sat with the scheme.

If you have an insurance based deposit

For those agents who hold their deposits within the client account or a separate deposit account but register them with a scheme, you will have the money within your accounts to refund. For this reason, via manage deposits you can click the refund button, fill in the details regarding the bank account, date and how much you will be refunding and save. 

Your manage deposits section with then correctly reflect the amount of deposit that is currently registered with the scheme.

You will need to go to the tenancy record – right click – financial – Issue a Refund in the usual way to record that the released funds have been paid back to the tenant.

Whether you have a Custodial or an Insurance based deposit, as Expert Agent uses the rent and deposit amounts from the details tab of the tenancy record as part of its calculation, please ensure that any changes to the deposit amount you are holding/have registered are updated on the details tab of the tenancy record.