The term "lockout" refers to a past-due tenant who is not allowed access to their unit until their outstanding balance is paid in full and the account removed from lockout status. Lockouts can be applied automatically by the Late/Lien Settings, or Manually, by the manager from the Tenant's Profile under the "Gate Access" tab from the top of their profile.
Automatic Lockout
The system can change a customer's status for you automatically if you setup a Lockout Rule under Setup > Late/Lien. (See also Late/Lien Overview for More Information)
Click Add Rule under the lockout section of the Late/Lien rules.
Indicate the number of days past the customer's due date you wish the customer to be locked out of his/her unit. Also select any notifications you wish sent to the customer (if the check marks are left blank, no notifications will be sent). and add a fee* if desired. Then click Create Rule.
*If a fee is added to the lockout rule, this fee will only be charged when a unit goes into lockout status, meaning it will not repeat each late month, it will only apply once, when the lockout status is updated, until the account has been paid in full. If you want a monthly fee on late balances for each month late it must be added to a late rule, not a lockout rule.
Going forward, customers who are past due will automatically show a "locked out" status on the site map and on his/her account in the "rental" section of their profile. .
If you have it enabled in the notifications settings of your software, you will be notified any time a lockout is added or removed. The system will send an email to the notifications email the following morning notifying the facility of the changes to the lockout report.
Manual Lockout
If you choose not to create a rule (see above), you will need to manually lock out a customer by going to the customer's page and clicking on Gate Access tab at the top of their profile. This option should be used even if you don't have a gate integrated, as it changes the status of the customer account, and allows you to associate the lockout with a specific unit.
If the facility needs to be emailed when someone is removed from Lockout status (such as when they need to remove physical overlock devices) and the facility is not using the Lockout Rule feature, this is where the account has to be locked out in order for the software to generate the Lockout removal email.
Click Lock Out.
Click Save.
The customer's status will now change. This status can be removed manually (following similar steps), or it will go away automatically when the customer pays the ENTIRE balance on his/her account (The system needs a $0.00 balance after a payment is made to automatically remove a lockout).
Lockout Approval
There is a way to require approval for changes to the Lock Out Report. This setting can be found under Setup > Settings > Lockout Approval. This setting DOES NOT stop a lock out from happening, It only stops the REPORTS from changing without the owner being aware of the changes. This setting is helpful if you have physical overlocks that you place on unit doors. The approval of the lockout removal can act as a reminder to prompt management to remove the overlock device when a balance is paid in full.
