Billing, invoicing & assessments

Question 1

How do HOAs and communities levy and collect a special assessment?

Accepted Answer

A special assessment is a one-time charge spread across every owner to fund something reserves don't cover — a roof, repaving, storm damage. Get the authorization right first: your CC&Rs, bylaws, and state law set the voting threshold and any cap (California, for example, limits a board-only assessment to 5% of the annual budgeted expenses under Civil Code §5605), so review the governing documents with counsel before you levy. For a large project, collect at least three licensed contractor bids so the number you assess is a real cost, not a guess. Then it becomes a billing problem: send every owner formal written notice stating their amount, the due date (or installment schedule), how to pay, and the consequences of nonpayment — unpaid assessments usually carry the same lien rights as regular dues. Collabrio handles that receivables side: issue each owner a branded, print-ready invoice for their share, file the PDF in the community's folder, and book each one as a true receivable so you can see at a glance who has paid and who hasn't. Record payments as they arrive — in full, or partial for an installment plan — and the entries flow to your books and QuickBooks. (Collabrio bills and tracks the assessment; the vote, notice, and any lien still run through your governing documents and attorney.)

Question 2

How do I invoice for a one-time charge — a corporate or short-term stay, a cleaning fee, or tenant damage?

Accepted Answer

Plenty of money owed to you isn't recurring rent: a company paying for an employee's corporate stay, a short-term guest's checkout charges, a cleaning or turnover fee, a tenant-damage billback beyond the deposit, or a one-off pet/parking/storage fee. For those, send a real invoice rather than a text asking for money. A professional invoice carries your business name and address, the customer's details, an invoice number and date, itemized line items with quantities and prices, a due date, and how to pay — and, just as importantly, it should post to your books as a receivable so your ledger reflects money owed, not just cash once it lands. Collabrio turns that into a few clicks: fill out a branded invoice (your logo, line items, the customer), and it renders a print-ready PDF, files it under the right property, unit, or organization, and posts the dual entry — debit Accounts Receivable, credit the income account you choose. When payment comes in you record it (debit cash, credit A/R); if the amount differs — a negotiated discount, a write-off, an overpayment — you adjust it with a reason that stays on the entry. Everything reconciles into the same general ledger as your rent and expenses and syncs to QuickBooks, so a one-time charge is as clean in your books as a monthly rent payment.

How do HOAs and communities levy and collect a special assessment?

How do I invoice for a one-time charge — a corporate or short-term stay, a cleaning fee, or tenant damage?

Less guesswork, one system of record