How to

What to do when a property on your water system changes hands

A house sells. The seller's account has to be settled to the day they left, the buyer has to start getting the bills, and nobody should pay for the other's water. In BasicBMS the bill belongs to the service point, the connection at the property, so the connection keeps billing on its schedule and only the name on it changes. The question is when you change it, and whether the seller owes for part of a period.

Before you start

  • The move-out date and the new owner's name, mailing address and email.
  • The service point has a recurring billing schedule (see how to set one up, linked below).
  • On a Metered point, a final meter read taken on the move-out date.

Steps

  1. Add the new owner as a customer, with their delivery preference (email or paper) and, if they want it, a card for auto-charge. The card belongs to the customer, so the buyer's bills never charge the seller's card.

  2. On a Metered point, enter the final read, dated the move-out date, before you do anything else. Reads through the move-out date are what the seller's last bill charges for.

  3. Open Metering → Service Points and open the point.

  4. If the move-out falls inside a billing period, which it usually does: click Final bill in the Billing section. Set Move-out date:, pick the buyer in Then bill:, check the preview and click Create final bill. That bills the seller for their share of the period, prorated by days, and switches the point to the buyer in the same step. Full walkthrough: how to cut a final bill (linked below).

  5. If the move-out is the last day of a period, the day before a bill date: let that run bill the seller, then change Customer: to the buyer and click Save.

  6. Check Billing → Dashboard after the next run. Each bill shows the service point number (SP-xxxx) under the customer's name, so you can see the seller's last bill and the buyer's first one against the same connection.

Don't just change the name mid-period. A run bills whoever Customer: names on the run date, for the whole period. Change the name on November 15 without a final bill, and the buyer's January 1 bill covers all of October to December, including the six weeks the seller lived there. Step 4 is what splits the period.

What stays with the seller. Their earlier bills, and the final bill, stay on their aging until paid. Nothing moves to the buyer. Every bill carries the service point, so a year from now you can still see which property each one was for.

What posts behind it

Changing Customer: posts nothing. The seller's open balance stays in Accounts Receivable under the seller. The final bill in step 4 posts like any bill: Dr Accounts Receivable (seller), Cr the rate item's sales account, at the prorated amount. The worked entry is in the final-bill guide.

When it won’t let you

This point has no customer to bill. The final bill was asked for on a point whose Customer: is empty. Put the seller back on the point, cut the final bill, and pick the buyer in Then bill:.

Service point SP-1054 has no customer A run hit a point with no customer, so its Dashboard row is marked Failed and no bill went out. This happens when the old name is cleared before the new one is entered. Fill in Customer:; the next run bills normally.

What this doesn't do

It doesn't close the seller's customer record or move their balance. Collect it the usual way. It doesn't refund anything, because bills are for days already past. And if the seller paid ahead, that credit is theirs: apply or refund it on their account, not the buyer's.

Related

Stuck on this one? Call (509) 955-0770 and we'll walk through it with you.

BasicBMS

Business software as unique as your business.