Property Expense & Maintenance Log (Excel)

Preview

Real view of the file with its sample data (yellow cells are where you type).

What's inside

• Settings: currency symbol, year start, your properties and an editable list of 16 expense categories (repairs, plumbing, electrical, painting, property tax, society or HOA fees, insurance, loan interest and more)
• Expenses sheet with 1,000 rows: date, property, unit, category, description, vendor, amount, bill number and "Charge to" (owner or tenant)
• Repairs sheet: date reported, property, unit, reported by, problem, priority, assigned to, status, date fixed and cost; days open count by themselves and jobs open longer than 7 days turn red
• Summary: the year's expenses by category and by property, amounts to recover from tenants, open repair jobs, rent received (you type it) and net income per property

How to use it

1. On the Settings sheet type your currency symbol, the first day of your accounting year and your property names. Edit the category list if you need different heads.
2. Each time you pay for something, add a row on the Expenses sheet with the property, category and amount. Choose "Tenant" in "Charge to" if the tenant must pay it back (for example damage beyond normal wear).
3. When a tenant reports a problem, add it on the Repairs sheet with a priority and who will fix it. Update the status and the date fixed when it is done, and add the cost on the Expenses sheet too.
4. On the Summary sheet type the rent received from each property this year (copy it from the Rent Ledger workbook). Net income works out by itself.
5. Keep the bills: scan or photograph them and note the bill number in the row, so you can find them at tax time.

Tips

• Use the same property names in this workbook and in the Rent Ledger so totals match.
• Big improvements (a new roof, a new lift) are treated differently from repairs by tax rules in many countries; tag them clearly in the description and ask your accountant.
• In India, house property income gets a standard deduction for repairs, so many owners cannot claim actual repair costs separately; this log is still useful for your own records and for deposit deductions. Check the rules for your country.
• Review the Repairs sheet every week: a small leak left for a month becomes a big bill.

Questions and answers