How to Manage Leases?

A Lease is an ongoing rental with no fixed end date. You set it up once, and Rentablez automatically raises an invoice every billing cycle until you cancel it or every item comes back.

How to create a lease

Where to Find It

Go to Bookings → Leases. The List of Leases shows only leases, separate from one-time rentals.

Leases vs One-Time Rentals

	One-Time Rental	Lease
Duration	Fixed start and end date	Open-ended, runs until cancelled
Billing	You create the invoice	Invoices are generated automatically every cycle
Menu	Bookings → Rentals	Bookings → Leases

Before You Start

Each asset you add to a lease needs a rate that matches the billing period — for example, a monthly lease needs a month rate on the asset. If it is missing, Rentablez tells you which rate to create before the asset can be added.

Creating a Lease

Go to Bookings → Leases and click New Lease.
Select the Customer Name.
Pick the Actual Start Date — the day the lease begins. It cannot be in the past.
Choose the Billing Period: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half Yearly, or Yearly.
Choose Invoice Generation — when each invoice is raised: On billing date, 1, 2, 3, 5 or 7 days before (default: 2 days before), or Fixed billing day.
Click Create. The lease opens as a Draft.
Add the assets to the lease.
Click Start Lease. Choose Start Lease Only, or Start Lease & Send to also send the customer a WhatsApp message (you can add a note to it).

Note: Billing settings can’t be changed after the lease is created. You can view them anytime under Recurring order details on the Billing tab.

Fixed Billing Day

Use this when the customer wants to be billed on the same day every cycle — for example, the 1st of every month.

For weekly leases, pick a Billing Day (Sunday – Saturday).
For all other periods, pick a Billing Date (1st – 31st).
Use Generate Invoice to raise the invoice a few days before that day.

The first cycle is usually shorter than a full period, so its invoice is prorated. Leases on a fixed billing day are always billed post-paid.

Pre-paid vs Post-paid Billing

Mode	When the customer is billed
Pre-paid	The first invoice is created as soon as you start the lease. Each later invoice bills the upcoming cycle.
Post-paid	Nothing is billed at the start. Each invoice bills the cycle just used, near the end of that cycle.

Set your default under Settings → Lease Invoice Mode. To override it for one customer, open the customer and set Lease Invoice Mode to Use Org Default, Always Pre-paid, or Always Post-paid.

Invoices are created automatically and include every active item on the lease. A new invoice is raised each cycle even if earlier ones are still unpaid. To see past invoices and the next one due, open the Invoices drawer on the lease. It lists an Upcoming Invoice row at the top.

Lease Statuses

Status	What it means
Draft	Being set up — not started yet
Lease Active	Started. Billing is running
Lease Active (Partial Dispatch)	Some items have been dispatched, others are pending
Partially Returned	Some items are back
All Items Returned	Everything is back. The lease can now be completed
Lease Completed	Closed with Complete Lease
Lease Cancelled	Cancelled. No further invoices

Returning a Single Item

To end one item while the rest of the lease continues:

Open the lease.
In the items table, click the Initiate return icon (✕) on the item. The item must already be dispatched.
Pick a Reason for return (for example Broken / Damaged or Project completed).
Click Confirm Return.

What happens:

The item is marked Returned straight away and goes back into stock.
It is left out of all future invoices.
Pre-paid: a credit note is issued for the unused part of the current cycle.
Post-paid: the current lease invoice is updated.

Note: If it is the last active item, returning it also cancels the whole lease.

Items that haven’t been dispatched yet can simply be removed with the delete icon.

Swapping a Unit

To replace the unit a customer has with a different unit of the same asset, click the Swap stock unit icon on the item and pick the new unit.

Cancelling a Lease

How to cancel a lease

Open the lease.
Click Cancel Lease in the header.
Set the Effective Return Date. Leave it as today unless the asset actually came back earlier — charges are calculated up to this date. It can’t be in the future or before the lease started.
If the customer did not hand the assets back and your team got them back itself (for example, after non-payment), turn on Mark as recovered.
For metered items, enter the final reading. Items you leave blank are not billed for usage since their last recorded reading.
If an Invoice Adjustment dropdown appears, choose how to handle the current invoice (see the table below).
Click Cancel Lease to confirm, or Keep Active to back out.

No further invoices are generated after cancellation. Any assets still with the customer are returned automatically as of the Effective Return Date.

Backdating the Return Date

If you set the Effective Return Date in the past, invoices already generated for cycles after that date are reversed with a credit note. Earlier invoices are not changed.

What Happens to the Current Invoice

Situation	What happens
Nothing dispatched yet	The current invoice, if there is one, is cancelled automatically.
Post-paid (items dispatched)	A prorated invoice is created for the days the items were used.
Pre-paid, current invoice unpaid	Choose: Cancel invoice & create prorated invoice, Keep invoice & issue partial credit note, or No invoice adjustment.
Pre-paid, current invoice paid	Choose: Keep invoice & issue partial credit note or No invoice adjustment.

When a paid invoice is replaced by a prorated one, the payment moves to the new invoice. Prorated invoices are marked with a Prorated badge.

Note: Cancelling does not refund the security deposit. Settle it separately from the order or the Security Deposits tracker.

Completing a Lease

Once every item is back (All Items Returned), click Complete Lease to close it.

You’re all set!

You can now create a lease, choose how it bills, and handle returns, swaps, and cancellations. Use leases for long-term customers to put invoicing on autopilot.