Release notes - July 2024

Our product development team is constantly innovating, to build a better Alto software experience.

Every time we've added a new feature, we've notified all our users within Alto itself utilising in product messaging. 

However, for a full list of the changes on a monthly basis such as new features, any improvements or product fixes to our software, please see the relevant articles in our 2024 Release Notes section of the Help Centre.

This article includes:

• Improvements
  • Dwelling now included in arrears and batch receipts
  • Improvements made to batch receipts
  • File notes now support HTML characters
  • Additional expense charge items
• Product fixes
  • Fixed the arrears and batch receipt search function
  • Fixed duplicate expense/fee credits
  • Fixed the property ledger so it's no longer incorrect after a statement reversal
  • Fixed the character limit for landlord statement and supplier remittance remarks
  • Fixed issues related to landlord transactions

Improvements

Dwelling now included in arrears and batch receipts

This improvement went live on 30th July.

The Dwelling field is now included in the Property Address for Arrears and Batch Receipts.

Improvements made to batch receipts

This improvement went live on 30th July.

The following improvements have been made to Batch Receipts:

• The window has been renamed Batch Receipts instead of Tenancy Arrears : Any Date
• They now include records with raised charges due in the next 7 days
• The column Total Arrears has been renamed Total Outstanding
• The Never Show In Arrears and Show In Arrears List After x Days fields on charges are now ignored to ensure all raised charges are included

File notes now support HTML characters

This improvement went live on 10th July.

File Notes (which can be added via the + in the Recent Activity section on the Properties/Contacts/Tenancies Overview) have been updated so you no longer need to manually remove HTML characters (such as < >, around an email address).

This helps speed up copying and pasting information into new File Notes.

Additional expense charge items

This improvement went live on 9th July.

When adding an expense Charge:

• The following additional Charge Item options are now available for selection when Expenses is selected:
  • Appliances
  • Electrical Safety Check (EICR)
  • Furniture
  • Ground Rent
  • Inventory
  • Keys/Locksmith
  • Lead Test
  • Portable Appliance Test (PAT)
  • Service Charge
• The vertical scroll bar has been removed from the list of Charge Item options, making the full list visible

For more information on Raising an expense charge on a property, click here.
For more information on Raising an expense charge to a supplier, click here.
For more information on Raising an expense charge on a tenancy, click here.

Product fixes

Fixed the arrears and batch receipt search function

This product fix went live on 30th July.

The Arrears and Batch Receipts search function didn't work if a space was included in the search string, i.e. if you have a property at "1, Old Hill" and search for "Old" or "Hill" then the property was returned in the search results but if you searched for "Old Hill" it did not.

This has now been fixed.

Fixed duplicate expense/fee credits

This product fix went live on 22nd July.

Duplicate expense/fee credits caused an insufficient funds issue at a later date as the duplicate credit appeared on the landlord statement but didn't appear on Pay supplier or Process Agency Fees to claw the money back from the supplier or the agency.

This has now been fixed.

Fixed the property ledger so it's no longer incorrect after a statement reversal

This product fix went live on 19th July.

When a landlord payment was updated, the Transactions page on the property record showed a ‘landlord payment’ transaction for each item that appeared on the landlord statement. When a statement was reversed, these transactions remained on the Transactions page on the property. This resulted in incorrect balances being displayed.

This has now been fixed, so when a statement is reversed, we remove the ‘landlord payment’ transactions for the items that appeared on the reversed statement from the Transactions page on the property.

Fixed the character limit for landlord statement and supplier remittance remarks

This product fix went live on 15th July.

When adding a statement or remittance remark in Group Settings or at the point of producing the landlord or supplier payment, there wasn’t a limit on how much text you could enter, but, when the document was created, the remark was shortened to 150 characters.

This has now been fixed so the full text appears.

Fixed issues related to landlord transactions

This product fix went live on 12th July.

We became aware of the following issues related to landlord transactions:

• The bank account balance shown on the Transactions page of a landlord Contacts record was incorrect after a partial payment of an agency fee or an expense. This gave a false bank balance for the landlord

• If Transactions display most recent first was not ticked (within System Administration>Companies>Edit), the pagination on the Transactions page was out of sync
• The date search on the Transactions page was unreliable

These have now been fixed.