Your account: how-to

Step-by-step instructions for the Your Account panel. For how billing works, see Your account & subscription; for problems, see Your account: troubleshooting.

Find your task

If you’re here because…	Go to
Your card is expiring, has expired, or you want to use a different one	Add or change your payment card
The panel shows a red “Payment of £… due on…” notice	Pay an outstanding invoice
Your account says Account temporarily suspended	Pay an outstanding invoice
Your accountant wants a COHO invoice	Find and download a COHO invoice
You want to know what you’re paying for	Check your units and next invoice
You’ve added a property or room and COHO asks for payment	Accept the charge for a new property or room
Properties have left your portfolio	Reduce your bill
You need credits for referencing, SMS or WhatsApp	Top up COHO credits
You want to start or stop WhatsApp for your organisation	Set up or stop WhatsApp
Your address, phone, VAT or billing email has changed	Update your organisation details
Billing emails go to the wrong person	Update your organisation details
You’re leaving COHO	Cancel your subscription
You want a different plan or to pay annually	Change your plan or how often you pay
You’re coming back after cancelling	Restart your subscription
You have a free account and want to close it	Close a free account

Add or change your payment card

Do this when your card is expiring or has expired, you want to use a different card, or the panel says “You have no valid payment method.”

Before you start: you need permission to change accounting and invoices (or be the organisation’s owner or an admin with full access).

1. From your dashboard, click Menu > Your Account.
2. Click Change on the card panel. (It reads Update now if the card expires soon, Add new card if it’s expired, or Add now if there’s no card.)
3. Under Enter your card details, enter the new card.
4. Click Submit. If your bank asks you to confirm, follow its steps.

What happens next: the new card replaces the old one for all future charges: subscription invoices, Comprehensive references and credit purchases. Outstanding invoices aren’t paid automatically straight away; pay them with Pay now (see below), or wait for COHO’s next automatic attempt.

Note

COHO takes payment by debit or credit card. Direct Debit isn’t available.

Pay an outstanding invoice

Do this when the panel shows “Payment of £[amount] (inc VAT), due on [date]”, a payment has failed, or your account is suspended.

Before you start: you need a valid card saved, and permission to change accounting and invoices. If your account is suspended, the organisation’s owner or an admin with full access can also do this.

1. Click Menu > Your Account. (If your account is suspended, COHO opens it for you.)
2. If the card has expired or there’s no card, add one first.
3. On the payment notice, click Pay now.
4. Check the amount in Confirm payment (“You are making a payment of £[amount] for an overdue invoice that was due on [date]?”) and click Pay now.
5. If your bank asks you to confirm the payment, follow its steps.

What happens next: the invoice moves to Past Invoices. If your account was suspended and nothing else is outstanding, it unlocks straight away. If the payment fails, the notice shows the reason, and COHO emails your billing contacts.

Note

Pay now doesn’t appear while an invoice says “(pending review)”. COHO takes payment once it has checked the invoice; you don’t need to do anything.

Find and download a COHO invoice

Do this when you need a COHO invoice or VAT invoice for your records.

1. Click Menu > Your Account.
2. Under Billing and data usage, click Past Invoices. Paid invoices are listed by month.
3. Click View to open an invoice, or Download to save it as a PDF.

Unpaid invoices are under Outstanding invoices instead, with buttons to open or download each one.

Tip

To put your company’s legal name on invoices, set Company legal name in your organisation details.

Check your units and next invoice

Do this when you want to know what you’re paying for, or before a month starts.

1. Click Menu > Your Account.
2. Read the plan sentence at the top: your plan, frequency, and free and paid units.
3. Open How we calculate units. Each active property shows its rooms and units, then the total.
4. Under Your next invoice…, check the upcoming invoice and its lines.

What happens next: nothing changes until you deactivate or add something. If a property in the list shouldn’t be there, deactivate it before the start of the month.

Accept the charge for a new property or room

Do this when you’ve added or reactivated a property or room and COHO shows Payment details with “You need to accept this additional charge to activate this property” (or “add a payment method”).

Before you start: you need permission to edit properties.

1. Read the summary: your plan, how many units the property or room adds, and your new monthly or annual amount. On a monthly plan, adding it on or before the 15th also charges for the rest of this month; on an annual plan, you’re charged up to your renewal date.
2. If there’s no card saved, enter one and click Submit.
3. Otherwise, to stop COHO asking each time, tick In future automatically increase subscription payments when adding additional units.
4. Click Yes. (No, take me back leaves the property or room deactivated.)

What happens next: the property or room becomes active, and the extra charge is added to your next invoice. Any tenants whose invites were waiting for it are invited.

Reduce your bill

Do this when properties or rooms have left your portfolio, or you want to pause COHO.

Before you start: you need permission to edit properties. Download any records you’ll need: a deactivated property’s records can’t be opened until you reactivate it, and reactivating it counts as a unit again.

1. Open the property, and on its Property Details panel click Deactivate property. (To remove one room, use Deactivate room on the room.) See Deactivate a property.
2. Repeat for every property or room you no longer manage.
3. Open Menu > Your Account > How we calculate units and check the total.

What happens next: the current month isn’t refunded, but your next invoice is for fewer units. If you deactivate everything before the start of the month, you aren’t charged for that month (unless you’re within an annual or committed term). Reactivating a property later restarts billing for it.

Caution

Marking a room Unavailable doesn’t reduce your bill. Only deactivating does.

Top up COHO credits

Do this when you need credits for referencing, SMS or WhatsApp, or a send or check has stopped because you’ve run out.

Before you start: you need a valid card saved and permission to change accounting and invoices.

1. Click Menu > Your Account.
2. Open COHO Credits and click View on the credit type. (For SMS, open SMS > Credit SMS; for WhatsApp, open WhatsApp.)
3. Click Top-up Credits.
4. Enter how many credits you want, or choose a bundle. COHO shows what it will cost.
5. Tick the box confirming your card will be charged and that credits are non-refundable.
6. Click Purchase [n] credits.

What happens next: your card is charged straight away, and the credits appear in the balance and Transaction History as Topped up. Essential and Credit check credits are also bought automatically when you start a check without enough, so you don’t have to top these up in advance.

Set up or stop WhatsApp

Do this when you want to message tenants and applicants on WhatsApp from your own number, or stop doing so.

Before you start: you need your payment details set up, permission to change integrations, and permission to change the subscription and packages. If your payment details aren’t set up yet, the section says “Set up your payment details before opting in to WhatsApp.” instead of the buttons. Paying by bank transfer counts as set up.

1. Click Menu > Your Account and open WhatsApp.
2. Choose how to set it up:
   • Opt in to WhatsApp gives you a COHO-managed number. Pick a plan, tick I agree to the WhatsApp terms and conditions, and click Accept & Connect.
   • Connect your WhatsApp uses your own Meta Business and WhatsApp Business accounts. Tick I agree to the terms and conditions, click Continue under Cloud API only or Coexistence, and finish Meta’s sign-up.

What happens next: the first month is charged to your card, or invoiced if you pay by bank transfer. A COHO-managed number shows “Your WhatsApp number is being set up — this can take a few minutes.” Once it’s ready, the section shows your number.

To stop WhatsApp, click Disconnect WhatsApp integration, then Disconnect. A COHO-managed number keeps working until the end of the period you’ve paid for and doesn’t renew. After that the number is gone; if you opt in again later you get a new one. To change your mind before then, click Cancel opt-out.

Update your organisation details

Do this when your address, phone number, VAT details or company name change, when billing emails should go to someone else, or before your first Essential or Credit check.

Before you start: you need permission to change organisation settings.

1. Click Menu > Your Account, then the settings cog on the panel. Company Settings opens.
2. Click Edit.
3. Change the details. In particular:
   • Invoice email: who gets COHO’s billing emails. Separate several addresses with commas.
   • Public telephone number and an address (Correspondence address, Invoice address or Registered office): needed for Essential and Credit checks.
   • Company legal name: shown on COHO’s invoices to you.
   • Company SMS Name: the sender name on texts, up to 11 characters.
4. Click Save.

What happens next: the changes apply straight away. Names and addresses already merged into documents aren’t changed.

Cancel your subscription

Do this when you’re leaving COHO.

Before you start:

• You need permission to change the subscription and packages.
• Download everything you need first. Cancelling deactivates every property straight away, even if you’ve paid for the rest of the period, and tenants lose access to their tenancy, maintenance reporting and messaging.
• If you’re on an annual or committed plan, cancelling doesn’t refund or end the committed term.

1. Click Menu > Your Account.
2. Click To cancel your subscription, click here.
3. Choose a reason in Please tell us why are you leaving?, and answer the other questions if you’d like to.
4. Click Cancel subscription and confirm. (If the button says Submit request, click it instead: see below.)

What happens next:

• Cancel subscription: every property is deactivated and you aren’t charged again unless you reactivate. On a monthly plan the panel says “Your subscription has been cancelled. All your properties have been deactivated and there is nothing to pay.”
• Submit request (large portfolios and Annual (paid monthly) plans): “Your request to cancel your subscription has been submitted. A member of our team will be in touch shortly.” Nothing is deactivated until COHO contacts you.

Tip

To pause rather than leave, deactivate your properties instead (see Reduce your bill). You keep your account, and reactivating a property restarts billing.

Change your plan or how often you pay

Do this when you want to switch between monthly and annual, or ask about a different plan or price.

1. Contact COHO from the link in “For help with billing or payments, contact us” on the Your Account panel.

What happens next: COHO makes the change. If your price or plan is changing, COHO emails your billing contacts in advance (“Your COHO subscription is changing on [date]”), and the change takes effect from the start of a billing period, or at your renewal on an annual plan.

Restart your subscription

Do this when you’ve deactivated everything or cancelled, and want to use COHO again.

1. On your dashboard, open the Properties panel and show Inactive properties.
2. Click Activate on a property.
3. Accept the charge (see Accept the charge for a new property or room).

What happens next: billing restarts for the active units. See Reactivate a property or room.

Close a free account

Do this when you have a free account (the panel says “This is a free account.”) and no longer need it.

1. Click Menu > Your Account.
2. Click To close this account, click here, then Close account.

What happens next: all properties are deactivated. “You can reactivate the account at any time by re-enabling a property.”