Finances & reports: troubleshooting

Fixes for common Finances problems and error messages. For how Finances works, see Finances & reports; for step-by-step instructions, see Finances & reports: how-to.

I can’t see the Finances panel, or Add financial item

Why it happens: your role doesn’t include finances, or only lets you view. Settlements and reports have their own permissions. With only the Integrations permission, the panel says “You do not have access to finances, but you can still manage the Xero integration below.”

How to fix it: ask an admin in your organisation to give your role the permission you need: change finances (to add items), create owner settlements, or reports. See Who can use it.

A property isn’t offered when I add a financial item

Why it happens: the property has no property ownership, or it’s managed but has no owner. The panel says “You have {n} properties with no ownership information. You need to add this before you can attach financial records”.

How to fix it: click View on that message, then Add property ownership information for each property. Fill in every owner field, not just notes.

The owner isn’t in Owners to process, or “You have yet to configure some property owners to start settlements”

Why it happens:

1. The owner has no settlement start date.
2. None of their properties is managed or rent-to-rent.
3. The owner is archived.

How to fix it: in Settlements, click View next to the owner and set Start settlements from. Check the property ownership is managed or rent-to-rent and linked to this owner.

“No financial items available for settlement”, or rent is missing from a settlement

Why it happens:

1. Start date: the owner’s Start settlements from date is after the rent or invoice date. COHO ignores everything before it, whatever period you choose, and warns: “Your period start date … is earlier than your settlements start date …”.
2. Payment date: rent is included by the date it was paid, not the date it was due. Rent paid after the period end appears in the next settlement.
3. Not recorded: the rent payment isn’t recorded or allocated in Rent Collection, or the rent due item is missing from the schedule.
4. Already settled: the item is on an earlier approved settlement, or is held on a draft.
5. Bulk drafts only include items dated in the period, or rent paid in it.

How to fix it:

1. Check the owner’s start date in Property Owners (Start from) and move it earlier if needed.
2. Open the tenant’s Rent Collection, open the rent due item and click Show financial items. A settled item shows its ST number.
3. Record or allocate the payment if it’s missing.
4. Delete any draft holding the items, or tick Include earlier items that can now be settled? on a single settlement.

Owners to process shows an amount, but the settlement has less

Why it happens: Owners to process shows everything unsettled for the owner up to today. A settlement only offers items in the period you choose, plus earlier items if you ticked Include earlier items that can now be settled?, and leaves out items held on a draft.

How to fix it: widen the period or tick Include earlier items that can now be settled?, and check for drafts for this owner (filter Settlements by status Draft). If the amounts still don’t add up, contact support with the owner’s name.

A management fee is missing, or looks wrong

Why it happens:

1. The property isn’t set as managed, or the fee percentage is 0.
2. The fee is charged On rent paid, so each payment has its own fee, in the settlement for the period it was paid.
3. The fee was already settled on an earlier settlement.
4. The rent was reversed or refunded, or was paid as a rent credit, so no fee is due.

How to fix it: open the rent due item in Rent Collection and click Show financial items to see the fee and its ST number. If the fee setting on the ownership was wrong, correct it and choose to regenerate the fees. Fees already settled can’t be regenerated: correct them with a reversal item.

Rent appears on a settlement but was paid directly to the owner

Why it happens: the payment was recorded as received by you.

How to fix it: in Rent Collection, open the rent due item and click Reverse. COHO puts balancing items on the next settlement. Then record the payment again with Paid directly to property owner ticked. Don’t delete the settlement. See Correct something that’s already been settled.

I can’t edit or delete a financial item

Why it happens:

1. Financial items can’t be edited once created.
2. It’s on an approved or published settlement: “This cannot be edited or deleted because there is a saved settlement. To edit this the settlement must be removed.”
3. It’s a rent or management fee item, which come from Rent Collection and are locked.

How to fix it:

1. If it isn’t settled, delete it and add it again.
2. If it’s settled, add a reversal item (tick Is reversal) to correct it on the next settlement.
3. For rent, make the change in Rent Collection.

The supplier or invoice on a financial item is wrong

Why it happens: the supplier and attachment are locked once the item is created, so your records can’t be changed afterwards. Xero uses the financial item’s supplier, not the maintenance job’s.

How to fix it: if the item isn’t settled, delete it and add it again with the right supplier and file. If it’s settled, add a reversal item, then a new correct item.

I want to remove items from a settlement I’ve approved

Why it happens: approving locks a settlement’s items.

How to fix it: for rent, use Reverse in Rent Collection. For other items, add a reversal item. As a last resort, delete the settlement (it shows as Voided, and its items are released) and create it again. If it’s synced to Xero, the next sync voids its Xero bill.

Items I never want to settle keep appearing

Why it happens: unsettled items stay available until they’re settled. There’s no “write off” for a management fee.

How to fix it: put them on a draft settlement and leave it as a draft. See Keep items off future settlements. For old items, a later Start settlements from date also hides them.

The owner didn’t get their statement

Why it happens:

1. Send settlement PDF upon publishing isn’t ticked on the owner, so publishing doesn’t email them.
2. The settlement is only approved, not published.
3. The owner’s email address is missing or wrong.
4. It went to spam.

How to fix it: on the settlement’s owner line, click Send Report. The line shows when it was last sent. To send future statements automatically, tick Send settlement PDF upon publishing on the owner in Property Owners.

The statement shows two different date ranges

Why it happens: the period at the top is the settlement period. A rent line shows the period that rent covers, which can run past the settlement period.

How to fix it: nothing to fix. Explain it to the owner, or add a Notes to owner.

A deposit or holding deposit isn’t on the owner’s statement

Why it happens: deposits and holding deposits are tenant funds, not owner money, so they aren’t settled.

How to fix it: if you’re keeping some of a deposit or holding deposit for the owner, record it in the tenant’s rent schedule (for example, put the holding deposit towards rent). It then appears as rent or a kept amount.

The organisation pays when the owner should, or vice versa

Why it happens: the wrong option was chosen under Who pays the cost? or Who is the invoice made out to?. “Your organisation” means it’s paid from working capital and recovered on settlement; “Owner” means it’s paid from client money.

How to fix it: delete the item if it isn’t settled, and add it again with the right options. On a property set as owned, there’s no owner to charge.

A settlement synced to Xero has errors

Why it happens: usually your Xero mapping. For example, a bank account mapped where Xero expects an expense or liability account (“Account must be valid”), or a supplier missing on the financial item.

How to fix it:

1. Open Connections & Synchronisations > View, and check the errors in the sync log.
2. Correct the chart of accounts mapping in Xero settings.
3. Sync again.

If automatic syncs have paused, you’ll have an Action; it clears after a successful sync.

A bank transaction is matched but the financial item still shows unpaid

Why it happens: matching a non-rent bank transaction to a financial item in Transactions links them, but doesn’t mark the item paid.

How to fix it: open the item and click Set Paid. Rent is different: once the payment is recorded in Rent Collection, its item is marked paid automatically.

Accountant reports or the MTD export are missing

Why it happens: they aren’t currently available in the Finances panel.

How to fix it: use Export Accounting Data or Profitability Reports, or sync to Xero. Contact COHO support if you need more.

Error messages

Message (as shown)	What it means	What to do
“You do not have permission to manage finances for this organisation”	Your role can’t change financial items	Ask an admin for permission to change finances
“You do not have permission to manage settlements for this organisation”	Your role can’t create or change settlements	Ask an admin for the create owner settlements permission
“Unable to add financial items to a property that does not have its property ownership configured”	The property has no ownership	Set its property ownership
“Rent, holding deposits, and deposits cannot be added directly as a financial item. They must instead be added via a tenancy rent schedule.”	You chose rent as the item type	Add it in Rent Collection
“Cannot delete financial item as it is settled for the client” (or “…for the organisation”, or “part-settled”)	It’s on an approved settlement	Add a reversal item instead
“Unable to modify financial items which are part of a saved or sent financial settlement”	It’s on an approved or published settlement	Add a reversal item, or use Reverse for rent
“You cannot edit a rent due item that is in draft settlement, delete the draft settlement first.”	The rent is on a draft	Delete the draft, make the change, then create the settlement again
“Cannot mark a split group item as paid individually”	The item is split across properties	Use Set all in split group as paid
“Insufficient float balance: … (overdrawn by £…).”	The float can’t cover it	Top up the float, or pay from client money
“Please select at least 1 financial item”	Nothing is ticked	Tick the items to settle
“You cannot disburse more than the remaining client amount settleable (£…) for …”	You’re settling more than is left on the item, often after a partial settlement	Refresh the items and settle the remaining amount. If it persists, contact support
“You cannot disburse an inverse client amount to what is settleable for …”	The amount entered has the opposite sign to the item, often after a reversal or a recreated draft	Refresh the items and try again. If it persists, contact support with the settlement and item
“With the chosen items neither the organisation nor the property owner has been included and you would create an empty settlement”	Nothing for the owner or you is selected	Select items, or change Who are you paying out?
“Cannot create a settlement for this property containing another property’s items…”	The list is out of date	Refresh the item list and try again
“Settlements are already being created for this organisation, please try again in a moment”	Someone else is creating settlements	Wait a moment and try again
“Cannot approve a settlement as financial items within it contains errors, the errors are: …”	An item has since been deleted, refunded or settled elsewhere	Edit the draft to remove that item, or delete and recreate it
“Cannot approve a settlement unless it is in draft state”	It’s already approved	Nothing to do
“No property owner email to send the report to”	The owner has no email	Add their email in Property Owners
“No settlements have been created within this time frame.”	No approved settlements in the report’s dates	Widen the date range
“Date range is more than one year. You can only export one year at a time”	Export Accounting Data is limited to a year	Export a year at a time
“Built-in financial item categories cannot be archived”	It’s one of COHO’s categories	Only archive your own categories