Taking card payments for parking, livery and storage

What a pay link is

A pay link is a web address for one payment: an amount, what it is for, and a page where it can be paid by card. You send it by email or text, the person opens it and pays, and the money goes to your payment account. There is no card machine and no card details for you to handle.

What it suits

Pay links work best for charges that are small, one-off or irregular, where a standing order would be more trouble than it saves:

• Car parking bays and permits
• Livery, stabling and grazing by the month
• Storage units, containers and lock-ups
• Allotment plots, moorings and caravan pitches
• Event and venue hire, or a one-off charge for damage or extra work

Rent is usually better by bank transfer

Card payments carry a processing fee for each payment, taken by the payment provider. On a small parking or livery charge that fee is small and worth the convenience. On a month’s rent it adds up, so most landlords ask for rent by standing order or bank transfer and keep card payments for everything else.

Sending a pay link, step by step

Whatever system you use, the steps are the same:

• Connect a payment account, such as Stripe, in your own name
• Create the link with the amount and a clear description, for example “Bay 14, October parking”
• Send it to the person who owes it, by email or text
• When it is paid, record the payment against the charge and the fee as a cost
• Chase anyone who has not paid after a few days, with the same link

Keeping the books straight

Record each payment as income and the provider’s fee as an expense, rather than the amount that reaches your bank after the fee. That keeps your income figure right and lets the fee be claimed as a cost.

Parking, storage and livery are often treated differently for VAT from residential rent, so if you are VAT registered, ask your accountant how each of your charges should be treated.

How TenantTool does it

On TenantTool Pro, connect your own Stripe account and send a pay link for any charge from TenantTool, by email. The money goes straight to your Stripe account and TenantTool takes no cut; only Stripe’s own fee applies. When it is paid, the payment is recorded as income and Stripe’s fee as an expense, and if you use Xero they are sent across too.