Industries · Rental property
Rental property bookkeeping for landlords with 20 to 75 homes
A profit and loss for every home, security deposits kept as liabilities, repairs separated from improvements, and your property software reconciled to the bank every month, in your own QuickBooks file.
Rental property bookkeeping for a portfolio means books that answer one question per home: is this property making money? In QuickBooks that takes one project per home, rent recorded by type and by property, security deposits held as liabilities, repairs kept apart from improvements, owner money in and out recorded as equity, and the property software’s deposits reconciled to the bank each month. The result is a profit and loss for every home and a year-end package your CPA can file from.
Published by TechBrot.
Certifications
Current certifications held by TechBrot’s founder: Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification — verification on request. Intuit’s ProAdvisor program becomes Intuit ProPartner Accountants in early 2027; the certifications continue.
Rental property bookkeeping, in five questions.
How should a rental portfolio be set up in QuickBooks?
One project per home, so a profit and loss runs for each property, with rent recorded by type, security deposits as a liability, repairs apart from improvements, and owner money in and out as equity.
Why not use classes for each property?
QuickBooks Online Plus allows 40 classes and locations combined, which a growing portfolio outgrows. Projects give each home its own profit and loss without that cap; classes stay free for entities or regions.
How are security deposits recorded?
As a liability, home by home: the money belongs to the tenant until it is applied or returned, so it is never income when it arrives.
Does my property software replace bookkeeping?
No. Innago, AppFolio or Buildium hold the tenant ledger; the books still need the deposits matched to the bank, fees recorded, loans split and every account reconciled.
What does my CPA need at year-end?
A profit and loss by property, a balance sheet that ties, the improvements list with dates and amounts, mortgage interest and property tax by home, and contractor totals.
Built for portfolios of 20 to 75 homes.
This page is for landlords who own roughly 20 to 75 single-family homes or small multifamily buildings, directly or through a few LLCs, and want books that show how each property is doing. Below about 20 homes a simpler setup usually works. Well above 75, most owners run an in-house team.
If you manage other people’s properties, trust accounting is a different job: see property management bookkeeping. For agents and brokerages, see real estate accounting; for short stays, short-term rental accounting.
How a rental portfolio’s books are set up.
Six decisions made once, so every month’s numbers land against the right home.
One project per home, not one class
Each home is set up as its own project (a sub-customer), so income and expenses land against the property they belong to and a profit and loss runs for every home. Classes and locations are kept for something else, such as an owning entity or a region: QuickBooks Online Plus allows 40 classes and locations combined, which a growing portfolio outgrows.
Rent by type and by home
Rent, late fees, pet fees and other charges post to separate income accounts, against the home they came from. A property that pays late shows up as that property, not as a smaller total.
Security deposits as a liability
A deposit belongs to the tenant until it is applied or returned, so it sits on the balance sheet as a liability, tracked home by home, never as income.
Repairs kept apart from improvements
A repair keeps a property as it was; an improvement adds to it or extends its life. The two are recorded separately every month, with dates and amounts, so your CPA can decide the treatment at year-end from a list rather than a shoebox.
Owner money in and out as equity
Money you put in to cover a repair and money you take out are recorded as owner contributions and distributions, not as income or expense, so each property’s profit stays true.
Loan payments split
Each mortgage payment is split into principal, which reduces the loan, interest, which is an expense, and escrow for taxes and insurance, and the loan balance is reconciled to the lender’s statement.
Sources, read 2026-10-14: Intuit, usage limits in QuickBooks Online.
Your property software, reconciled to the bank.
If rent runs through Innago, AppFolio or Buildium, the software holds the tenant ledger and QuickBooks holds the books. Each month the deposits the software reports are matched to what actually reached the bank, with processing fees and returned payments recorded, and the rent the software says was collected agrees with the income in the books, home by home.
Where the two disagree, the difference is found and explained, not adjusted away.
The portfolio month-end checklist.
What has to be true before a month is closed. Use it yourself, or hand it to whoever keeps your books.
- Rent and other charges posted to each home and agreed to the rent roll.
- Deposits from the property software matched to the bank, with fees and returned payments recorded.
- Security deposits received, applied and returned recorded against each home’s liability.
- Every bank, credit-card and loan account reconciled to its statement.
- Mortgage payments split into principal, interest and escrow.
- Repairs and improvements coded separately, with the receipt attached.
- Owner contributions and distributions recorded.
- A profit and loss for every home and for the portfolio, reviewed before it reaches you.
- Open items listed: late rent, unpaid vendor bills, deposits due back.
The year-end package for your CPA.
What your CPA receives, so the return starts from the books rather than from your bank statements.
A profit and loss by property, and for the portfolio
Twelve months, every home on its own, with the portfolio total.
A balance sheet that ties
Loans agreed to the lenders’ statements and security deposits listed by home.
The improvements list
Every improvement by home, with its date and amount, for the depreciation schedule your CPA keeps.
Mortgage interest, property tax and insurance by home
The totals a rental return asks for, already split by property.
Contractor totals
What each contractor was paid in the year, for the 1099s.
TechBrot does not file taxes; CPAs and EAs are referral partners. Depreciation and how each cost is treated on the return are your CPA’s decisions; the books are kept so they can make them quickly.
Who does the work, and what it costs.
Every engagement has a named TechBrot bookkeeper, controller or advisor, introduced once you sign, and every close is reviewed before it reaches you.
Monthly bookkeeping is a fixed fee of $400–$2,500+ a month. For a portfolio, the fee depends mostly on the number of bank accounts and entities and on how rent is collected, rather than on the number of homes alone. If the books are behind, catch-up or cleanup comes first, as a one-time fixed fee. Full detail is on bookkeeping pricing.
How a portfolio sits in QuickBooks Online.
| Level | Set up as | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Each owning LLC | Its own QuickBooks file | Each entity keeps and reports its own books |
| Each home | A project (sub-customer) | A profit and loss for every property, with no 40-item cap |
| Region or entity group | A class or location | Reporting across homes, inside the 40-item limit |
| Rent and fees | Separate income accounts | Rent, late fees and other charges seen apart |
| Security deposits | A liability account, by home | Owed to the tenant until applied or returned |
Illustration of the structure, not a client file: the levels follow your entities and your homes, and your CPA’s view of how the entities report decides the files.
What landlords ask about their books.
Do I need a separate QuickBooks file for each LLC?
Why projects instead of classes for each home?
Do you collect rent or manage tenants?
Can you work with AppFolio, Buildium or Innago?
Do you handle depreciation and Schedule E?
Running a rental portfolio?
See what your books would look like by property.
Start with a discovery call and tell us where the books stand; we recommend the engagement that fits. Prefer to talk first? Call us. Want the file looked at first? Start with the free file review above.
Tell us where the books stand. We’ll tell you which engagement fits, if any.
If we miss you, we return your call within one business day. Written fixed-fee scope within 3 business days. No hourly billing.