1–20 unit landlords
NSF & returned payment fees on DIY landlord software — ACH bounce, bank fee vs landlord fee
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For a 1–20 unit landlord, a bounced ACH is three different fees that people blur together: the tenant’s bank NSF/overdraft fee (their bank, not your app), the processor return / chargeback fee the payment platform may add to reopen the rent charge, and any landlord NSF fee written in the lease that you post as a separate charge. The three DIY tools split hard here. RentRedi auto-updates the failed charge and includes a published $2.50 return fee ($1.50 + $1 ACH). TurboTenant does not auto-retry and does not auto-add a landlord NSF fee — but it has a dedicated NSF Fee charge category so you can post one yourself; bank NSF fees stay with the tenant’s bank. Avail’s Terms say tenants owe an NSF fee before a new ACH, and a 2022 staff community post put that at $15 on the next Avail payment — the public pricing page does not currently list the dollar amount, and the help article “When a payment fails” renders as a JS shell. Get the lease language right before the first bounce.
What this page is (and is not)
- Is: a side-by-side of ACH returns, processor return fees, landlord-posted NSF charges, clawbacks/deposit reversals, and bounce workflows on RentRedi, TurboTenant, and Avail — plus a worked SFH example and a checklist.
- Is not: advice on whether a landlord NSF fee is legal in your state, how high it may be, or whether it stacks with a late fee. Those are lease and statute questions — ask counsel.
- Sequel note: This is the bounce/NSF follow-on to tenant payment fees and late fees & autopay. Pair with bank reconciliation, partials & credits, and eviction & collections handoff.
- Uncertainty rule: Avail’s dollar NSF amount is documented in Terms (NSF fee owed) and a 2022 community-manager post ($15), not on the current pricing page; confirm in your tenant receipt / support. RentRedi’s auto $2.50 is a processor return fee on the reopened charge — separate from any lease NSF fee you add via Other Charge.
Definitions (read this first)
- ACH return / returned payment: The bank rejects (or later reverses) an ACH debit — RentRedi calls this the digital equivalent of a bounced check. Common reasons: insufficient funds (NSF), bad account/routing, stop payment, unauthorized.
- Bank NSF / overdraft fee: What the tenant’s bank charges the tenant for insufficient funds. TurboTenant’s help is explicit: that fee is assessed by the bank, not by TurboTenant or Stripe.
- Processor return / chargeback fee: What the payment platform may add when reopening a failed ACH (e.g., RentRedi’s published $1.50 + $1 = $2.50). This is not the same as your lease NSF fee.
- Landlord NSF fee: A contractual fee in the lease for returned payments. Software rarely invents this — TurboTenant gives you an NSF Fee category; RentRedi/Avail typically need Other / Request a Payment (and Avail may already collect its own platform NSF).
- Clawback / deposit reversal: Funds already deposited (or about to be) are pulled back because the ACH failed after faster funding. Different from a failed payout (tenant paid fine; landlord bank rejected the deposit).
- Auto-retry: Whether the platform retries a failed ACH without the tenant clicking again. TurboTenant: no auto-retry — tenant must submit a new payment.
Feature snapshot (verify on vendor pages)
| Capability | RentRedi | TurboTenant | Avail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto reopen balance after ACH return | Yes (usual case). Email subject “ACH Return”; charge updated so tenant can repay. Rare cases need manual reverse payment + fee | Balance stays due when payment fails; tenant must manually Make Payment / Recharge. No auto-retry (including failed Autopay) | Terms: Manager + Tenant notified of rejection and NSF fee within 1 business day of Avail’s notice; tenant must initiate a new payment (or pay another way). Help “When a payment fails” is a JS shell — confirm UI in-account |
| Platform return / NSF fee on bounce | $2.50 published ($1.50 return + $1 ACH). Auto-included on the updated charge in normal cases; manual path also uses +$2.50 | No published auto landlord/platform NSF on bounce. Help: bank NSF fees are the tenant’s bank’s, not TT/Stripe | Terms require tenant to pay Avail’s NSF fee before a new ACH. Community staff post (May 2022): $15 added to next Avail payment. Pricing page (fetched Oct 2026) lists ACH/card fees but not the NSF dollar amount — re-verify |
| Landlord lease NSF fee (your charge) | No dedicated NSF category in Create Charge help — use Other Charge (one occurrence) with a clear description if the lease allows | Dedicated NSF Fee / NSF category on Create Charge — always one-time (not monthly). Enter your lease amount | No dedicated NSF charge type in education/pricing surface we could verify — use Request a Payment / payment-list Other (or lease insufficient-funds clause). Don’t confuse with Avail’s own platform NSF |
| Clawback if funds already deposited | Documented: deduct from next deposit, partial withdraw, or full withdraw from deposit account; “Withdrawal Initiated” email. Return reason on charge notes | Deposit reversal on expedited payouts: Stripe reverses (often 5–7 business days); other payouts may delay; tenant must repay afterward. Standard payout speed reduces reversal risk | Terms: Avail may seek reimbursement from Manager for chargebacks/reversals (deduct future transfers, charge card, etc.). Exact clawback UI: confirm in-account / support |
| Failed payout vs failed payment | ACH Return path = tenant payment failed. Deposit/report views for clawbacks | Help draws a bright line: failed payment → tenant pays again; failed payout → landlord fixes bank; do not ask tenant to pay twice | Terms discuss failed Tenant Payments and Manager reimbursement — treat landlord-bank deposit failures as a support issue, not a second rent demand |
| Books / accounting note | Charge notes + deposit reports; don’t book clawed-back money as kept income | Paid Accounting: bounced cleared deposit often booked as Refund Issued against Rent, then new revenue when repaid (transaction-types help) | Received Payments CSV + manual notes; no published bounced-ACH accounting type we found |
| Free vs paid gap | Return handling is part of rent collection (no free landlord tier) | NSF Fee charge category works on free rent collection; deposit-reversal behavior depends on payout speed (standard vs expedited). Accounting Refund Issued needs paid Accounting add-on | Platform NSF + Request a Payment on free Unlimited; Plus not required to post a bounce true-up. FastPay/expedited funding is a Plus-oriented speed feature — faster funding can raise reversal risk if ACH later fails |
Sources (Oct 2026): RentRedi help — ACH Returns 101, ACH Return FAQ, Clawbacks Due to ACH Returns, Manually Document a Returned Payment, How to Create a One-Time Charge. TurboTenant help — Rent Payments Guide (NSF Fee category), How to Create Charges (NSF = one-time), Failed Payments / Deposit Reversals / Failed Payouts, Understanding and Resolving Tenant Payment Failures (bank NSF ≠ TT), Transaction Types (Refund Issued). Avail — Terms of Use §3.4 / §5.5 (NSF fee before new ACH; 60-day card chase; Manager reimbursement); community Optional Fees post ($15, May 2022); pricing page ACH/card fees (no NSF $ listed); support “When a payment fails” JS shell. Re-verify fees in a live account.
Who pays what (decision table)
| Fee / cost | Usually paid by | Where it shows up | What you should do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenant bank NSF / overdraft | Tenant → their bank | Tenant’s bank statement (not your PMS ledger) | Don’t “refund” or collect it through the app — it’s not yours |
| RentRedi $2.50 return fee | Tenant (on reopened charge) | Updated RentRedi charge / notes | Confirm auto-update; only use manual reverse+$2.50 when RR emails you to |
| Avail platform NSF (~$15 per 2022 staff post; Terms require payment) | Tenant (before next ACH); Terms: unpaid 60+ days may hit tenant card, else Manager card | Next Avail payment / NSF notice | Watch for Manager liability if tenant never pays the platform NSF |
| Lease NSF fee (your contractual fee) | Tenant, if lease + local law allow | TT NSF Fee charge; RR/Avail Other / Request a Payment | Write amount + trigger in lease; don’t invent it after the bounce |
| Late fee | Tenant, per lease grace rules | Late-fee automation / separate charge | Separate question from NSF — see late fees & autopay. Bounce day ≠ late-fee day |
| Clawed-back deposit / reversal | Your bank balance (temporary) | Withdrawal / reversal on statement + PMS | Reconcile as a reversal, not as new income when repaid — see bank reconciliation |
Stacking a bank NSF + platform NSF + lease NSF + late fee can look punitive and may hit state fee caps. This page does not say you should stack them — only how each tool posts numbers if your lease and counsel say you may.
RentRedi — auto update + $2.50 return fee
- Notification: Email subject “ACH Return” with reason, property/unit, tenant, amount.
- Usual path: Charge auto-updates for the returned payment and includes the incurred return fee ($1.50 + $1 ACH = $2.50). Tenant is invited to resubmit.
- Manual rare path: If RR emails you to document manually — open the failed payment, note “Insufficient Funds,” Add Payment for the negative rent amount plus $2.50, note the chargeback, save. (Deleting the payment is possible but worse for accounting.)
- Clawbacks: After faster Stripe funding (2–3 business days), a late return can be netted from the next deposit or withdrawn from your deposit account (“Withdrawal Initiated” email). Help also mentions optionally lengthening funding time for more protection.
- Your lease NSF: Create New → Other Charge → one occurrence → clear description (“Lease NSF fee — returned ACH [date]”) if allowed. That is in addition to the $2.50 platform return fee — don’t confuse them.
TurboTenant — NSF category, no auto-retry
- No auto-retry: Failed rent or Autopay stays unpaid until the tenant manually pays again (Make Payment / Recharge Payment in email when offered).
- Bank NSF ≠ TurboTenant fee: Help tells tenants NSF fees are from their bank, not TT or Stripe.
- Post your lease fee: Create Charge → category NSF / NSF Fee → enter the lease amount. NSF is always one-time (Rent/Other can be monthly).
- Deposit reversal: Expedited ACH payout (≈2–4 business days) can land before the tenant ACH fully clears; if it later fails, Stripe reverses (often 5–7 business days). Switching to standard payout (≈5–7 days) in Settings → Rent Payments → Change Payout Speed reduces that risk.
- Failed payout ≠ bounce: If the tenant paid but your bank rejected the deposit, update/reconnect the bank — do not demand a second rent payment.
- Accounting: If you use paid TurboTenant Accounting and a deposit already booked as rent, help’s pattern is Refund Issued against Rent for the bounce, then a new revenue booking when they successfully repay.
Avail — platform NSF + manual landlord fee
- Terms (§3.4): On a failed Tenant Payment, Avail notifies Manager and Tenant of the rejection and the related NSF fee within one business day of Avail learning of the rejection. Tenant must start a new transaction (or pay another way) and pay Avail the NSF fee before a new ACH. If the NSF fee isn’t paid via ACH within 60 days, Avail may charge the tenant’s card on file; if none, Manager authorizes Avail to charge the Manager’s card for that NSF fee.
- Dollar amount: A May 2022 Avail community-manager reply stated a $15 Failed ACH Payment fee on the tenant’s next Avail payment. The Oct 2026 pricing page documents $2.50 ACH (free Unlimited) / waived ACH (Plus) and 3.5% card — but does not list the NSF dollar amount. Treat $15 as historically stated, not as a live pricing-page figure.
- Late fees: Terms put assessing late Tenant Payment fees on the Manager — separate from Avail’s NSF.
- Your lease NSF: Put the amount in the lease; post via Request a Payment / payment-list edit when needed. Community landlords describe automatic NSF behavior, but we could not fetch a current help-center walkthrough (JS shell).
- Help gap:
support.avail.com/article/when-a-payment-failsreturned an empty loading shell in our fetch — lean on Terms + in-account receipts until Avail publishes a readable article again.
Worked example: SFH ACH bounce (illustrative numbers)
Single-family home, monthly rent $1,850, due the 1st. Tenant submits ACH on Oct 1; bank returns for insufficient funds on Oct 3. Lease allows a landlord NSF fee of $35 (example only — verify legality). Late fee in lease is separate and has a 5-day grace — not triggered yet on Oct 3. Example data only — not vendor recommendations or legal advice.
| Line | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Original rent still due | $1,850.00 | Reopens when ACH returns / payment fails |
| RentRedi platform return fee (if on RR) | $2.50 | Published help figure; auto on updated charge |
| Avail platform NSF (if on Avail) | ~$15.00 (2022 staff figure) | Confirm live amount; Terms require payment before new ACH |
| TurboTenant platform NSF | $0.00 published | Bank may still charge the tenant directly |
| Landlord lease NSF fee (if allowed) | $35.00 | TT: Create Charge → NSF; RR/Avail: Other / Request a Payment |
| Tenant’s own bank NSF (not in your ledger) | Bank’s schedule (often ~$20–$35+) | You don’t collect or refund this through the PMS |
| Step | RentRedi | TurboTenant | Avail |
|---|---|---|---|
| See the failure | “ACH Return” email + charge notes / reason code | Failure email + lease Payments timeline | Terms: Manager + Tenant notified; check payment list / inbox |
| Reopen rent | Usually automatic (+$2.50) | Charge remains unpaid; tenant Make Payment | Tenant must repay; NSF fee per Terms before new ACH |
| Post $35 lease NSF | Other Charge one-time “Lease NSF — Oct 2026 bounce” | Create Charge → NSF → $35 | Request a Payment / Other line $35 (separate from platform NSF) |
| If deposit already hit your bank | Expect clawback / net on next deposit; reconcile | Wait for deposit reversal if expedited; don’t spend the money | Watch for Avail reimbursement/clawback rights in Terms |
| Books | Don’t treat clawed funds as kept rent income | Accounting: Refund Issued vs Rent if already booked, then re-book on success | CSV + notes; mark bounce clearly for year-end |
Example totals if everything allowed and stacked (illustrative): RR tenant may see $1,850 + $2.50 + $35 = $1,887.50 due in-app (plus their bank’s own NSF). TT: $1,850 + $35 = $1,885 in-app (plus bank NSF). Avail: $1,850 + ~$15 + $35 depending on live platform NSF (plus bank NSF). Always check whether your state lets you charge the lease NSF at all.
Bounce workflow checklist (any of the three)
- Identify the event type — failed tenant payment vs deposit reversal vs failed payout (landlord bank). Only the first (and sometimes reverse) means “tenant still owes rent.”
- Read the email / reason code — NSF vs bad account vs stop payment / unauthorized. Bad account → tenant must relink bank before retry.
- Confirm the balance reopened — don’t create a duplicate full rent charge on top of an auto-reopened one.
- Separate platform fee vs lease NSF — know which fee the software already added before you post your own.
- Post lease NSF only if the signed lease allows it — use TT NSF category or RR/Avail Other; date and describe it.
- Decide late fee separately — grace clock vs bounce clock; don’t assume a bounce auto-fires late fees.
- Watch the bank for clawbacks — especially with faster funding / FastPay / expedited ACH.
- Message the tenant once in writing — amount still due, any fees, and that they must retry (portal message / notice log).
- Reconcile the month — match reversal lines so repaid rent isn’t double-counted (bank reconciliation).
- Repeat bounces — consider requiring certified funds / disabling ACH per lease and local law; escalate via collections handoff if needed — not a DIY-software “fix” button.
Traps that cause disputes
- Charging rent twice after a failed payout. Tenant already paid; your bank failed. Fix the payout account.
- Spending an expedited deposit before ACH clears. Reversal pulls the money back days later.
- Mixing bank NSF, platform NSF, and lease NSF in one angry email. Itemize; the bank NSF isn’t on your ledger.
- Auto-retry assumptions. TurboTenant will not retry for them — silence ≠ “software is handling it.”
- Late fee on day of bounce without checking grace. Policy and software rules may not match.
- Avail Manager card surprise. Terms allow charging the landlord’s card for unpaid platform NSF after 60 days if the tenant has no card on file.
- Books: leaving bounced “income” on Schedule E. Use Refund Issued / adjustments so CPA exports stay honest (accounting).
Fit notes for 1–20 units
- Want the least manual reopen: RentRedi’s auto charge update + published $2.50 return fee is the clearest documented path.
- Want a named NSF charge type for lease fees: TurboTenant’s NSF category is the cleanest posting UX; you still do the lease fee yourself.
- On free Avail Unlimited: expect platform NSF behavior per Terms; post any extra lease NSF manually; Plus is not required for Request a Payment.
- High bounce risk tenants: prefer slower payout speed, ACH-first with balance checks (RR documents Plaid balance check attempts), and clear lease NSF + certified-funds language — software won’t replace underwriting.
Honest uncertainty callouts
- Avail’s live NSF dollar amount is not on the Oct 2026 pricing page we fetched; $15 comes from a May 2022 staff community reply. Confirm on a real failure receipt.
- Avail help “When a payment fails” fetched as an empty JS shell — product steps lean on Terms + community, not a walkthrough.
- Whether RentRedi’s $2.50 is remitted to Stripe/RentRedi vs shown only as a landlord-collectible line is described as an “incurred” fee on the tenant charge — treat it as tenant-facing per help; don’t assume you keep it as profit without checking your deposit reports.
- We found no published “auto lease NSF” toggle on RentRedi or TurboTenant that invents a contractual fee you never put in the lease.
- State rules on returned-payment fees change; this page is product research only.
Related
- Holdover & month-to-month conversion — sibling lifecycle page: lease end, MTM charge continuity, rent bumps on holdover
- Tenant payment fees — ACH/card costs when the payment succeeds
- Late fees & autopay — grace, auto late fees, who controls autopay (bounce ≠ late)
- Partial payments & credits — ledger fixes after short pays or adjustments
- Bank reconciliation — clawbacks, reversals, Refund Issued patterns
- Section 8 / HAP payments — don’t confuse HAP ACH timing with tenant NSF
- Eviction & collections handoff — Stop/Block payments and counsel packs after repeated failures
- Accounting & Schedule E — don’t leave bounced rent as income
- Switch checklist — export open balances and fee history before migrate
- Prorated rent & move-in — move-in ACH failures on large first totals
- Tenant notices & communication logs — document the bounce conversation
- RentRedi vs TurboTenant vs Avail — full criteria table
- When a tenant dies: autopay pulls from a frozen estate account
- Small Portfolio Desk home
Educational product research only — not legal, tax, or collections advice. Landlord NSF fees, late fees, and electronic-payment rules are controlled by your lease and by state/city law. Confirm current return fees, charge categories, clawback emails, and payment-list behavior in each vendor’s help center and your live account before posting charges.