How MRI Closes Out a Former Resident
In MRI Residential Management, formerly MRI Living, the move-out is settled on the Statement of Deposit Accounting, or SODA. MRI's training catalog describes the SODA as the tool that reconciles open balances when a resident moves out, or when an applicant doesn't lease (MRI Training Academy catalog). On the SODA, staff can:
- Enter the forwarding address and attach supporting documents.
- Add move-out charges such as damage, lease violations and accelerated rent.
- Apply the deposit, other credits and payments against the open charges.
- Commit the SODA, revise it later if needed, and create a refund when credits exceed charges (MRI catalog 1.5).
If charges exceed the deposit, the remainder stays on the resident ledger as a receivable. MRI's public material doesn't say whether a former resident's balance moves into a collections status automatically. That depends on your edition and configuration, so we haven't assumed it. Treat a committed SODA with a balance due as the start of your post-move-out process, not the end of it.
The forwarding address field matters more than it looks. It's the best lead a collector gets. And in Texas, the landlord's duty to account for the deposit depends on the tenant giving one. Make it a required step on the SODA, not an optional one.
Deposit Disposition and Deadlines
MRI supports security deposit adjustments, refunds and reposting of the resident and deposit ledgers as standard accounts receivable tasks (MRI). The software won't enforce your state's deadline. Commit the SODA and send the itemization within 30 days in Texas and Utah, 14 business days in Arizona and 31 days in Oregon. A balance placed before the deposit accounting is done is easy to dispute. Our guide to security deposits and move-out charges covers the deadlines and allowable deductions.
Keep the evidence with the SODA: inspection report, photos, invoices and the signed move-out paperwork. MRI makes the same point in its own guidance on deposit disputes (MRI blog).
Write-Offs and Bad Debt Codes
"Write off open charges" is a documented Residential Management task. In MRI's reconciliation reports, bad debt write-offs carry adjustment code B and post to the Bad Debt Writeoff general ledger account, and the Analysis of Bad Debts and Allowances report shows the activity. What MRI doesn't publish: your approval controls, whether a written-off balance can be reinstated, and exactly how a later recovery reverses it. Those depend on setup, so confirm them with whoever owns your chart of accounts.
A write-off is an accounting entry, not a waiver. The former resident still owes the balance (our guide to resident ledger terms explains why). Run the ledger detail before the write-off posts, or filter it to show the original charges. The collector validates the debt against those charges, not against a single bad debt line.
Collections Inside MRI: What It Does and Doesn't Cover
MRI's own collections tools are built to keep current residents paying. Some of the main pieces:
| Tool | What it does | Reaches former residents? |
|---|---|---|
| MRI Engage Pay | Card, ACH, autopay and cash payments posted to the ledger; Flexible Rent; on-time payment rewards; rent reporting (MRI) | No, it serves residents with an active account |
| MRI Engage Interact | Automated rent reminders and past-due notices by text, email and voice (MRI) | Only if their contact details still work |
| Leasing and Resident Portal | Self-service rent payment, renewals and service requests | No |
| MRI Agora AI | Flags overdue rent, shows recommended collection actions and drafts reminders for staff review (MRI, 2026) | Not confirmed |
MRI also offers Jenark Resident Collections, which lets users enter and track collection activity, and its release notes describe a Collections page with disputed-transaction filters (MRI functional specs). That's tracking, not recovery. None of these tools find a resident who left without a forwarding address, and once a third party contacts them about the debt, the FDCPA and Regulation F apply.
Partner Connect, MIX and Collections Integrations
MRI connects outside vendors through Partner Connect, its program of more than 200 solution partners (MRI partners), and the MRI Information eXchange (MIX), a set of over 1,000 vetted APIs for moving data between MRI and third-party or in-house systems (MRI MIX). MRI doesn't publish a standard collections data contract, so the fields, status codes and posting rules are set during each partner's implementation.
Whoever builds it, a collections integration with MRI needs to answer the same questions:
- Which accounts are eligible, and how often are balances refreshed so nobody collects on an account that already paid?
- Where do placed, payment plan, recalled and closed statuses live in MRI?
- Do recoveries post gross to the resident ledger, with the commission recorded separately?
- Does every posted payment carry a unique external reference, so a retry can't post it twice?
- Is only the data the collector needs leaving MRI?
MRI stays the system of record for the ledger either way. An integration saves keystrokes, but you don't need one: any MRI database can produce a placement file from standard reports.
The MRI Reports to Send a Collector
MRI doesn't offer a one-click "collection placement" export. You build the file from four standard Residential Management reports:
| Purpose | MRI report | What it supplies |
|---|---|---|
| Identify and contact | Resident Profile | Name, unit, forwarding address, phone, email, comments and transaction history |
| Prove the balance | Aged Delinquencies | The resident's ending balance by aging bucket |
| Support the debt | Resident ledger detail | Every charge, payment, credit and adjustment with dates and running balance |
| Show the write-off | Analysis of Bad Debts and Allowances, plus the General Ledger | The code B adjustment, its date and amount, and the Bad Debt Writeoff account |
| Explain the move-out | The committed SODA, lease and inspection | Final charges, deposit applied, balance due and who signed |
Add a one-row summary per account: resident name, property, unit, lease ID, move-out date, forwarding address, phone, email, balance at move-out, charges and credits since move-out, net balance placed, and the write-off date and amount. Then tie it out: balance placed equals balance at move-out, plus post-move-out charges, minus post-move-out credits and payments. It should match Aged Delinquencies to the cent. Keep deposit activity on its own ledger rather than mixing it into the placed balance.
The collector also needs an itemization date for the Regulation F validation notice. The committed SODA date usually works as the last statement date. Our guide to the Reg F itemization date covers the five options. After placement, freeze or flag the account so new charges don't post to it while the collector works it.
Tick what you have for one former resident. The check tells you whether the file is ready to place and what's missing. Nothing you tick leaves this page.
Posting Recoveries: Gross, Not Net
Post the full amount the former resident paid as a cash receipt on their ledger, and record the collector's commission as its own expense. If the collector remits net, use a journal entry so the ledger still shows the gross recovery and the fee stays visible. Three numbers then line up: the resident ledger shows what was recovered, the profit and loss shows what collection cost, and the bank shows the net deposit. MRI's cash receipt batches handle both entries. Asset managers report recoveries the same way; see how asset managers measure bad debt recovery.
MRI's Size and Who Uses It
MRI reports 16.5 million residential units supported worldwide, 5.5 million leases and more than 45,000 clients, and says its solutions are used by more than 88% of the NMHC Top 50 apartment managers (MRI multifamily). For the U.S. alone it cited 11.7 million units in 2025 (MRI), and it added nearly 2,000 clients in 2025 (PR Newswire). All of these are company-reported.
MRI is strongest with large institutional operators and in affordable housing, where it supports HUD, LIHTC, HOME and USDA Rural Development compliance and reports more than 500 affordable owners and operators as users (MRI affordable housing). That matters for collections: subsidized tenancies have their own rules on what a former resident owes. Our guide to collecting from Section 8 tenants covers them.
Placing MRI Balances With Elite Recovery Group
Elite Recovery Group works from a standard MRI export: the resident ledger detail, the committed SODA and the lease are enough to start, with no integration to set up. For how MRI compares with other platforms, see our property management software comparison and the Yardi, RealPage, Entrata and Rent Manager guides.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a SODA in MRI?
The Statement of Deposit Accounting. It's where MRI Residential Management reconciles a resident's open charges, credits and deposit at move-out and produces either a refund or a balance due.
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Does MRI automatically send former residents to collections?
MRI doesn't document that publicly. Whether a balance moves to a collections status depends on your edition and configuration. Most operators place former-resident balances from a ledger export or through a partner integration.
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Can MRI Agora collect from residents who already moved out?
MRI hasn't said so. Its 2026 materials describe Agora flagging overdue rent, recommending actions and drafting reminders for staff review. Once a third-party collector contacts a former resident, FDCPA and Regulation F rules apply.
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Do I need an MRI integration to use a collection agency?
No. A collector can work from standard reports: the resident ledger detail, Aged Delinquencies, Resident Profile and the committed SODA. An integration through Partner Connect saves keystrokes but isn't required.
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Which MRI report shows a resident's balance by age?
The Aged Delinquencies report. Use it to confirm the balance you place, and make sure it matches the resident ledger ending balance to the cent.
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How do I show a written-off balance in MRI?
Bad debt write-offs post with adjustment code B to the Bad Debt Writeoff account. The Analysis of Bad Debts and Allowances report and the General Ledger show the entry.
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Does MRI Engage Pay report rent to credit bureaus?
Yes, Engage Pay includes rent reporting for current residents, alongside on-time payment rewards. That's separate from reporting a former resident's unpaid balance, which a collector handles.
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Is MRI only for large operators?
MRI is strongest with large institutional operators and affordable housing, and says more than 88% of the NMHC Top 50 use it. It also serves smaller portfolios, but most of its published figures come from the enterprise end.