Rent Calc Rent Calculation Tabs Prompt Tab... 1 Family Tab... 1 Income Tab... 1 Assets Tab... 1 Detail Tab... 2 Summary Tab... 2 History Tab... 2 Audit Tab... 2 Comments Tab... 2 Amounts Tab... 2 Control Tab... 2 Rent Tasks Audit Rent... 3 Calculate Rent... 3 Verify and Accept Rent... 4 Print Tenant Rent Report... 4 Print Revised Tenant Rent Report... 4 Outstanding Rent Calculations Rent Review Statuses... 5 Waiting for Entry... 5 Waiting for Audit... 5 Waiting for Revision... 5 Completed... 5 Automatic Rent Calculations... 5 To Enter a Rent Calculation Family... 6 To Modify a Household Composition... 6 To Edit Existing Household Members... 6 To Add a New Tenant... 7 To Remove an Existing Household Member... 7
Income... 7 To Enter a Tenant s Income... 8 Assets... 8 To Enter an Asset... 8 Asset Disposal... 8 To Enter a Disposal... 8 Detail & Summary... 9 To Complete Rent Entry... 9 Comments... 9 Annual Review To Add a Comment... 9 To Modify a Comment... 9 To Create a Special Notice... 9 To Resolve a Special Notice... 9 Getting Started... 10 To Complete the Annual Review... 10 Automatic Calculations... 11 Default Calculations... 11 Start Rent Adjustment To Complete a Rent Adjustment... 12 To Cancel a Rent Adjustment... 12 Correct Rent Audit Rent To Complete a Rent Correction... 13 To Cancel a Rent Correction... 13 Getting Started... 14 To Complete a Rent Audit... 14 Pending Task Summary... 14 Request Revision To Request A Revision... 15
Add Rent Amount Block Level...15 Unit Level...15 Tenancy Level...15 To Add a Rent Amount at the Block Level...16 To Add a Rent Amount at the Unit or Tenancy Level...16 Create Reminder To Create a Reminder...18
Section 6 Rent Calc Rent Calculation Tabs Prompt Tab Family Tab Income Tab Assets Tab What you ll find under the Rent Calculation tabs: Displays the search options for specific tenancies. Shows the breakdown of the family members, age and the suggested group they belong to for rent calculation purposes. Student? Checkbox - Full Time Student status is recorded here. If any family member over 19 years old is a full-time student and should be included in the primary tenant s family grouping, check off the box. If there are any changes to the student status in the future, click on Yes/No to change accordingly. Override box the system will group the family members based on their age and relationship to the primary tenant. (See Determining Household Composition in Rent Calculation Guide). The family groupings can be manually overridden by entering alternate letter grouping into the box. Questions Tips on common questions. Is there a live-in caregiver living in the unit? Is tenant in a co-parenting/shared custody arrangement? Does adult tenant claim no income? Displays all the information about tenant s income source and amount. At least one income source is required for rent calculation. All tenants 19 years and older must be record a source of income. If they have no income, enter one of the No Income options. Displays all asset information. System will automatically input into calculation. Summary section shows the comparison from last year s assets vs. this year s figures. Asset Disposal section if a tenant uses more than the $10,000 exemption in one year for personal use, it Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016 1
must be recorded and verified to be exempted from the asset calculation. Detail Tab Summary Tab History Tab Audit Tab Comments Tab Amounts Tab Control Tab Displays the breakdown of how calculation came about with family groupings, allowances and the combined total. Displays outcome of calculation. For Non-Profit / Coop buildings: the Approved/Economic rent, Basic Rent Contribution, Tenant Rent Contribution and Subsidy are displayed. For BC Housing directly managed buildings: only the Basic and Total Rent Contribution are displayed. All rebates and charges included will show here. (heat allowance, cable/laundry charges) Override Box you can override the system calculation by entering an amount in the box. An override reason is required if doing so. Notes are system generated. They are quick notes pertaining to rent calculation and are for view only. Display the rent history with all the previous reviews for the tenancy Able to select on any review to view. Users can only do rent adjustments for reviews where the fiscal year has not closed. Displays all data entry changes pertaining to the specific review period. Displays all comments regarding rent calculation entries. Comments can only be modified within ten days of original entry. Displays Approved (Economic), Market Rent and Basic Rent Contribution pertaining to the specific review period. View only Displays the rent calculation guidelines on tenancy. 2 Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016
Rent Tasks Audit Rent Description: To review rent calculation entry that have been completed by another user. Created when: Rent is Submitted/Applied and one of the following occurs: Contains an income source that will force an audit. (Employment Insurance or No Income) Basic Rent Contribution amount is overridden. A short term review has been overridden with a longer period. The review is randomly selected based upon your audit percentage. The task will never be assigned to the same person who applied rent. This task will always be assigned to BC Housing. Resolved by: Selecting the Complete Audit or Request Revision action links. The task will be cancelled automatically if the review under audit has been opened again for correction. Calculate Rent D: To enter and apply/submit the tenant s rent information to calculate the monthly rent. C: If the one of the following occurs: A new tenant is entered directly or through the offer process. A rent adjustment has been initiated (either income or household composition has been changed). A revision request by the auditor has been initiated. A rent correction has been initiated. Unit designation change has been accepted (note: Calculate Rent New Tenant task will be created if change is LEM RGI and all market tenant personal info is available; if market tenant was anonymous then unit will be automatically vacated and Fill Vacancy task will be created). R: By selecting the Apply/Submit Rent action link. The task will be cancelled automatically if one of the following occurs: 1) When a rent calculation is cancelled. (Cancel Correction/ Cancel Rent Adjustment) 2) Tenancy has ended. These types of the Calculate Rent tasks are created depending on the nature of task creation: Calculate Rent Correct Rent Calculate Rent Adjustment Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016 3
Note: Calculate Rent New Tenant Calculate Rent Annual Review Calculate Rent - (Revision) The task Calculate Rent New Tenant will be deleted when the Delete Tenant or Reverse Accepted Offer action links are competed. Verify and Accept Rent D: For BC Housing to review rent calculations submitted by a Housing Provider. C: A Housing Provider completes a rent calculation entry and selects the Submit Rent action link. The task will be assigned to BC Housing for verification and completion. R: The task is sent to BC Housing for review. If agree, they will complete by selecting the Apply Rent action link, if not, a revision will be requested for the Housing Provider to review. Print Tenant Rent Report D: Printing a hard copy of the Tenant s Rent Report letter. C: After a rent review has been Applied/Submitted. R: It can be completed manually when the Print Tenant Rent Report action is taken and the Declare Print Task Complete button is selected in the dialog box. The task will be removed if that rent review is cancelled/deleted (e.g. tenancy ended). Note: printing this report (selecting Print button on Print Tenant Rent Report dialog box) will not complete this task. You have to complete this task manually by selecting Declare Print Task Complete. Print Revised Tenant Rent Report D: Printing a hard copy of a revised tenant report due to changes in the original. C: The rent is applied after an audit or verification and the original report had been printed but with new changes, a new report is created. R: The task can be completed manually when the Print Revised Tenant Rent Report action link is taken. 4 Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016
Outstanding Rent Calculations Rent Review Statuses Waiting for Entry An open review that is waiting for completion. Waiting for Verification A completed review that has been submitted to BC Housing by a Housing Provider for review and verification. Waiting for Audit A completed review that has been submitted/applied, and has been selected for audit by BC Housing to review and approve. Waiting for Revision A completed review that has been audited, errors were found and has been sent back to user to review and submit again. Completed A closed review that has been submitted/applied. Automatic Rent Calculations The system is able to automatically set rent for the coming years for tenants with predictable incomes that don t change year to year. There are only two types of income sources for this option: seniors on basic OAS/GIS only, and tenants on Income assistance with PWD status. To set up tenants for future automatic calculations: To Enter a Rent Calculation PRE-CONDITION: Tenancy must be created. From the Development Module, Under the Block/Units tab, select Calculate Rent New Tenant from task list. Select the review period. This will bring you to the Rent Calculation module. In order to complete a rent calculation, the information in the following tabs must be reviewed and completed. 1) Family 2) Income Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016 5
3) Assets 4) Details 5) Summary 6) Comments Family Determine Household composition - rent is calculated separately for each family group. The system automatically groups family members based on their age and relationship to the primary tenant. The primary family group is composed of primary tenant and/or more adults in a marriage or a common law relationship along with their dependent children and assign as Family Group A. System will assign all of other household members under the age of 19 to Family Group A who have the following relationships to the primary tenant. o o o o Child in care of relative Son Daughter Foster child o System will assign all other household their own family group starting with B. Full Time Students Any household member over 19 years old will be grouped as a separate family group unless they are a full time student. In this case, record it by checking the Student box, the member will be grouped with the primary tenant. If there are any changes to the student status in the future, click on the Yes/No to change accordingly. To Add New Members or Edit/Remove Existing Household Member, complete by initiating the Modify HH Composition link. (at bottom of the page) To Modify a Household CompositionSelect the Modify HH Composition action link from the household screen in the Tenancy panel. To Edit Existing Household Members Enter the Effective date of the change. Select the edit button. A dialog box will pop up, enter any changes to the household member information and select OK. Review all members to confirm that they have been entered correctly, select Proceed. 6 Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016
To Add a New Tenant Enter the Effective date of the change. Select the Create New Member button. A dialog box will pop up, enter tenant information in all the mandatory fields and select OK. Continue with this process until all household members have been added. Review all members to confirm that they have been entered correctly, select Proceed. Start Rent Adjustment dialog box will pop up. ( see * below ) To Remove an Existing Household Member Enter the Effective date of the change. Select the remove button. Review all members to confirm that they have been entered correctly, select Proceed. Start Rent Adjustment dialog box will pop up. ( see * below ) *If a household member added or removed is 19 and older, HC opens a Start Rent Adjustment dialog box. Enter the expiry date. (For BC Housing-directly managed units the option to reset the annual review is available for current and future annual review periods). Select Next> to continue, the next screen displays the current completed reviews and the open reviews as a result of the rent adjustment. If a correction to the dates is required, select Back to amend the dates. If dates are correct, select Finish to continue. The system has created the Calculate Rent - Adjustment task for completion with the due date of two weeks after being created. To proceed with the rent adjustment calculations, see the Start Rent Adjustment procedure. Income Rent calculation is based on the income source and amount from the tenants. Enter the income for each family member over the age of 19. Each source of income is entered as an individual line. Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016 7
System will create a short term review when specific income source is used. (ei. Employment Insurance, No income) Automatic Rent Calculation - The system is able to automatically set rent for the coming years for tenants with predictable incomes that don t change year to year. There are only two types of income sources for this option: seniors on basic OAS/GIS only and tenants on Income assistance with PWD status To Enter a Tenant s Income. 1) Select the HH member from the Individual drop down. 2) Select the type of Income Source from the drop down. 3) Enter the income Amount. Even for tenants with no source of income, they must still enter No Income as source and 0 as amount. 4) Enter any Notes if applicable (place of work, or anything related to income type/amount) 5) If an entry needs to be removed, select the check box under the Delete column. 6) Select the Update link to save your entry. 7) Select the Forward link to proceed to next tab. Assets The system will use the household s gross monthly income and assets to calculate the rent. The assets portion is based on the imputed asset calculation (Assets -Exemption [10000.00] x 1% / 12 = income from assets) To Enter an Asset 1) Select the Asset Source from the drop down menu 2) Enter the Amount and any related notes. 3) If the entry needs to be removed, select the checkbox under the Delete column. Asset Disposal Any amount of asset disposal over the 10000.00 exemption will still be included in the rent calculation, unless the tenant proves they used the proceeds for personal benefit. If they have used it for a personal benefit, this is a claim which has to be verified in order to be exempted from the calculation. To Enter a Disposal 1) Enter the amount in the text field 2) Select the checkbox under the Verified? column. 8 Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016
3) Select the Forward link to save and proceed. 0: Rent Calc Detail & Summary These screens display the family groupings, details of calculation, allowances & surcharges, Basic Rent contribution, Tenant Rent Contribution and Subsidies. Review to ensure the entries made are correct. To Complete Rent Entry 1) Select the Submit/Apply Rent link. Comments Although it is not a mandatory to enter comments after completing each rent calculation, it is important to do so. This will help keep track of the rent history for each tenant. It allows other users to understand why certain rent calculations were performed. To Add a Comment 1) Select Add comment action link 2) From the dialog box, select a comment type and enter text. To Modify a Comment A comment can only be modified within ten days of original entry and can never be deleted. Only supervisors have the ability to modify comments at any time. 1) Select the Modify Comment action link corresponding to the comment that requires the change. 2) From the dialog box, select a comment type and enter text. 3) Once completed the comment will display the change with the User name and Date under Last Modification. To Create a Special Notice 1) Select Add Comment action link. 2) From the dropdown menu, select Special Notice and enter text. 3) Once completed, notice will be displayed at the top of all screens in red. To Resolve a Special Notice 1) Select the Modify Comment action link corresponding to the comment with the special notice. Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016 9
2) From the dialog box, select Special Notice Resolved and enter the reason for resolution in text. DO NOT REMOVE ORIGINAL SPECIAL NOTICE TEXT. Once all the information is entered and reviewed, select the Apply/Submit Rent action link to complete the review. The status of the review will change to one of the following: Completed, Waiting for Verification, or Waiting for Audit. Annual Review Tenants receiving subsidy must declare their incomes and family composition on an annual basis. Annual Reviews and tasks are automatically created by the system a few months prior to the annual review effective date. Tenants with annual reviews pending have the rent calculation for the annual review period set up as follows: Type: Annual Review Status: Waiting for Entry. Tasks created: Calculate Rent Annual Review. Getting Started To Complete the Annual Review The Calculate Rent Annual Review task can be selected from any of the screens below and will take users to the Rent Panel: Home Page Development Prompt screen, select Block/Units tab - units that have annual reviews pending will have this task listed. (process described below) By selecting specific Tenancies At the Development Module, select the Block/Units Tab. Under the Pending Tasks heading will be a list of all the developments with their outstanding rent tasks. Select on the numbers hyperlink (##) under the Total Tasks column corresponding to the development. All pending annual reviews assigned to this user will be listed here. Select the Calculate Rent Annual Review task under the task column; this will take users to the Calculate Rent Annual Review task details screen. Select the Review Period hyperlink, e.g. 01 April 2005 31 March 2006. This will take the user to the Rent Calculation panel. Enter all the mandatory information for this tenant s annual review. 10 Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016
Retrieve Values from Previous Review action link. This action link carries the previous review s income and assets figures over to current review. Select the Retrieve Values from Previous Review action link The system opens a dialog box asking for confirmation. Click OK to proceed. Add Comments Save the Rent Calculation by selecting the Apply Rent (BC Housing) / Submit Rent link (Housing Providers). The status of the rent calculation will change to one of the following: Waiting for Verification, Waiting for Audit or Completed Select the Back to Tasks link on the tab bar Select the Rent Tasks Development tab to select the next tenant s annual review to process. Continue this process until all annual reviews have been completed Automatic Calculations Default Calculations Start Rent Adjustment At the time of generating the annual reviews, the system automatically completes the Annual Reviews for tenants with certain types of incomes. (See Automatic Rent Calculations in the Rent Calculation Manual for details on these types of income and the New Tenant procedure for details on how to set up tenants for automatic rent calculations). If the annual reviews are not completed on the due date, the system will automatically complete the pending reviews by applying default rents based on program type, - market, deemed income, approved/economic rents. (Refer to the Annual Review cycle / Automatic Calculations chart for more info on due dates and system completed calculations). The Start Rent Adjustment action link is used when a change to a rent calculation is required for a period within an annual review period. Rent adjustments are initiated due to changes in tenants income, an expiry for a previous short term adjustment or a family composition change. (If the adjustment is due to a family composition change, refer to the Modify Household Composition procedure) The Start Rent Adjustment action link is found on all screens in the Rent and Tenancy Panels. Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016 11
To Complete a Rent Adjustment Select the rent review period that requires a rent adjustment. Previous Review: 01 Jul, 2004 Current Review: 01 May, 2005 30 Apr, 2006 Next Annual Review: To Cancel a Rent Adjustment Correct Rent Select the Start Rent Adjustment action link. The system opens the start rent adjustment dialog box. Enter the effective and expiry dates. (For BC Housingdirectly managed units, the option to reset the annual review is available for current and future annual review periods). Select Next> to continue, the next screen displays the current completed reviews and the open reviews as a result of the rent adjustment. If a correction to the dates is required, select Back to amend the dates. If dates are correct, select Finish to continue. The system will navigate to the Summary screen as a rent adjustment has now been created with the status: Waiting for entry. Enter all mandatory information (family groups, income, assets, etc) to complete rent calculation. Add comments Select the Apply Rent/Submit action link and select OK to confirm applying the new rent / submitting the new information for rent verification. The status of the rent calculation will change to one of the following: Waiting for Verification, Waiting for Audit or Completed. If a rent calculation has been opened to do an adjustment, a user is able to cancel it if it is still has the status: Waiting for Entry. To cancel this action, select the time period to be cancelled and select the Cancel Rent Adjustment action link. The Correct Rent action link is used when a revision to the information in a completed rent review period is required. Any outstanding tasks related to the previous rent review before being corrected will be cancelled. (e.g. Audit Rent, Print Tenant Rent Report, Verify and Accept Rent). When a rent calculation is open for correction, the system will create a task for the user who opened the calculation and set a due date for completion two weeks after the calculation was opened. (Refer to Correct Rent/Rent Adjustment rent cycle for more info on due dates and system completed calculations) A correction to the review period is not 12 Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016
allowed if the review has the status: Waiting for Revision. The Correct Rent link is found on all screens in the Rent Calculation Panel. 0: Rent Calc To Complete a Rent Correction Select the rent review period that is to be corrected. Previous Review: 01 Jul, 2004 Current Review: 01 May, 2005 30 Apr, 2006 Next Annual Review: To Cancel a Rent Correction Audit Rent Select the Correct Rent action link. A dialog box will pop up; select OK to confirm that this is the rent review period to be opened for correction. The status has now changed to Waiting for Entry. Enter all mandatory information (family groups, income, assets, etc) to complete rent calculation. Add comments Select Apply Rent/Submit Rent action link and select OK to confirm applying the new rent / submitting the new information for rent verification. The status of the rent calculation will change to one of the following: Waiting for Verification, Waiting for Audit or Completed. If a rent calculation has been opened to do a correction, a user is able to cancel it if it is still in the status: Waiting for Entry. To cancel this action, select the time period to be cancelled and select the Cancel Rent Correction action link. Some rent calculations will be randomly selected for audit. When a calculation is selected for audit the status changes to Waiting for Audit and a task is created and assigned to BC Housing to audit the rent. This task s due date for completion is set up two weeks from the date the calculation was selected for audit. Calculations selected for audit are based on the following: The review is randomly selected based upon users audit percentage. Income sources that trigger an audit, such as claiming no income or short term income sources (Employment Insurance, Workers Compensation Board, etc) A short term review has been overridden with longer period. Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016 13
Rent amount is overridden with a reason that will force an audit. A question was answered in the affirmative that will force an audit by selecting one of the following check boxes in the Family panel: Is there a live-in caregiver living in the unit? Is tenant in a co-parenting/shared custody arrangement? Does adult tenant claim no income? Getting Started The Audit Rent task can be selected from any of the panels below: Tasks panel (process described below) Home Page panel To Complete a Rent Audit Pending Task Summary From the Quick Menu, select Tasks From the Task panel, select the Rent Tasks tab. Under the Pending Tasks heading will be a list of all the developments with their outstanding rent tasks. Select on the number hyperlink (##) under the Audit column corresponding to the development that will be worked on. All pending audits assigned to the user will be listed here. (See Figure 1 below) Select the Audit Rent link under the Task column for the tenant that will be worked on, the system will navigate to that tenant s Audit Rent detail screen. Select the Review Period hyperlink, i.e. 01 April 2005 31 March 2006. This will take the user to the Rent Calculation panel. Review the family, income and assets screens to ensure all information is accurate. If no errors are found, select the Complete Audit action link. The status will now be changed to Completed. If errors have been found in the calculation and a revision is required, select the Request Revision action link. The status changes to Waiting for Revision. (see the Request Revision Procedure) 14 Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016
Request Revision When a rent review is under audit and errors were detected by an auditor, the review is required to be sent back to the user to review. The Request Revision link is used by the auditor to notify the user that errors have been found in the calculation previously submitted. The Request Revision link is found on all screens in the Rent Calculation panel and in the Audit Rent Task detail screen. The link is only available when a rent calculation has the status: Waiting for Audit. To Request A Revision Select the rent review period that requires a rent audit. After reviewing the rent calculation and an error has been detected, select the Request Revision action link In the dialog box, enter the reason(s) for requesting the revision. The message entered will appear as a comment under the Comment tab in Rent and Tenancy as well as in the Audit Rent task comments Select OK Status changes to Waiting for Revision. Once the request is sent to the user, the Calculate Rent (Revision) task is created for the user who entered the original rent calculation to complete. The due date for completion is set two weeks after the revision was requested. The user then makes all necessary changes and submits the rent calculation a second time by selecting the Submit Rent link. The status will change back to Waiting for Audit. This process is repeated until the review is agreed upon by both the auditor and user. Add Rent Amount Block Level Unit Level A rent amount can be added at the Block, Unit or Tenancy level. Affects all units within the block. For charges and allowances entered at the block level, the rent amount is NOT applied automatically to any affected tenants and reviews. It needs to be applied manually to affected tenants, if required. Affects the specific unit only Overrides the amount set up at the Block level. Tenancy Level Affects that specific tenancy period only. Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016 15
To Add a Rent Amount at the Block Level Overrides the amount set up at the Block and Unit level. When the tenancy ends the rent amount expires. For charges and allowances entered at the Unit and Tenancy level, they will be effective immediately (on the effective date entered), user will see the warning This change will be applied to the affected tenant immediately From the Quick Menu, select Block Select the Society (if not defaulted). Select the Development and Block from the drop down menus. Select the Amounts tab on the tab bar. Select the Add Rent Amount link. Select the Rent Amount Type from the drop down menu. Enter the Effective date. Enter the Expiry date (If the rent amount should not have an expiry leave this field blank) Enter the rent amount Select OK. To Add a Rent Amount at the Unit or Tenancy Level From the Quick Menu, select the Unit Select the Society (if not defaulted). Select the Development and Unit from the drop down menus. Select the Amounts tab on the tab bar. Select the Add Rent Amount link. Select the Rent Amount Type from the drop down menu. Enter the Effective date. 16 Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016
Enter the Expiry date (If the rent amount should not have an expiry leave this field blank) Enter the rent amount. Select OK. Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016 17
Create ReminderThe Create Reminder Link is used to create tasks or reminders for users to follow up on in the future. Depending on why the user wants to create a reminder, users should navigate to the related panel to create it. For example, if a tenant is away during an annual review period and it must be completed later, a reminder should be created through the Tenancy or Rent Calculation Panel. The system will automatically create reminders for outstanding tasks. Reminders are displayed in the Home Page under the Reminders section and on the Application, Unit or Rent Tasks screens depending on where the reminder was created from. The Create Reminder action link is found on all screens in the Applicant, Unit, Tenancy and Rent Calculation Panels. To Create a Reminder From any screen or panel: Click on the Create Reminder action link. A dialog box will pop up; enter the due date of the reminder. Assigned to field. The reminder will be assigned to the user who created the reminder. Only supervisors have the ability to assign reminders to other users. Enter details of the reminder in the text area. Select OK. 18 Introduction to Housing Connections rev.10.5.2016