Property Management with Yardi Commercial is a powerful way for operators to standardize tenant billing, speed up rent collection, and reduce receivables risk across office, retail, industrial, and mixed-use portfolios. The key is building a repeatable workflow that starts with clean lease charge setup, posts bills consistently, routes payments correctly, and gives your team clear visibility into delinquencies and exceptions.
When those pieces work together, your staff spends less time chasing errors and more time protecting cash flow and tenant relationships.
This guide breaks down a practical tenant billing and receivables process you can apply across properties, plus the common configuration choices that make the workflow reliable month after month.
Build the Foundation with Lease Charge Setup and Clean Codes
Most billing issues start upstream. If lease charges are inconsistent, every downstream step becomes a cleanup exercise.
Focus on These Setup Standards:
- Lease abstraction discipline: Validate base rent, bill frequency, escalation rules, charge start and end dates, and any caps or special language tied to billing.
- Charge codes that align to accounting: Charge codes categorize charges for reporting and map them to the correct GL accounts. Every charge in Voyager must be associated with a charge code, so consistency is non-negotiable.
- Separate recurring rent from recoveries: Keep base rent, CAM, tax, insurance, utilities, percentage rent, and miscellaneous income clearly segmented to simplify aging, reporting, and CAM reconciliation.
A simple governance rule helps: limit who can create or edit charge codes and require documented naming conventions.
Monthly Billing Process in Yardi Commercial
Commercial billing differs from residential posting. In Voyager, the Monthly Posting function used for residential properties does not post charges for commercial tenants. For commercial properties, use the Commercial Billing function to create and post monthly charges to the tenant ledger.
Step 1: Pre-Bill Review and Exception Checks
Before posting, scan for predictable billing failures:
- Leases missing a base rent charge or effective dates
- Charges with end dates that should extend through the current period
- Newly acquired properties not mapped to your posting calendar
- New tenants requiring prorated billing
If billing annual amounts monthly, confirm the lease charge is configured correctly to bill one-twelfth each month.
Step 2: Run Commercial Billing and Validate Output
After running Commercial Billing, review reports to confirm:
- Record counts align with active billable tenants
- Totals match expected rent roll movements
- Exceptions are understood and corrected before re-running
Best practice is to fix exceptions and re-run billing rather than posting partial results.
Step 3: Post Charges and Spot Check the Tenant Ledger
After posting, review a sample of:
- New leases
- Recently amended leases
- Percentage rent agreements
- Tenants with prior delinquencies
This ensures systemic issues are caught before statements are distributed.
Recurring Charges When There Is No True Lease
Commercial workflows may require billing entities not tied to a traditional unit lease structure.
An approach sometimes used involves creating a structured placeholder lease, assigning a rent charge, and processing it through Commercial Billing. Standardize this method carefully to maintain consistent reporting and avoid fragmented data structures.
Receivables Workflow: From Invoice Delivery to Collections
Billing is only half the process. Strong receivables performance depends on invoice delivery, payment acceptance, cash application, and delinquency management.
Invoice Delivery and Tenant Communication
- Send statements on a consistent portfolio-wide schedule
- Use standardized billing narratives and dispute instructions
- Document remittance procedures and required references
Payment Acceptance and Faster Cash Application
Online payment options can reduce delays and posting errors. Digital payment workflows allow tenants to select open charges and reduce misapplied cash.
Best Practices:
- Require invoice references where possible
- Review unapplied cash weekly
- Define rules for short payments and deductions
Aging Management and Collections Cadence
A structured cadence improves performance:
- Day 1–5: Friendly reminder and confirm invoice delivery
- Day 6–15: Second notice and dispute documentation review
- Day 16–30: Escalation and late fee evaluation
- Day 31+: Formal collections per lease terms
Ensure your team can clearly identify what is past due, why, and the next action owner.
Common Billing and Receivables Problems (and Fixes)
Charges Missing or Duplicated
Causes:
- Incorrect lease charge dates
- Amendments entered without ending old charges
- Billing across multiple cycles
Fix: Correct lease setup and re-run billing rather than entering manual adjustments.
Cash Applied Incorrectly or Held as Unapplied
Causes:
- Incomplete remittance details
- Multiple similar open charges
- Inconsistent partial payment rules
Fix: Implement weekly unapplied cash review and standardized remittance references.
Reporting Mismatches
Causes:
- Inconsistent charge code to GL mapping
- One-off charge codes
- Misaligned posting periods
Fix: Audit charge code mappings regularly and control charge code creation permissions.
Operational Controls That Keep the Workflow Stable
- Monthly billing checklist with defined ownership
- Standardized reporting library
- Documented help desk path for billing issues
Conclusion
Property Management with Yardi Commercial becomes far more predictable when you standardize lease charge setup, run Commercial Billing with disciplined exception handling, and align billing with a structured receivables cadence.
With the right controls in place, teams reduce rework, improve cash visibility, and maintain stronger tenant relationships across commercial portfolios.
