Handling a lease that started before you joined Habitia

When you create a lease with a start date in the past, Habitia pauses right after you save and asks: how should I handle the period between the start date and today?

Without this prompt, the background worker would auto-bill the tenant for every month since the start date — even months they already paid you offline. The result would be a fake balance owed in the tenant’s portal. The Historical period prompt prevents that.

You’ll see three options. Pick the one that matches reality, then click Save settlement.

Option 1: Balance is current as of today

Use when: the tenant has paid you in full (offline, by check, Zelle, ATH Móvil, etc.) up to today. The most common case for landlords switching to Habitia.

Habitia takes over starting from this month. No historical rent charges are posted. The first new charge goes on the ledger on the next rent due day.

This is the cleanest path and the one we recommend for most existing tenants.

Option 2: Tenant owes a balance

Use when: the tenant is behind on rent and you want to bring them into Habitia owing money — without backfilling every individual month.

Pick this option and enter the current balance the tenant owes (today’s amount, in dollars). Habitia posts a single opening-balance charge so the ledger reflects what they owe right now.

From there, any payment the tenant makes — through the portal or recorded by you — reduces this balance. New monthly rent charges keep posting on the due day going forward.

Tip: Use this when you don’t want to relitigate which specific month is unpaid. The ledger just shows “Opening balance: $X” instead of a stack of individual month charges. If you do want every past month itemized, use Option 3 instead.

Option 3: I’ll enter charges and payments manually

Use when: you want a complete historical ledger — every month’s rent charge and every past payment recorded individually.

Habitia backfills all the historical months from the start date to today, posting one rent charge per month at the lease’s monthly rent. The lease will show a large balance immediately.

You then record each past payment yourself (cash, check, transfer) so the ledger settles back down to whatever’s actually owed.

Note: This is the most work. It’s worth it if you need a complete audit trail (for example, for accounting or a dispute), or if the rent amount varied month-to-month and you want each one on record.

What if I picked the wrong option?

The settlement can be redone, but it’s not a one-click operation — you’ll need to delete the historical charges Habitia posted (or the opening-balance charge) and re-trigger the prompt. If you realize you picked wrong, contact support and we’ll help clean it up.

What about lease created with today’s date?

The prompt only appears for leases with a past start date. If the start date is today or in the future, Habitia skips this step entirely — there’s no history to settle.

What’s next

• Sending a lease for signature — once the ledger is set up, get the tenant to sign.
• Understanding the ledger — see how charges, payments, and balances appear in the new lease.