An issue has been found when doing a database backup using windows Vista in safe mode.

If you try to do a database backup to a location which Windows Vista considers to be an unsafe location, and there is already a previous backup file there, the backup would fail without giving any errors.  Because there was no error reported, it would appear as if the backup had worked successfully.  The problem appears to be Windows Vista not allowing the program to overwrite that previous backed up file.  An example of an unsafe location could be the c:\ location.  Windows Vista does not like people writing files to that location.

In the next version of RentMaster, we will see if another backup file exists in the location before backing up there.  We will then try to delete that file.  If the location is an unsafe location, the attempted delete will fail, and we will report an error to you asking you to backup somewhere else.

If you backup to an external flash drive etc, windows Vista will probably deem that to be a safe location, and your backups will be fine.  A good way to check this is to do a backup, and then take a look at the date and time of the backup file and check it is the current date and time.  If it is, then that is a fresh backup and should be fine.

Another option is to always run RentMaster as an administrator.  To do this right-click the RentMaster icon you use to start the program and choose Properties, and under the Compatibility tab choose the 'Run this program as an administrator' option.

Windows XP and previous versions of Windows does not have this problem.

A rent credit is something people have asked for, and so it is now available, althought it has always been available, well sort of.

In 8.2 you can now create a negative extra charge.  This is equivilent to a rent credit.  In previous versions you could have manually editted the rent periods to reduce the rent owing, and that is still available.  However a negative extra charge has the advantage of showing up on the tenants statement, so the tenant can see why the total balance owing has been reduced.  It also creates a better audit trail as it also shows up on the NZ T41 Rent Summary and Tenant History reports.

You can not pay off a negative extra charge, although it can be used to offset another positive extra charge for the same rent period.  If the total extra charge for a period is negative, the paid amount will always be zero for that same rent period.

When you use the property inspections facility, you can print a letter which is sent to the tenant to tell them when their next inspection will be taking place.  This works very similar to receipt printing, in that it uses the mail merge facility to generate the printed document.

When printing either a receipt or inspection letter, you get a prompt asking where you want to send the document i.e to printer or email.  You also have the option to tell the system to not prompt again, and to always use the current settings in future.  However with the receipt, you can turn the prompting back on again if you want to change the default settings, but inspection printing did not have that facility.  So in version 8.2 you can now go to the mail merge facility, then go to the file menu and choose Inspection Letter Printing to change the default settings or to get it prompting again during each print.

The cashbook screen has a print button.  The report printed by that button now has a total for both the income and expense columns.

Note that if you use the filter button first, this report only prints the filtered transaction, and the totals will also be affected.  The totals are not a closing bank account balance, but a sum of the printed values.

Another suggestion for people who are using RentRecall.com.  This one is a bit more complex for those people who know about web site addresses.

If you are providing a URL address for your clients to log in, either landlords or tenants, you can make their logging in easier by providing your company name as part of the URL.

For example, suppose your company name used by RentRecall.com is MyCompany, then when you create a URL, you can set your login URL to be https://landlord.rentrecall.com?co=MyCompany.  For tenant logins the URl would be https://tenant.rentrecall.com?co=MyCompany.

By providing the company name, your clients wont have to type it into the login page.  They only have to type in their login name and password.  One less thing for them to type wrong or forget.

Another free custom report is available called the Owner Profit and Loss report. 

This report is similar to the inbuilt owner profit and loss report, except it prints each property as a separate report. This could be useful if you want to send a copy of the report to your property owners at the end of the year. Because it is built for the owner, management fees are shown as an expense.

This report can be downloaded started at the following link.

Another free custom report is available called the Rent Summary Date Range report.

This report is similar in format to the NZ T41 Rent Summary report. This report allows a user defined date range to be selected. Only rent periods which fall within that date range selection will be included. The report also has a box available for a custom note to be added to the bottom of the report.

This report can be downloaded started at the following link.

http://www.rentmaster.co.nz/CustomReports/ReportList.aspx

Here is a few suggestions for those people who are using the RentRecall.com web site.

The Mail Merge facility has got a sample template for both tenants and owners called the RentRecall Login letter.  These letters are a starting point which you can add on to for creating a letter inviting your owners and tenants to log into the RentRecall.com web site.  All you need to do is type in your company login name which you get when you subscribe to the web site, and maybe add a logo or other information to flesh it out.  That letter than then either be printed or emailed to your tenants and owners.

You can also use another recently added feature which allows you to print a note on the tenant or owner statement reports.  To use this feature go to the General menu group and choose Reminders/Notes and add a new note.  The note could say something like 'Remember you can log in to owner.rentrecall.com at any time to view your details....'.  Mark the note as 'Print on tenant statement' or Print on owner statement'.  This means that when you print your statements, that note will also be included.

The more your tenants and owners log in, the more informed they will be, and the less they will need to contact you as the property manager.

The Years Depreciation report has a small bug in it.  If a fitting has been sold in a previous year, the item is excluded from the body of the report, but the item is still included in the report totals for total opening and total closing book values.  This has been fixed.

Also another small change - the Rental Calendar screen and menu has been renamed the Booking Calendar screen.  That name is a better description of what it does.

When purchasing RentMaster you can now choose to use the Euro currency.  This is in addition to United States dollars, New Zealand dollars and Australian dollars which were already available. 

Note - the price in USD, NZD and AUD has not changed as a result of adding the Euro currency.

A new minor update is available.  This fixes a few issues with version 8.1.0.  You can download this by going to the help menu and choose Download RentMaster Update.

In this update

- When using the rental calendar, the ability to take booking payment and then print a receipt was not available.  This is fixed.

- For people who use the rent income group to pay for both rent and extra charges, the method of calculating rent arrears has changed.  Go to the maintenance menu and choose Extra Charge Income Groups for more information.

- The 'paid to date' shown in mail merge was incorrect.  It is now the same as the main RentMaster rent status screen 'Paid to date' calculation

- On the property details screen, the "Apartment Building' combo box is now sorted.

Also for those who dont already know, some of the custom reports are now available free online.  For more information go to http://www.rentmaster.co.nz/CustomReports/ReportList.aspx