Commercial rent: bill tenants for rent, VAT and utilities, and see who is late
Retail on the ground floor, a small office building, commercial units inside a residential complex, a block of parking and storage: someone has to send each tenant a correct invoice and know who has not paid.
Unitify does that today. It is not yet a lease-management system, and this page says where the line is: what works now, and what we build around your project.
Short answer
Yes, Unitify can bill commercial tenants: a rent charge every month or once, VAT on invoices, rates by type of premises or per square meter, recharge of sub-metered utilities, and late fees and arrears. It is not a lease-management system. A lease record with term and indexation, security deposits, annual service-charge reconciliation, a rent roll with vacancy, lease reminders and a change of tenant that keeps the unit owner on the account are built for your project.
What this is called where you are
Commercial rent is described differently in every market, but the work is the same: a correct invoice for each tenant, on time, and a clear view of arrears.
- United States
- commercial tenant billing, tenant invoicing, utility submetering and recharge
- United Kingdom, Europe and the Gulf
- rent and service charge, commercial tenant, sub-metered utilities
- CIS, Caucasus and Central Asia
- аренда коммерческих помещений, арендатор, коммунальные платежи арендатора
What works today
Everything in this list is in the product now, not on a roadmap.
The tenant as the payer
An account lists the people on a unit with their role, owner or tenant, and the invoice goes to the account’s main payer, who can be the tenant.
A rent charge on a unit
Add a rent charge to a unit: every month from a start date, with or without an end date, or once for a chosen month. It appears on the invoice with the other charges.
VAT on every invoice line
VAT is set on the service or the tariff, with the rate and whether the price includes it. Invoices show the VAT on each line and the total. The VAT rules for your lease are for your accountant; Unitify applies the rate you set.
Rates by type of premises and per square meter
Shops, offices, storage and parking each get their own tariff, per square meter, per unit, or both.
How billing worksUtilities recharged from sub-meters
A tenant’s meter sits under the building meter. The tenant is billed for what its own meter shows, and the building shares the remainder.
Late fees and arrears
Switch on late fees per building and see who is overdue, tenant by tenant, with an export to Excel.
Payments matched to the account and the period
Payments are recorded on the account and applied to the period they pay, so the balance shows what is still owed, month by month.
Built for your project
These are not ready-made modules. We set them up around your project and agree the scope on a demo. None of them is presented as running at a client.
A lease record
A lease as a record in the system: the tenant, the unit, start and end dates, break options, renewals and the signed documents.
Escalation and indexation
Rent that steps up on a date or follows an index, applied to the rent charge automatically. Today the rent charge is a fixed amount that you edit yourself.
Security deposits
Receive, hold, set off against arrears and return a deposit, with a record on the tenant’s account.
Annual service-charge reconciliation
Compare the estimated service charge billed during the year with the actual costs, and issue the balancing invoice or credit.
Rent roll and vacancy report
A report for the owner: every unit with its tenant, rent, arrears and lease end, plus the vacant units and the vacancy rate.
Lease reminders
Alerts before a lease ends, a rent review or a break date, for your team and, if you want, for the tenant.
A change of tenant without losing the owner
Today a change of payer runs through the same handover as a sale: the account number stays, the outgoing balance is settled and the new payer starts from zero. Keeping the unit owner on the account through a tenant change is set up for your project.
Not the focus today
Unitify is not built for standalone office towers, shopping centers or industrial parks that need full lease administration from the first day. If that is your property, tell us: we discuss it as a project, and we say honestly whether it makes sense before you commit to anything.
A demo site of your residential complex in 1 hour
Tell us about your property: how many commercial units, who pays the utilities, how rent is set today. We show tenant billing on a demo building and agree which lease features are built for your project.
Send us your company website and your country. We build a demo site of your complex on unitify.homes with your logo and colors, your buildings and the pages residents see, and send you the link within 1 hour on working days.
- Free, no card and no obligation
- Your logo, colors and complexes, taken from your website
- If your website blocks automated access, we assemble the demo by hand and tell you how long it takes
Already know what you need? Skip the demo site and book a 30-minute call.
Book a 30-minute callCommercial rent: questions
Can Unitify bill commercial tenants?
Yes. The tenant can be the account’s main payer, and you can add a monthly or one-time rent charge, VAT, utilities from sub-meters, late fees and a rate by type of premises or per square meter. Lease administration, such as indexation and deposits, is built for your project.
Does Unitify handle VAT on rent?
On invoices, yes. VAT is set on the service or the tariff, with the rate and whether the price includes it, and every invoice line shows its VAT. Which VAT rules apply to your lease is a question for your accountant; Unitify applies the rate you set.
Is Unitify a lease management system?
No, not yet. It bills tenants and tracks arrears today. A lease record with term and indexation, security deposits, annual service-charge reconciliation, a rent roll with vacancy and lease reminders are built for your project.
Can the rent go up automatically every year?
Not as a ready-made function. Today the rent charge is a fixed amount that you edit yourself. Escalation by date or by index is built for your project.
Can we recharge electricity and water to shop tenants?
Yes, with sub-meters. A tenant’s meter sits under the building meter, the tenant is billed for its own consumption, and the rest of the building shares the remainder.
What happens when a tenant leaves in the middle of a month?
The account stays, the outgoing balance is settled and the new tenant starts from zero, each with a part-month invoice. Today this runs as the same handover as a sale, so the new tenant becomes the account’s main payer; keeping the unit owner on the account, and VAT on the two part-month invoices, are built for your project.
Do you manage security deposits and the annual service-charge reconciliation?
Not as ready-made functions. Both are built for your project: a deposit with its record, and a year-end comparison of estimated and actual service charge with a balancing invoice or credit.
Is Unitify suitable for an office tower or a shopping center?
Not as the focus today. If you need full lease administration from the first day, tell us and we will discuss it as a project. We say honestly whether it makes sense before you commit to anything.