Calculating deposit amounts
Whale determines the deposit amount to collect for each deposit type as follows. To learn how Whale calculates the monthly rent to use for a lease in its calculations, see Calculating monthly rent.
Application Deposits
When enabled, Whale requests the deposit amount configured in the property's settings. Only a fixed deposit amount is supported for application deposits since the monthly rent is not always known before application approval.
Example
Kate applies for a unit at Sunshine Valley. As soon as her application is submitted, Whale requests a deposit for $200 (the amount set in Whale Admin for the property).
Security Deposits
PMS integrations
For properties that have integrated their PMS with Whale, each property sets their standard and conditional deposit amounts in Whale Admin as a fixed amount (e.g. $500) or a multiple of monthly rent (e.g. 1x).
For conditional deposits, the property can specify if all applicants approved with conditions must pay the conditional deposit amount or only applicants with certain conditional reasons. If only certain conditional reasons are required to pay the conditional deposit amount, the property will provide the text string that indicates when a conditional deposit is required.
Whale then uses the application screening decision to determine if a standard or conditional deposit is required. Whale automatically sends the deposit request based on the property's "When to request" setting (see When Whale requests deposits).
Example 1
A property has set their standard deposit = $500 and conditional deposit = 1x monthly rent and all conditional applicants require a conditional deposit.
Peter's application is approved but with conditions. Whale sends Peter a deposit request for $1,575 (1x monthly rent).
Example 2
A property has set their standard deposit = $500 and conditional deposit = 1x monthly rent, but not all conditional applicants require a conditional deposit—only those with the conditional reason = "Increased risk".
Paul's application is approved but with the condition reason = "Identity verification". Because the conditional reason does not match the property's settings, Whale requests the standard deposit ($500) from Paul.
Manual integrations
For manual integrations, i.e. those that have not connected their PMS to Whale, the property specifies the deposit amount when submitting a new move-in in Whale Admin.
Pet Deposits
Properties have the ability to set the deposit amount based on the total # of pets. The amount can be a fixed amount or a multiple of monthly rent. Whale will continually monitor the number of pets associated with the lease to ensure the correct deposit amount is collected.
Example
John is approved for a lease at an apartment with his dog. Because the property requires a security deposit of $1,000 and a pet deposit of $200 for the first pet, Whale will automatically request a deposit of $1,200.
A few months into his lease, John gets a second dog. Because the property is configured to require a total pet deposit of $500 for 2 or more dogs, Whale will request an additional $300 deposit.
