Paying Owners Directly

How a management company can have each owner’s share of the rent paid straight to the owner in the same payment, with the agreed management fee kept by the company.

Usually a management company collects the whole rent and pays its owners later. With direct payment, each rent payment is split when the tenant pays: the owner’s share goes straight to the owner’s own payout account, and the management company receives its management fee. It works the same on the website, on iPhone and on Android.

How the payment is split

The owner receives their ownership share of the rent, less the management fee they agreed to for that property.
The management company receives the rest. Seayora’s processing fee comes out of the management company’s part, never the owner’s share.
A card surcharge or a roommate fee is never part of the owner’s share.
If a building has several owners, each one who is set up receives their own share. An owner who is not set up is paid by the management company as before.

Turning it on

The management company sets the management fee for the owner, or for each property, under Owners, and turns on Direct payment in the owner’s drawer (on a phone, the Direct payment action on the owner).
The owner is emailed. In their portal, under Settings → Direct payment (on a phone, Tools → Direct payment), they read the fee for each property and accept it in the words shown.
The owner finishes their own payout account application. It is checked by Seayora’s payment processor exactly like a landlord’s.
From then on, each rent payment for that owner’s properties is split when it is made.

Refunds, returns and disputes

A refund, a payment returned by the bank and a payment the tenant disputes are all taken back the same way: the same proportion from each share, including the owner’s. Seayora’s payment processor takes the owner’s part from the owner’s own payout account and the management company’s part from the management company’s, and each owner is emailed when it happens. The management company answers the dispute; if it is decided in its favor, each share is paid back the same way.

Direct payment starts only once the payment processor is set to take a return or a chargeback back from each account in proportion. Until then the whole rent goes to the management company and it pays the owner as before; the owner’s Direct payment screen says so. If the payment processor ever declines to split a payment, the whole payment goes to the management company, exactly as if direct payment were off, and the event is shown in the owner’s drawer.

Changing or stopping it

Changing a fee stops direct payment for that property until the owner accepts the new fee. Either side can stop direct payment at any time; the management company then receives the whole rent again. Each share paid directly appears on the owner’s statement as a distribution, so the owner’s balance is never counted twice.

Frequently asked questions

Who pays Seayora’s fee on the rent?

The management company. It is taken from the management company’s part of each payment.

Who sets the management fee?

The owner and the management company agree it between them. Seayora applies the fee the owner accepted and nothing else.

Does the owner need a Seayora account?

Yes — the owner’s portal account, where they accept the fee and set up the payout account their share is paid to.

Who pays when a tenant disputes a split rent payment?

Everyone in proportion to their share of that payment. The owner’s part is taken from the owner’s payout account and the management company’s part from its account; if the dispute is won, each part is paid back.

Related guides

Related features and guides

Owner Requests & Approvals — Documentation. How a property owner asks their management company for something, how the manager answers, resolves or closes it, and how a manager asks an owner to approve spending.
Managing Properties & Units — Documentation. How to organize a portfolio of properties and units, assign them, and keep records clean across a management company.
Trust Accounting for Management Companies — Documentation. Keep owners’ money and residents’ deposits apart from your company’s: a balance held for each owner, a block on paying an owner more than is held, a three-way reconciliation signed off by a second person, and a record of every uncashed check on its way to the state.
Split Rent with Roommates — Feature. Roommates each pay their portion of rent directly from their own bank account or card. The landlord sees one compiled total — nobody has to front the whole month.
Invoicing, Estimates & Statements — Feature. Create invoices and estimates, send customer statements, and collect payment through the same rails as rent — with everything posting to the ledger automatically.
Do Property Managers Need a Real Estate License in New York? — Guide. New York counts collecting rent for someone else for a fee as broker work, so third-party property managers generally need a real estate broker license.