Getting your property manager's statement into Xero
If a property manager looks after your rental, your bank shows one payment a month. Your statement shows what really happened to the rent. Getting the statement into Xero, not just the payment, is what makes your books true.
Why the bank feed isn't enough
Your manager collects the rent, pays what's owed out of it, and sends you the rest. The statement lists each step. Your bank feed only sees the last one: the net payment.
That means Xero shows less income than you earned, and none of the costs that were taken out on the way. Rent looks lower, repairs and fees are missing, and nothing is split by property.
The usual fix is to record the statement's lines, not the deposit. Rent goes in as income, each fee and bill goes in as a cost, and the lines add up to the deposit that reaches your bank. Then your bank reconciliation still matches, and your reports show the real picture.
Doing it by hand means typing every line each month and checking the total against the deposit. It's not hard. It's just easy to put off, and a few months behind becomes a year.
Mistakes to avoid
- Recording only the deposit. The net payment hides the rent, the fees and the repairs.
- Recording the statement and the tradesperson's invoice. If your manager paid it from the rent, the statement is the record.
- Leaving it all until year end. Twelve statements at once is where errors creep in.
- Putting a whole statement on one property. One statement can name several addresses, and each line needs its own.
- Ignoring a balance carried forward. Some managers hold money for you, and the statement shows it as an opening balance.
This page is general information, not tax or accounting advice. Check your own situation with your accountant.
A worked example
Here's one month for one property. The figures are made up, to show the shape.
| On the statement | Amount | Where it goes in Xero |
|---|---|---|
| Rent received | $2,600.00 | Rental income |
| Management fee (including GST) | −$260.00 | Property management fees |
| Plumber, leaking tap (including GST) | −$390.00 | Repairs and maintenance |
| Paid to you | $1,950.00 | Matches the deposit in your bank feed |
Read it from the top. The rent is income, and the fee and the repair are costs. Add them up and you arrive at the payment in your bank. That's the whole check.
If your total is out by a few cents, the usual cause is GST rounding differently on the statement and in Xero. If it's out by more, a line is missing or has gone to the wrong place, and the statement itself will tell you which.
How Zerocile handles it
You forward the statement email, or upload the PDF. Zerocile reads it, works out which property each line belongs to, and codes each line to the accounts you've already told it to use.
It checks the statement's own arithmetic first. If the lines don't add up to the section totals, or the opening balance plus the sections doesn't equal the amount paid, it marks the document for you to look at, instead of posting it.
Routine lines go straight into Xero with the PDF attached. Anything new or unusual, such as a fee it hasn't seen before, waits on one short list for your OK. It remembers your answer next time, and anything posted can be taken back out for 14 days.
Questions
Do I have to key the statement in by hand?
You can, and many landlords do. It means typing every line and checking the total against the deposit each month. Zerocile reads the PDF instead and does the typing.
What if one statement covers several properties?
Each line is matched to its property by the address printed on the statement, so one statement becomes entries for each property in Xero.
How do I know the totals are right?
Zerocile checks that the lines add up to the statement's totals before posting. If they don't, it asks you rather than guessing.
What about money my manager holds for me?
Some managers keep a balance for you, for example towards a repair. The statement shows it as an opening balance, which is why the arithmetic check includes it.
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