Creditor payments

A creditor payment is money going out to a supplier. Most managing agents pay suppliers in batches once or twice a month. PropLink lets you build that batch, post the payments to the ledger and reconcile each line back against the bank statement.

Record a payment to a supplier

For one-off payments outside a batch:

1. Open the bill.
2. Click Pay.
3. Choose the bank account the payment will come from.
4. Enter the payment date and method (BACS, cheque, card, other).
5. Optionally enter a reference.
6. Confirm.

The payment posts:

Dr Creditor control       £X   (you owe the supplier £X less)
   Cr Bank account          £X   (money leaves the bank)

The bill moves to Paid status.

Pay multiple bills in one batch

For your usual payment run:

1. Open Financials → Payments → Pay supplier bills.
2. Filter the list to the bills you intend to pay (typically due within the next two weeks).
3. Tick the bills to include.
4. PropLink groups them by supplier and shows the total per supplier.
5. Choose the bank account.
6. Pick the payment date.
7. Click Schedule batch.

PropLink generates one creditor payment per supplier (not per bill), aggregating the bills into a single transfer. The bills are linked to the payment so the audit trail is complete.

Export the payment file

For BACS submissions, export the batch as a payment file:

1. Open the batch.
2. Click Export.
3. Choose the format your bank accepts: BACS18 standard, Faster Payments CSV or your own bank's bespoke format.
4. PropLink generates the file with each supplier's bank details and the agreed amount.

Upload the file to your bank and the BACS run is processed. PropLink waits to record the transactions on the bank reconciliation.

Reverse a creditor payment

If a payment was made in error, the supplier returned the money or the bank rejected the file:

1. Open the payment.
2. Click Reverse.
3. Enter a reason.
4. Confirm.

PropLink posts a compensating entry. The associated bills return to Approved status, ready to be paid again.

Cheque, BACS, card and Faster Payments

PropLink does not enforce a single payment method. Each payment records the method that was used so reports can break spend down accordingly. Common methods:

• BACS — the default for most managing agents in the UK. Three working days for funds to clear.
• Faster Payments — same-day or near-same-day, used for urgent payments.
• Cheque — still common for small suppliers and some statutory payments.
• Card — used directly via the suppliers' invoice portals where Direct Debit is not available.
• Direct Debit — used by suppliers like utility companies. Recorded as a payment method without you initiating the run.

Payment runs and approval

For higher-value batches, configure an approval chain so a second pair of eyes reviews the batch before submission:

1. Open Settings → Workflows → Approval chains → Add approval chain.
2. Apply it to creditor payment batches over your chosen threshold (for example £5,000).
3. Pick the approvers: a property manager and an operations director, for example.
4. Save.

See Approval chains.

Reconciling payments to the bank

Every payment creates a bank transaction line in PropLink that needs to match the corresponding line on the bank statement. Reconciliation flow:

1. Bank statement imports automatically (via GoCardless Open Banking) or you upload it as a CSV.
2. Open the reconcile screen.
3. PropLink matches identical-amount, similar-date pairs automatically.
4. You confirm or adjust matches as needed.

See Bank reconciliation.