If your landlord has asked you to pay rent through Stessa Rent Collection, follow the steps below to set up your account, make secure payments, and manage your banking details.
Are you a landlord? This article is for residents. To set up and manage rent collection, see Stessa Rent Collection.
Who to contact:
Your landlord for questions about your balance, charges, due date, lease terms, account access, or the email address on file. Landlords manage tenant profiles and ledgers.
Stessa support for problems connecting your bank or card, or making a payment. Click the blue support circle in the lower-right corner of the Resident Portal to chat with us.
How to Join: Email Invitation Required
Stessa Rent Collection is available by invitation only. You can’t sign up directly without receiving an invitation email from your landlord.
What to Expect
Your landlord starts the invitation process.
The invitation arrives by email with the subject line: “[Landlord Name] has invited you to pay rent with Stessa”
If You Don’t See the Email
Check your Spam, Promotions, or Other folders.
Confirm with your landlord that they used your correct email address.
Move the message to your Inbox and mark it as trusted to avoid delivery issues.
Visit the Resident Portal at resident.stessa.com/pay to try manual setup or confirm your access. Make sure you’re using the resident portal, not the landlord site.
Next Step
Click the Get Started button in the email to set up your account in the Resident Portal. Once your account is created, you’ll see your current balance, previous payments, and options to make a payment and enable autopay.
Trouble logging in or resetting your password? See Resident Portal Log In.
Making Your First Rent Payment
Stessa uses Stripe, a secure service, to collect rent payments. You can pay by ACH, credit card, or debit card.
Log in at resident.stessa.com/pay.
Click Make Payment.
Choose your payment method. For a card, enter the card information. For a US bank account, follow the steps to connect your bank account.
Confirm the payment amount and authorize the payment. The convenience fee depends on the payment method you choose.
Having Trouble Connecting Your Bank?
Click the blue support circle in the lower-right corner of the Resident Portal to chat with Stessa support.
Payment Methods & Fees
The total fee for your transaction is displayed before you confirm a payment.
Payment Method | Supported? | Notes |
ACH (bank transfer) | Yes | Free in some instances. May include a small fee of up to $2 per transaction. |
Credit Card | Yes | 3% fee per transaction |
Debit Card | Yes | 3% fee per transaction |
Paying Rent Monthly (or Setting Up Autopay)
You’ll receive an email reminder 10 days before rent is due.
You can pay manually each month or set up autopay. To set up autopay, click Enable Auto Pay next to the Make Payment button.
Important:
Autopay deducts rent from your payment method on your due date.
Autopay only covers rent. Utility bills, taxes, and other additional charges must be paid separately.
Payments can’t be made more than 10 days before the due date.
You’ll need to re-authorize payments if your rent amount changes, your lease is renewed, or your landlord updates rent collection settings.
The convenience fee is automatically added to each month’s autopay payment.
Autopay Didn’t Go Through
If autopay didn’t take your payment this month, check whether your rent amount changed, your lease was renewed, or your landlord updated rent collection settings. Any of these requires you to re-authorize autopay. Log in to the Resident Portal, turn autopay back on, and make this month’s payment manually if it’s still due.
Splitting Rent With Roommates
You can split rent with roommates. Each person can pay their share of the balance, as long as your landlord has partial payments enabled on your lease. If partial payments aren’t enabled, the full balance has to be paid in a single payment, so one person would need to pay the whole amount. If you can’t enter a partial amount, ask your landlord to turn on partial payments.
Updating or Reconnecting Your Bank Account
Banks sometimes require you to refresh or reconnect due to security updates.
Go to resident.stessa.com/pay.
Follow the prompts to refresh your account, remove an outdated account, or add a new one.
How Long Do Payments Take?
ACH payments usually take up to 5 business days to reach your landlord.
Card payments can happen instantly but may take up to 2 business days.
Keep enough funds in your account until the payment clears.
Recommendation: Submit your payment early to avoid late fees or delays.
Payment Problems
Make Payment Is Greyed Out or Unavailable
Make Payment is greyed out: This happens when you have no balance due or a credit balance on your account. There’s nothing to pay right now. If you think your balance is wrong, contact your landlord.
Rent collection is unavailable or disabled: Your landlord’s rent collection isn’t active right now. Contact your landlord to find out how to pay.
Declined or Missing Payments
Payments can fail for bank-related or landlord-related reasons, and each needs a different fix. Common causes include:
Insufficient funds
Account not funded in time
Closed or invalid account
Bank holidays or weekends delaying processing
Rent amount changes not updated in your account
Required re-authorization not completed
Rent collection disabled by your landlord
If a Payment Fails
You’ll receive an email notification. Stessa won’t retry automatically. To resolve it:
Verify your balance and add funds, if needed.
Retry the payment once resolved.
If needed, unlink and relink your bank account.
Update payment settings if your rent has changed.
Complete any required re-authorization steps.
Make sure any pending deposits that may be affecting your available balance have cleared.
Confirm with your landlord that rent collection is enabled in their Stessa account.
Disputing the Balance Shown
If the balance in the Resident Portal looks incorrect:
Contact your landlord directly.
Once they update the ledger, your balance in the Resident Portal adjusts automatically.
If you keep receiving rent payment emails after moving out, ask your landlord to update or remove your email address in your tenant profile.
Payment History After Rent Collection Is Turned Off
If your landlord turns off rent collection, you’ll no longer have access to your payment history in the Resident Portal. Contact your landlord for a copy of your rent ledger.