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Rental property bookkeeping
Updated 2026-09-11 · Take questions to your CPA
Schedule E is laid out by property. Books that mix every property into one checking-account dump force your CPA to split the year in April. Tag the rent and the repair to the address when you record them.
What to record
Properties (name, street, rent, how often it is due). Tenants (who lives where, move-in, leave date). Income and expenses as cash — what you actually received or paid — each tagged to a property.
Deposits are not rent
A refundable security deposit is not rental income while you hold it. Keep it off line 3.
Match the statement without a bank login
You type what happened, then check off what cleared. Export a bank CSV or a QuickBooks CSV when you want the rows elsewhere.
Who hasn’t paid
Due and overdue come from rent you already recorded. How notifications work.
If you are still in a sheet, read landlord spreadsheet vs books by property. For the category list, see the rental expense tracker. For what this product is and is not, see rental property accounting software. Or click through sample books.
RentLedger.pro — web books + Schedule E file included, no bank login, for US DIY landlords.
More guides
- Schedule E download for DIY landlords
- Schedule E software: included vs a paid add-on
- Landlord spreadsheet vs books by property
- Who hasn’t paid rent
- Security deposits are not rental income
- Rental property accounting software
- Rental expense tracker
- Stessa Schedule E vs RentLedger
- QuickBooks and rental property books
- Rental tax questions to take to your CPA
- Which RentLedger? .pro vs the App Store vs .ai