Shopping Centre Management Software: Service Charges & Tenants

Good management software for shopping centres and commercial complexes does four jobs well: it splits the service charge fairly between very different shop units (usually by floor area or a combined formula), keeps the unit owner’s account apart from the trading tenant’s, chases arrears with targeted messages, and documents rule breaches with formal written warnings. Hamkhoneh by P-Soft covers exactly this administrative and financial side of running a mall.

Running a shopping arcade is a people problem before it is a numbers problem. There is the investor who bought three units years ago and only appears at the annual meeting, the shopkeeper who rents one of them and feels the service charge is “the landlord’s business”, the board that wants to know how the night security contract is funded, and the guard who needs to know which shutter was left up after closing. This guide starts from those daily frictions, then shows which Hamkhoneh features fit a retail complex, which plan they sit in, and what the software deliberately does not do.

How is a shopping mall different from a residential building?

Most building management tools are designed around apartments, where the resident pays and the units are similar in size. A mall breaks those assumptions:

• Unit sizes vary wildly. A two-square-metre jewellery kiosk can sit next to a double-fronted fashion store. An equal split triggers complaints within a month.
• Location matters. A ground-floor unit beside the main entrance and a third-floor unit at the end of a corridor do not see the same customers, and owners know it.
• The payer is often not the owner. Many shops are let, tenants change mid-year, and every unpaid amount must land on the right name and period.
• Shared costs are heavy. Escalators, corridor lighting, public toilets, daily cleaning and night security make up most of the budget.
• House rules need enforcing. Goods blocking walkways, oversized signs or trading outside agreed hours all need a written trail.

Which service charge method suits a commercial complex?

Hamkhoneh calculates charges in six ways: equal share, floor area, number of occupants, parking, floor level, or a combined method. All six are available in every plan, and the monthly charge is issued automatically in a way that never bills a unit twice or leaves it half-billed. Each unit record holds its area, floor, parking space and headcount, so the basis of every bill can be explained.

Unexpected costs, say a replacement escalator motor, go out as a one-off charge separate from the monthly bill. Ad-hoc charges like this, automatic payment reminders and penalties for late payers are included from the Pro plan upward. If your board keeps arguing about who should pay what, read who pays the building charge, owner or tenant.

Owner and tenant records for every shop unit

Every unit in Hamkhoneh carries separate files for its owner, its tenant and staff, and the history of ownership and occupancy is kept. When a shop changes hands in July, the previous trader’s payments stay on record and the manager can see which person and which months an arrear belongs to.

Ready-made filters cut the daily admin: one click lists debtors, another lists reliable payers, and board members can be found separately. Units can be viewed three ways:

• Coloured cards to spot overdue shops at a glance in a short board meeting.
• Block map for centres with several wings or entrances, so units appear in their physical order.
• Table for sorting, comparing and exporting to Excel.

Moving from spreadsheets? P-Soft’s team brings your old records across, whether they live in Excel workbooks or another program; the scope of that transfer is set in the contract and depends on the plan.

Collecting service charges: online payment and targeted SMS

Shopkeepers rarely have time to walk to the management office, and bank transfer receipts have to be checked one by one. Every plan lets tenants upload a card-to-card transfer receipt for the manager to approve. In Pro and Elite, traders pay online through the portal or the Android app via the ZarinPal or Saman gateways, and because the merchant account belongs to the complex itself, funds land in the centre’s bank account with no intermediary holding them. The mechanics are covered in online building charge payment.

Group SMS announcements to everyone or a chosen group are in all plans, for instance a notice that second-floor corridor power will be off for maintenance. Targeted SMS aimed only at debtors, only at owners or only at tenants comes with Pro and up. In a mall that distinction matters: the meeting invitation goes to owners, the reminder about opening hours goes to traders. Tips on wording are in building SMS notifications.

You can also reward early payment next to the late fee, and every unit gets an invoice that prints cleanly or saves as a PDF, which tenants often forward to their landlord.

Rule breaches, formal warnings and a mall secretariat

Not every dispute in a mall is about money. Imagine (hypothetical) that unit 18 has stacked boxes in the walkway for weeks. Verbal reminders vanish from memory by the next board meeting. In Hamkhoneh, the breach is logged and a formal printed warning is issued. The internal secretariat archives letters and meeting minutes, so the approved trading hours or signage rules are always at hand. Violations, the secretariat and targeted SMS sit in the Pro and Elite plans.

Repair requests and their follow-up are available in all three plans, so a trader reporting a leaking ceiling can see where the job stands. Online polls and votes with live, transparent results help settle questions such as Friday closing times.

Commercial complex accounting: contractors, assets and stores

Cleaning, escalator servicing and security are frequently outsourced. Hamkhoneh’s building accounting records contractor contracts, prepayments, loans, assets and the building’s own store. Even on Start, the manager records takings and costs under clear categories, runs a cash box and a petty cash float, and exports everything to Excel. Pro adds proper double-entry books (ledger, trial balance, P&L statement and balance sheet, with year-end closing) together with a dashboard that tracks how collection is going, which shops stand empty and how spending compares with income.

In Elite, Hamkhoneh also warns before insurance policies and building contracts expire, which protects a centre from letting its fire cover or security contract lapse unnoticed.

Roles for guards, board members and accountants

Each person gets a role of their own: manager, board member, accountant, owner, tenant or guard, and a single permission can be removed from one individual without touching the rest. An outsourced accountant can post entries without editing shop files, and a guard sees only what a shift needs. Sign-in uses a one-time code texted to the user’s mobile, so nobody has passwords to forget. Every plan includes the browser portal. Pro and Elite add an Android app that pings traders the moment a new charge is raised, a payment is confirmed or a vote closes.

Which Hamkhoneh plan fits your mall?

What Hamkhoneh does not do in a mall

Knowing the limits helps you buy the right thing. Hamkhoneh is not a point-of-sale system for shops, it does not manage lease agreements between owners and tenants, it does not count visitors, and it does not control vehicles in the car park. Its job is the financial and administrative running of the complex: charges, collection, accounts, communication, breaches and records.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can ground-floor and upper-floor shops be charged differently?

Yes. The floor-level or combined method handles this in every plan; just get the split approved by owners before you apply it.

Whose name does a let shop’s arrear go under?

Owner and tenant files are separate and occupancy history is kept, so each arrear is tied to the right person and period.

Where does online payment money go?

In Pro and Elite, payments through ZarinPal or Saman use the complex’s own merchant account and arrive directly in the centre’s account.

Can one company manage several shopping centres?

Yes. The Elite plan runs several buildings from one account with no unit limit.

Does Hamkhoneh control car park entry?

No. It records each unit’s parking bay for charge calculation, but vehicle entry and exit control is outside its scope.

Manage a shopping centre or commercial complex? See how Hamkhoneh would handle your units on the building management software page and request a demo there.

Further reading

• What Is Building Management Software and What Can It Do?
• How to Choose the Best Building Management Software: A Buyer’s Guide (2026)
• Best Way to Manage Building Service Charges for Residential Complexes

Complete guide: building management software