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Habitia Help

Paying rent (tenant view)

This article describes the tenant experience. Use it to help a tenant who’s asking “how do I pay?” or to understand what they’re seeing on their end.

Note: Tenants can only pay online if you’ve completed Connecting Stripe and the account status shows Active. Until then, the portal tells them to contact you for payment instructions.

1. The tenant opens the Payments tab

After signing in, the tenant clicks Payments in the portal nav. They see:

  • The current balance due (front and center).
  • A Pay rent button.
  • A ledger of their charges and past payments.

Screenshot: tenant Payments tab with balance and Pay rent button

2. They click Pay rent

A modal opens with the rent amount pre-filled and two method options:

  • Bank transfer (ACH) — labeled “cheaper” because the fee is small.
  • Credit / debit card — works instantly but has a bigger fee.

The modal shows a fee breakdown so the tenant can see exactly what they’re paying:

  • Rent — the underlying rent amount.
  • Processing fee — only shown if the fee policy is set to “tenant pays” for the chosen method. If you absorb the fee, the tenant only sees the rent.
  • Total — what hits their card or bank account.

Tip: A common tenant question: “Why is the total $1,030 when my rent is $1,000?” → that’s because you set the card fee policy to “tenant pays.” The $30 is Stripe’s processing fee, not money you receive. If they switch to ACH, the total drops to ~$1,006 (or just $1,000 if you absorb ACH).

3. They confirm and pay

Clicking Pay redirects to a Stripe-hosted checkout page. The tenant enters their card or bank details there.

  • Card payments complete instantly.
  • ACH payments take 3–5 business days to clear with the bank.

Stripe handles all the security and PCI compliance. Habitia never sees raw card or bank numbers.

4. After the payment

The tenant gets:

  • A confirmation page on Stripe with a “Payment received” message.
  • An automatic email receipt from receipts@stripe.com showing the rent amount, fee, date, and your business name.
  • The portal Payments tab updates to show the new payment in the ledger, with a “Paid” badge on the matching month.

On your side, the matching payment appears in the lease’s ledger automatically. You don’t have to record it manually.

What about ATH Móvil or Zelle?

Tenants in Puerto Rico often prefer ATH Móvil. If your account supports it, an ATH Móvil button appears on the payment modal — the tenant taps it, the ATH Móvil app opens, they confirm in the app, and the payment lands the same way.

For Zelle and other off-platform methods, the tenant pays you outside Habitia (your bank, your Zelle account) and you record the payment manually.

Past receipts

The Payments tab shows a full history. Each payment row has a View receipt link for online payments. Tenants can download a PDF receipt for any historical online payment — they don’t have to ask you.

For off-network payments where you attached proof, tenants see a View attachment link instead.

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