How to Reopen a Completed Rental Contract | Latner Software Documentation

Reopening a completed rental contract puts it back into Active status so you can add a missed charge, correct a return or invoice it again, without having to duplicate the contract.

Overview

Completing a contract is meant to be the end of the story, but the story isn't always finished. A charge was missed, a return went on with the wrong date, or the final invoice needs redoing. Reopening hands the contract back to you instead of making you start a new one.

The two most common reasons to reopen are below. In both cases, complete the contract again from Options › Complete Rental Contract when you're done.

Billing a late charge, such as a fuel recharge

Put the charge on the contract as a line and invoice it from the contract. Don't raise a separate manual invoice for it - billing from the contract keeps the charge on the contract's lines and in its invoice history.

Reopen the contract with Options › Reopen Rental Contract (steps below).
Choose Options › Add Details and set Line Type to Fuel for a fuel recharge, or Admin for any other late charge set up as an admin charge, such as a cleaning fee. Fill in the line and save it. This needs the Add Rental Contract Details permission (see How to Add Equipment to a Rental Contract).
Choose Options › Invoice, set Invoice Type to Final Invoice and click Preview. A final invoice picks up every line that hasn't been invoiced yet. The contract was fully invoiced when it was completed, so the preview should show just the new charge. Click Create Invoice.
Complete the contract again with Options › Complete Rental Contract.

Deleting leftover lines

Lines can't be deleted while the contract is Completed - the delete button stays greyed out until the contract is Reserved or Active.

Reopen the contract with Options › Reopen Rental Contract (steps below).
On the Details tab, tick the lines to remove, click the Delete (bin) icon above the grid and choose Confirm. This needs the Delete Rental Contract Details permission. If a line has already been invoiced (its Total Invoiced is above zero), you also need Delete Invoiced Rental Contract Details, and deleting the line doesn't reverse the invoice - raise a credit note for it first (see How to Create a Credit Note from a Rental Contract).
Complete the contract again with Options › Complete Rental Contract.

Only lines in Pre-Allocated, Reserved, Pending or Added status can be deleted. Equipment that has been Returned stays on the contract even after you reopen it.

What reopening does:

Reopening moves the contract's status from Completed straight back to Active.
The option only appears on contracts that are Completed. Cancelled and Lost contracts can't be reopened.
Equipment lines stay in Returned status. Reopening doesn't put equipment back on rent.
Invoices, payments and credit notes already raised on the contract are untouched.
Once the contract is Active again, everything that was locked while it was completed is available again, including adding details, off hires, returns, transport dockets, invoicing and uploading documents.
Every reopen is written to the contract's audit trail.

Before You Begin

Reopening needs one permission and a contract in the right status. There is no system setting to switch on. Deleting lines once the contract is open again needs two more.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Reopen Rental Contract permission	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › your group › Rental › Option
A rental contract in Completed status	Rental › Rental Contracts
Delete Rental Contract Details and Delete Invoiced Rental Contract Details permissions (only to delete lines after reopening)	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › your group › Rental › Option
The contract's customer must not be inactive	Customers › Customers

The Reopen Rental Contract permission in the Hire Controller group, filtered by searching "Reopen" under Rental › Option

The permission is branch aware. If your group grants Reopen Rental Contract for some branches only, reopening a contract from another branch returns "You do not have permission to perform this action in this branch".

Reopening the Contract

Step 1 - Open the completed rental contract

Go to Rental › Rental Contracts and open the contract you need. Its Contract Status reads Completed, which is what locks the contract down.

A completed rental contract. The Financial Details panel still shows what was invoiced and paid, and none of that changes when you reopen

Step 2 - Choose Reopen Rental Contract

Click Options and select Reopen Rental Contract, at the bottom of the list. Notice how much of the menu is greyed out while the contract is completed. If Reopen Rental Contract isn't in the menu at all, the contract isn't in Completed status, or your permission group doesn't grant the permission.

Options on a completed contract. Add Details, Off Hire, Return, Invoice and the rest are disabled, and Reopen Rental Contract is the way back

Step 3 - Check the contract is Active

The contract reopens straight away, with no confirmation dialog. Latner confirms with Rental Contract Reopened and the Contract Status in the header changes to Active.

The same contract a moment later. Contract Status is now Active and the contract behaves like any other live contract

After Reopening

The contract is Active, and the sub statuses on the contract and on every detail line are recalculated. Completing had stamped them all as Completed.
Detail line statuses themselves don't move. Equipment that was Returned stays Returned.
Reopen Rental Contract disappears from Options, and Complete Rental Contract and Postpone Rental Contract take its place.
The contract counts as a live contract again, so it comes back into scope for invoicing, cycle billing and revenue forecasting.
The reopen is recorded in the contract's audit trail, along with the status change from Completed to Active.

Options on the reopened contract. Everything is available again and Complete Rental Contract now sits where Reopen used to be

Don't leave a contract sitting in Active once you've finished with it. An active contract with a Billing Status of Active is picked up again by cycle billing and revenue forecasting, so it can attract charges you didn't intend. When the corrections are done, complete it again from Options › Complete Rental Contract.

FAQs

Reopen Rental Contract isn't in the Options menu. Why?

The option is hidden unless the contract's status is Completed, so you won't see it on a Reserved, Active, Cancelled or Lost contract. If the contract is completed and the option still isn't there, your permission group doesn't have Reopen Rental Contract under Rental › Option.

Does reopening put the equipment back on rent?

No. The detail lines keep the status they had when the contract was completed, so returned equipment stays returned and remains available in your fleet. If the customer wants the machine again, add a new detail line to the reopened contract or raise a new contract.

Will reopening reverse the invoices already raised?

No. Reopening only changes the contract's status. Invoices, payments and credit notes stay exactly as they were. If a charge was wrong, raise a credit note against the contract rather than expecting the reopen to undo it.

I get "Cannot reopen Rental Contract: the Customer is Inactive". What now?

A contract can't be reopened while its customer is inactive. Make the customer active again in Customers › Customers, then reopen the contract.

Can I reopen a cancelled or lost contract?

No. Reopening only works on completed contracts. Anything else returns "Can not reopen rental contract with status CANCELLED" (or LOST). To bill a cancelled job, duplicate the contract instead.

I've made my changes, but the contract won't complete again. Why?

Completing runs its usual checks. Every equipment and sub hire line has to be Returned, transport dockets on the contract have to be completed or cancelled, and nothing can be left to invoice. If anything is still billable you'll see "Cannot complete rental contract with detail lines that aren't fully invoiced", followed by the lines in question, so invoice those first.

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