Claims, Settlement & Ledger Terms

1. The Four-Step Settlement Lifecycle

Every rental obligation on EstateTrack progresses through four sequential stages:

2. The Three Facts of a Claim

When a payer files a claim, the system captures exactly three factual assertions:

• The Monetary Amount Remitted: Exact principal currency value transferred.
• The Payment Rail & Reference Code: M-Pesa transaction code, bank EFT trace number, or cheque number.
• The Transaction Date & Timestamp: Date and time when the funds were released.

Assertion vs. Receipt: A digital Claim Receipt produced upon filing is formal confirmation that the claim was registered in the organization queue. It is not conclusive proof of payment receipt until the landlord marks it settled.

3. Payee Verification Duties & Prompt Action

Landlords and property managers bear an affirmative operational duty to review incoming claims promptly upon bank statement availability. Payees must execute one of two definitive actions:

• Settle: Confirms actual deposit receipt. Atomically marks the claim settled, writes append-only ledger rows, and updates invoice balances.
• Revoke: Rejects the claim. The payee must supply an explicit written reason (e.g. “Transaction code not found on bank statement”). Both parties receive in-app notification.

4. Append-Only Ledger Immutability

The EstateTrack financial ledger (settlement_ledger) is strictly permanent and append-only.

Database-level constraints guarantee that no historical record is ever updated, overridden, or deleted. Mistakes are resolved strictly through new compensating entries that explicitly document the author, timestamp, and administrative rationale.

5. 90-Day Settlement Reversals

In the event of an erroneous settlement (e.g. fraudulent transaction code or bounced cheque settled prematurely), the settlement may be reversed within ninety (90) calendar days of initial recording.

Reversals append a negative compensating record to the ledger, restore the invoice balance, notify all affected parties, and log an audit trail. After 90 days, settlements become permanently immutable.

6. The Reconciliation Waterfall

When a payment is settled, SettleCore applies the settled amount strictly in accordance with the Master Blueprint §11.10 waterfall:

1. Current Due Invoice: Funds clear the target invoice principal and utilities.
2. Historical Arrears: Any remaining balance cascades backward to oldest outstanding debts.
3. Advance Rent Credit: Any excess payment surplus is stored as unallocated tenant credit applied to future invoice cycles.

7. False Claim Consequences

To maintain the integrity of financial ledgers across the ecosystem, submitting intentionally fictitious, stolen, or duplicated transaction references is strictly prohibited. Violations trigger progressive enforcement: