Paying Owners

Property managers who are managing units owned by other people need to pay the owners at the end of each month. BrightSide offers a couple of ways to pay owners and send them their monthly owner statements. However, before you pay the owners, it is critical that you follow the steps to close the month. If you don’t, your payments may be incorrect. When that is complete, you may pay the owners.

NOTE: Technically, you may pay the owners before or after you click “Close Month” the last step in closing the month. However, you MUST complete the previous steps in Closing the Month prior to paying owners.

• Owner Statements
• Direct Deposit
• Paying by Check

Owner statements, or owner reports, provide owners with the details of their income and expenses for the month, along with their net pay. You can send their statements via email so they know what to expect when you pay them. Owners may also download and print their owner statements from the owner portal.

NOTE: In preparation to pay the owners, make sure you go through the Closing the Month process first. When that is complete, proceed with the following. Also, if you have added any charges that need to be reflected on the owner statements, you must run “Calculate Month” prior to sending the statements.

Sending Owner Statements

Navigate to: Reports > Owner Reports

• Month: Select the month from the dropdown. The current open month is the default.
• Year: Select the year from the dropdown. The current year is the default, but you may select past years to run an older report.
• Unit: You have the option to run an owner report for all units, or by selecting an individual unit from the list.
• Include Units with Zero Balance?: To include units without any revenue, tick this box.
• Include Inactive Units?: Ticking this box includes owner reports for inactive units.
• Include Detailed Rental Report?: Ticking this box includes the reservation details in the owner’s statement.
• Hide Year-To-Date Column?: To hide the year-to-date column in the owner’s statement, tick this box.
• Run Report: Clicking this opens the report in a new browser window allowing you to download or print (see screenshot below).
• Email Statements: Clicking this opens a new window with an email template that includes the owner’s statement. From that window you send a copy of the monthly statement to owners.

When you are ready to pay your owners, you have a couple of options, direct deposit (via NACHA file) or check. Direct deposit is an easy way to pay all, or most, of your owners with a single upload to your bank. Alternatively, you can print checks using our check template.

What is a NACHA File?

A NACHA file is a digital file used by banks and businesses in the United States to process direct deposits, like paychecks or bill payments. It’s basically a standardized instruction sheet that tells banks who to pay, how much, and when. The file follows a specific format set by NACHA (the organization that oversees electronic payments) to ensure smooth and secure transfers between accounts. Think of it as a recipe card for moving money electronically.

NACHA files are created in BrightSide, downloaded, then uploaded to your bank for easy direct deposit payments to your owners.

Creating a NACHA File

Navigate to: Reports > Owner Payments

As a vacation rental management company, you manage property for owners who want to be paid using various methods. A few may want you to write a check and drop it in the mail. The rest will happily accept direct deposits. It is easy to set up, it is quick, and the owners don’t have to go to the bank. Individuals commonly use their Social Security Number as their tax ID while business organizations most likely use an Employer Identification Number (EIN).

Be sure to enter the owner’s tax ID and banking information into their owner file before attempting to create a NACHA file. You can see in the screen if a bank account number or routing number is missing.

• All Direct Deposit: Use this option if your bank allows you to combine personal and business payments via a single NACHA file.
• Business Direct Deposit: Use this option to pay owners with an EIN.
• Personal Direct Deposit: Use this option to pay owners with a Social Security Number.

NOTE: Some banks do not allow you to combine personal and business payments via a single NACHA file. When this is the case, you may produce one file for payments to individuals (those using a social security number) and another for businesses (those using an EIN). BrightSide recognizes the difference and creates a separate NACHA file for each when needed. If your bank allows you to combine personal and business entities into a single NACHA file, you may do that in BrightSide also.

Exporting the NACHA File

When you have made your selection, it is now time to export the NACHA file. If you need to create separate NACHA files for individuals and business owners, repeat the step for each.

• Export to NACHA: Click the button in the upper right corner to save the NACHA file to your computer.  You will use this file at your bank to initiate direct deposits to your owners.

Printing Checks

Not many companies pay owners with checks anymore. However, some owners prefer to be paid the old fashioned way, with a paper check. If you need to pay an owner with a check, you may do that in BrightSide.

Navigate to: Reports > Owners > Owner Checks

Options

• Month: Select the accounting month you are using to pay owners.
• Year: Select the accounting year you are using to pay owners.
• Unit: You may print checks for a single owner or all owners. Select between “All” or choose an individual unit from the dropdown.
• Check Date: Enter the date you want on the check.
• Print Checks: Click to send to the printer.
• View Check Register: Click to see the register of checks.

Check Layouts

BrightSide gives you three basic layout options for printing checks:

• Three checks per page
• One check per page at the top
• One check per page in the middle

If your checks are different than these three, often we can design a custom template for you. If you expect to print checks to pay owners, let us know during the onboarding process and we will set it up for you.