Paying rent with Centrepay

What Centrepay is

Centrepay is a voluntary bill-paying service run by Services Australia. A person who gets Centrelink payments can choose to have regular amounts, such as rent, taken from those payments and paid to a business that is registered with Centrepay.

It is the renter’s choice. A landlord cannot make a renter use it, and a renter can ask Services Australia to change or stop a deduction.

If you are a renter

• You set up Centrepay with Services Australia, not with MyRentAll or your landlord. Services Australia’s Centrepay page explains the ways to do it.
• Your landlord or agent has to be registered with Centrepay first. Ask them whether they are, and what details you need to give Services Australia.
• Check that the amount and how often it is taken match your rent. If they do not, tell your landlord so they know why a payment is short or late, and ask Services Australia to correct the deduction.
• Keep your own record. Your Centrepay deduction is not a MyRentAll payment, so MyRentAll will not show it as paid until it is recorded (see below).

If you are a landlord

• You have to register with Centrepay as a business before a renter can pay you this way. You do that with Services Australia. They decide who can register and set the terms, so read their Centrepay page before you promise a renter you can take it.
• Centrepay money comes to you from Services Australia, not through MyRentAll or Stripe. It does not go through your MyRentAll payout account.
• Rent paid another way than online through MyRentAll does not have the MyRentAll platform fee.
• Offering Centrepay is your choice, but check your state’s rules about the ways you must let a renter pay. We are still confirming those for some states, so check with your state’s tenancy authority.

What MyRentAll does and does not do

• MyRentAll does not take, move or pass on Centrepay payments.
• MyRentAll cannot see, set up, change or check a Centrepay deduction, and cannot tell you if one has been paid.
• MyRentAll can keep a record of a Centrepay payment once you tell it about the payment, so your rent history, receipts and statements are complete.

Recording a Centrepay payment in MyRentAll

Centrepay is paid outside MyRentAll, so you record it as rent paid another way. The other person then confirms it, the same as any rent paid outside MyRentAll.

1. Open the tenancy and go to the Rent section.
2. Choose to record a payment for the rent period it covers.
3. Enter the amount and the date the money was paid or received.
4. For how it was paid, choose “Another way”, and write “Centrepay” in the note.
5. Save it. The other person is asked to confirm, and the rent shows as paid once they do.
6. Do not type a Centrelink Customer Reference Number or any other ID number in the note. It is not needed.

Where to get official information

Services Australia is the only source for how Centrepay works, who can register, what it costs, how often money is paid and how to change or stop a deduction. These things can change, so check their page rather than relying on this one.

Centrepay on the Services Australia website (opens in a new tab)