How to Cancel a Rental Contract | Latner Software Documentation

Cancelling a Rental Contract closes it off before the hire runs its course, releases the equipment you had committed to the job, and records why the work did not go ahead.

Overview

Not every booking turns into a hire. The customer's site gets delayed, a competitor wins on price, or the job is simply called off. Cancelling the contract in Latner tidies up everything the booking was holding and keeps the reason on the record, so the lost work is visible instead of silently disappearing.

You can only cancel a Rental Contract while it is Reserved or Active.
Every cancellation needs a Reason and a Note. Both are mandatory.
The reason's Type decides the contract's final status: a Cancellation reason leaves the contract Cancelled, a Lost reason leaves it Lost.
All detail lines are set to Cancelled. Reserved equipment is released back to the fleet and allocated stock is unallocated.
Outstanding transport dockets, open inspections and linked sub hire order lines are cancelled along with the contract.
Cancelling is final. A Cancelled or Lost contract cannot be reopened.

Before You Begin

Two things need to be in place before anyone can cancel a contract.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Cancel Rental Contract permission	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › [group] › Rental › Option
At least one Active Cancel Reason	Rental › Configuration › Cancel Reasons
Contract status of Reserved or Active	The Contract Status shown at the top of the Rental Contract
No unpaid invoices on the contract	Financial Details on the Rental Contract, or the Invoices tab

The Cancel Rental Contract permission sits under Rental › Option in a permission group. Without it, the option does not appear in the contract's Options menu

Cancel Reasons are maintained under Rental › Configuration › Cancel Reasons. Each reason carries a Name, a Description, a Type of Cancellation or Lost, and a Status. Only reasons with a status of Active can be picked when you cancel.

The Cancel Reasons configuration screen - the Type column is what drives the contract's final status, so it is worth getting right

Use Cancellation for work that was booked and then called off, and Lost for work you never won, such as a competitor beating you on price or availability. The two types split cleanly in reporting, so a reason with the wrong type quietly distorts your lost-business numbers.

Cancelling the Rental Contract

Step 1 - Open the Rental Contract

Go to Rental › Rental Contracts and open the contract you want to cancel. Check the Contract Status at the top of the screen reads Reserved or Active.

A Reserved Rental Contract before cancelling - the Financial Details panel is on the right, and is replaced by Lost Sale Details once the contract is cancelled

Step 2 - Choose Cancel Rental Contract

Select Options › Cancel Rental Contract. The option is greyed out on a contract that is already Completed, Cancelled or Lost.

Cancel Rental Contract in the Options menu, between Duplicate Rental Contract and Postpone Rental Contract

Step 3 - Pick a Reason

The Lost Sale window opens with two fields, both required:

Reason - the Cancel Reason that explains why the hire is not going ahead. Search the field to see the active reasons with their descriptions.
Notes - free text for the detail behind the reason.

The Lost Sale window - Reason and Notes are the only fields, and neither can be left empty

Click into Reason to search. Only reasons with a status of Active are listed, and the Description column helps when several reasons have similar names.

Searching the Reason field - the reason you pick determines whether the contract ends up Cancelled or Lost

Step 4 - Add a Note

Type the detail into Notes. This is the only place the story behind the cancellation is kept, and it stays on the contract permanently, so write it for the person who opens the contract in six months' time.

A completed Lost Sale window, ready to save

Step 5 - Save

Click Save. Latner confirms with Lost Sale Added and the contract reloads with its new status.

After Cancelling

The contract's status becomes Cancelled or Lost, depending on the reason's type, and its sub status is cleared.
Financial Details is replaced by a Lost Sale Details panel showing the Reason and Notes you entered.
Every detail line, including transport and additional item lines, is set to Cancelled.
Reserved equipment is unreserved and allocated stock quantities are released, so the items are available for other contracts again.
Any linked sub hire order line is cancelled, and its link back to the contract line is severed. The equipment class, number, quantity and dates are copied onto the sub hire order line first, so the supplier record still reads sensibly.
Outstanding transport dockets are cancelled. Dockets already Completed, Attempted or Cancelled are left as they are.
Open inspections raised against the contract's detail lines are cancelled.
The cancellation is written to the contract's audit trail as a Cancel action, with the user and the time.

The cancelled contract - the status reads Cancelled and the new Lost Sale Details panel carries the reason and note

The Details tab after cancelling - every line, including the delivery and pick up transport lines, now has a Detail Status of Cancelled

Cancelling cannot be undone. Reopen Rental Contract only works on a contract that is Completed, so a Cancelled or Lost contract stays that way. If the customer comes back, use Options › Duplicate Rental Contract on the cancelled contract to raise a fresh one with the same details rather than trying to revive it.

FAQs

Cancel Rental Contract is greyed out. Why?

The contract is already closed. The option is disabled on any contract with a status of Completed, Cancelled or Lost. If the option is missing from the Options menu altogether, your permission group does not have Cancel Rental Contract under Rental › Option.

I get "Can only cancel a Rental Contract if all equipment is Returned or Reserved". What do I need to do first?

Something on the contract has moved past the point where it can simply be dropped. A detail line blocks the cancellation when its status is On Rent, Off Rent, Pending Return, Pending Pick Up, Pending Delivery, Pending Collection or Cancelled. Where equipment has physically gone out, bring it back through the normal off hire and return process first, then cancel the contract.

Lines that are Reserved, Preallocated (including the pending delivery and pending collection preallocated statuses), Pending, Added, Applied, Invoiced or already Returned do not stand in the way.

I get "Cannot cancel a Rental Contract with an outstanding balance". What does that mean?

The contract has at least one invoice that has not been cancelled, and the invoiced total is still more than what has been paid and credited. Settle it first: take the payment, or raise a credit note against the invoice, and then cancel. A contract that has never been invoiced is not affected by this rule.

Why is the window called Lost Sale when I am cancelling a contract?

The same window is used to cancel a Rental Quote, a Rental Contract and a Sales Order, and it records the same thing in each case: the reason a piece of business did not proceed. Nothing about the window changes the fact that you are cancelling this contract.

What is the difference between a Cancelled and a Lost contract?

Only the reason you choose. A Cancel Reason with a Type of Cancellation puts the contract into Cancelled, and one with a Type of Lost puts it into Lost. The clean-up is identical either way. The distinction is there so you can tell work that was booked and then called off apart from work you never won.

Can I reopen a cancelled contract if the customer changes their mind?

No. Reopen Rental Contract only applies to a Completed contract. Use Options › Duplicate Rental Contract on the cancelled contract instead, which copies the header and, if you choose, the detail lines onto a new contract.

The contract has sub hire equipment on it. Does cancelling deal with the supplier as well?

Yes, as long as the supplier has not invoiced you. The matching sub hire order line is set to Cancelled automatically. If a supplier invoice already exists against that line, the cancellation is stopped with Cannot cancel a Sub Hire Order detail that has been invoiced. Sort the supplier invoice out first, then cancel the contract.

The reason I want is not in the list. Where do I add it?

Go to Rental › Configuration › Cancel Reasons and use Options › Create Cancel Reason. Give it a Name, a Description, the right Type, and a Status of Active so it shows up in the search. An existing reason set to Inactive will not appear either, so check that before creating a duplicate.

Watch the Demo

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