Merging Owner Accounts

Merging owner accounts allows you to consolidate multiple homeowner records into a single account within Vantaca. This feature is particularly useful when duplicate accounts have been created in error or when you need to combine historical data for the same homeowner across multiple properties or associations.

When you merge owner accounts, all financial history, action items, activity notes, and other account data from the original account are moved into the primary account, ensuring complete and accurate records. This process helps maintain data integrity and provides homeowners with a unified view of their information in the Vantaca Home portal.

Why You Might Need to Merge Owner Accounts:

• Duplicate accounts: If the same homeowner has accidentally been created as separate accounts in your system.
• Multiple property ownership: When a homeowner owns multiple properties and you want to consolidate their billing and communications under one account.
• Data consolidation: To combine historical records and maintain a complete audit trail for a single homeowner.
• Portal access: To give homeowners a single login with access to all their properties across associations.

Important: Merging accounts is a permanent action that moves all data from one account to another. If you need to reverse a merge, you can use the Unmerge feature found in System > Homeowner Merge Log (available within 2 years of the original merge and subject to certain conditions). For more information, see the "Homeowner Merge Log and Unmerge" article.

This article will show you the step-by-step process of successfully merging owner accounts.

Verify Merge Information

Verify the Mailing Address and Name of the accounts you wish to merge. Payment methods for each account will remain separate and will not be merged.

Begin Merging

Once the Mailing Address and Name are verified for each account that is going to be affected, begin the merge process by going to the Homeowner List and finding the account you wish to merge into the other.

Press the Merge button next to that account you wish to merge and the Merge Homeowner window will display. 

Search for the owner you wish to merge into by using the homeowner name and mailing address fields. Once the correct owner is found, press the Merge button to merge the originally selected account into that owner. 

The accounts will then both show identical contact information and the merged properties will show on the All Properties tab on each of the merged account ledgers. 

Note: The Owners Ledger > All Properties tab does not show any properties that do not have ledger items. 

Other Helpful Things to Know:

• All contact info will be retained from both owners, so you may end up with duplicates that need to be deleted on the contact info page.

  • Example: If "123 1st St" and "345 1st St" are merging, the Property Addresses of both of these properties are possible Primary Mailing Addresses once these properties are merged. If you have also added these addresses as under Homeowners > Homeowner Profile > Communication > Contact Info, then they will appear as duplicates and will need to be removed to avoid possible duplicate letters generating. 

• When accounts are merged, individual homeowner names cannot be distinguished - all merged accounts will display under a single shared name.

• This can be done for owners who have properties in multiple associations. The owner will then be presented with a drop down selection in the portal to switch between properties. 

• There is an available column for Homeowner ID on the homeowner list. This is the ID of the homeowner – if it is the same on two properties, those accounts are already merged.

• Unmerging is complicated! Previously merged homeowner accounts can only be unmerged if certain criteria has been met, you can see what that criteria is here: Homeowner Merge Log. Attention to detail and keeping permissions to merge limited is highly recommended.

• Merged activity information can be found via Homeowner > Homeowner Profile > Activity Notes on the account that the homeowner was merged into.

• When processing an Ownership Transfer, any accounts merged with the transferring account will automatically be unmerged, effectively isolating the transferring property. This is important to know when processing Master/Sub properties, as both master AND sub accounts will need to be transferred separately, and the new properties will need to be merged together after the transfer is complete.

Troubleshooting

Q: How do I remove owner accounts from an association without deleting them or merging them?

A: Convert the accounts to previous owners by following these steps:

1. Navigate to Homeowners > Homeowner List
2. Locate the account you want to remove
3. Click Edit
4. Enter a date in the Previous Owner field
5. Repeat for each account you need to remove

This will remove the accounts from the Homeowner List screen while preserving them for historical purposes. To view these accounts later, check the Previous Owners Only box at the top of the Homeowner List screen.

Q: After unmerging an owner, why is their name missing from the account?

A: Occasionally when an owner is unmerged, you will need to re-select their primary mailing address to restore their name on the account.

To do this:

1. Go to Homeowners > Homeowner Profile > Communication > Contact Info > click Change Primary Mailing Address
2. Reselect the owner's mailing address > click Update

The owner's name will then repopulate on the account.

Q: How do I give merged accounts different names?

A: Merged accounts automatically share the same name. To assign different names to individual accounts, you must unmerge them.

For detailed instructions on unmerging accounts and the requirements, see our Homeowner Merge Log and Unmerge article.

Q: Why are merged accounts not appearing on the same statement?

A: This happens when generating statements from an owner's account instead of at the association level, and the Include All Properties checkbox is not selected. To include all merged accounts on the same statement, select the Include All Properties checkbox in the Parameters section of the Action Item window when generating a statement from an owner's account. Note: This checkbox is not needed when running statements at the association level, as all properties are included by default.