Two weeks before every quarter day
The March, June, September and December quarter days arrive with the same routine. Someone exports the rent roll, checks which rents changed at review, adds the service charge on account from the budget spreadsheet, adds the insurance recharge from another sheet, works out VAT for the buildings that are opted, and produces a demand for every tenant. Then someone else checks them, finds the rent-free period on unit 7 was not applied, and the batch goes out late.
Some tenants pay monthly by agreement. One pays in advance for the year. A few have stepped rents. Each exception lives in a note or someone's memory.
Why the run is manual
A demand looks simple, but it is the product of several moving parts that sit in different places.
| Part of the demand | Where it usually comes from |
|---|---|
| Rent | Rent roll, updated after reviews if someone remembered |
| Service charge on account | Budget spreadsheet, apportioned per tenant |
| Insurance recharge | Broker schedule and a separate apportionment |
| VAT | Depends on the building's position, recorded somewhere |
| Rent-free and stepped rents | Notes from the lease and side letters |
| Payment frequency | Agreements with individual tenants |
Each part is fine on its own. The work is in joining them up correctly every quarter.
The cost of a slow demand run
Demands go out late, so rent arrives late. Errors lead to credit notes, re-issued demands and tenant queries. Staff spend days of every quarter on assembly instead of credit control. And because nobody fully trusts the run, someone rechecks every demand by hand.
Tenants notice as well. A finance director at a tenant company who receives a demand with last year's rent, then a corrected one a week later, starts checking every line you send. Their accounts payable team puts your invoices on hold while they query them. The next quarter they query again, out of habit, and the delay becomes part of how that tenant pays you.
The demand run we automate
- Every recurring charge per lease is held in one place: rent, service charge on account, insurance, other recharges, payment frequency, VAT treatment as recorded by your accountant.
- Scheduled changes are held with dates, so reviews, rent-free periods, stepped rents and budget changes apply automatically in the right quarter.
- Ahead of the quarter day, the run produces draft demands in your template and a summary showing every change from last quarter.
- A person reviews the changes, not every demand. Anything unusual, such as a new tenant or a rent that fell, is highlighted.
- Approved demands are sent by email, posted to Xero, Sage or your property management system, and logged against the tenant.
- Tenants on monthly or annual arrangements get their own schedule from the same data.
VAT treatment and the terms of each charge come from your accountant and your leases. The run applies what you have recorded; it does not decide.
What quarter day looks like now
The draft run is ready days ahead. The review is a list of changes, not a stack of demands. Demands go out on time, match the lease, and reach accounts at the same moment. Credit control starts on the quarter day rather than a fortnight after.
Quick check: does this sound familiar?
- Preparing demands takes days every quarter.
- Rent changes after review are missed on the next demand.
- Rent-free periods or stepped rents are applied by hand.
- Service charge and insurance come from separate spreadsheets.
- Every demand is rechecked because nobody trusts the run.