Owner distributions in Buildium: the correct workflow and what breaks trust compliance
Owner distributions in Buildium: the correct workflow and what breaks trust compliance
Buildium processes owner distributions through Shortcuts in the main navigation, then Owner Draw. You can pay by EFT or by check. Before running distributions, review the adjusted cash balance for each account you're distributing from. This is the step most people skip, and skipping it is how trust account shortfalls happen.
The adjusted cash balance is the amount actually available to distribute. It accounts for outstanding checks that haven't cleared yet and deposits that are recorded in Buildium but not yet settled at the bank. Distributing based on the bank balance or the Buildium register balance without adjusting for these items means you may be distributing money that isn't actually liquid yet. If any of those outstanding items bounce or reverse, the trust account is short.
Buildium supports a global management fee policy with property-level overrides. Fees need to be collected and removed from the trust account on whatever schedule your state requires before distributions run. The same commingling principle applies here as in any PM platform: earned fees sitting in the trust account past the state-required window are commingling. Buildium doesn't enforce this timing. It's a manual process discipline.
Owner statements can be sent directly from the owner portal in Buildium, and automated payment emails go out when a distribution is processed. The automated email is useful but it's not a substitute for reviewing the distribution before it runs. An automated process that sends money to the wrong owner, or sends an incorrect amount, generates an immediate owner complaint and a correction workflow that takes longer than doing it right the first time.
For security deposits, Buildium keeps escrow in a separate account by default. The Security Deposit Liability report shows the total of all deposits held and can be reconciled against the escrow bank account balance monthly. If these two numbers don't match, stop distributions until you find out why. Distributing from an escrow account with a mismatch is a serious compliance issue in most states.
Owner distributions in Buildium: the correct workflow and what breaks trust compliance
Buildium processes owner distributions through Shortcuts in the main navigation, then Owner Draw. You can pay by EFT or by check. Before running distributions, review the adjusted cash balance for each account you're distributing from. This is the step most people skip, and skipping it is how trust account shortfalls happen.
The adjusted cash balance is the amount actually available to distribute. It accounts for outstanding checks that haven't cleared yet and deposits that are recorded in Buildium but not yet settled at the bank. Distributing based on the bank balance or the Buildium register balance without adjusting for these items means you may be distributing money that isn't actually liquid yet. If any of those outstanding items bounce or reverse, the trust account is short.
Buildium supports a global management fee policy with property-level overrides. Fees need to be collected and removed from the trust account on whatever schedule your state requires before distributions run. The same commingling principle applies here as in any PM platform: earned fees sitting in the trust account past the state-required window are commingling. Buildium doesn't enforce this timing. It's a manual process discipline.
Owner statements can be sent directly from the owner portal in Buildium, and automated payment emails go out when a distribution is processed. The automated email is useful but it's not a substitute for reviewing the distribution before it runs. An automated process that sends money to the wrong owner, or sends an incorrect amount, generates an immediate owner complaint and a correction workflow that takes longer than doing it right the first time.
For security deposits, Buildium keeps escrow in a separate account by default. The Security Deposit Liability report shows the total of all deposits held and can be reconciled against the escrow bank account balance monthly. If these two numbers don't match, stop distributions until you find out why. Distributing from an escrow account with a mismatch is a serious compliance issue in most states.
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