🏠
Personal Finance/Small Landlord Ledger

Small Landlord Ledger

Track rent, expenses, and cash flow for your rental properties — local, no signup

LOCAL STORAGERent trackingExpense loggingCash flow dashboardJSON export
Sep 2026 Overview
0
Properties
$0
Expected rent
$0
Collected
$0
Outstanding
$0
Expenses
$0
Net cash flow
Year-to-Date (2026)
$0
YTD rent collected
$0
YTD expenses
$0
YTD net
$0
All-time rent
$0
All-time expenses
No properties yet. Add one or load sample data.
Data Source & Legal Disclaimer
Effective: 2026
Sources: Browser-side processing (no external API)

This tool runs 100% in your browser. All computation happens locally on your device — your input is never uploaded to any server. Results are for reference only.

See all data sources & update policy →

Rental income, expenses & cash flow — illustrated

A landlord ledger is a per-month cash-flow statement for each rental. For every unit you track the expected rent, what was actually collected (marked paid, partial, or overdue), and each expense — repairs, maintenance, insurance, property tax, utilities, HOA fees, and management. Net cash flow equals rent collected minus expenses, and for tax purposes you operate on a cash basis: count rent when it is received and deduct an expense when it is paid. Security deposits are a separate liability, not income — they remain refundable to the tenant until the lease ends. This tool rolls every property into one month's overview so an overdue tenant or an expensive repair shows up immediately in the net number.

One month of ledger cash flow
Cash flow this monthRent collected (income)+$2,300− Expenses (repairs, lawn, ins.)−$385= Net cash flow$1,915Security deposit (liability)$1,800 heldDeposits are a liability — held andrefundable, never counted as income.Rent status per propertyMaple Stpaidcollected$1,800 of $1,800Oak Aveoverduecollected$0 of $1,200Pine Stpartialcollected$500 of $950Collected$2,300Outstanding$1,650Oak Ave owes the full $1,200;Pine St still owes $450 of $950.

Left: the cash-flow stack — collected rent minus expenses equals net cash flow, with the security deposit kept off the income side. Right: the $3,950 of expected rent splits into $2,300 actually collected and $1,650 still outstanding.

Worked example

David owns three rentals — Maple St at $1,800, Oak Ave at $1,200, and Pine St at $950. This month Maple paid in full, Oak Ave is overdue, and Pine St sent $500 as a partial payment.

  1. Expected rent:$1,800 + $1,200 + $950 = $3,950 across 3 properties
  2. Collected:$2,300 — Maple full, Pine St partial, Oak Ave overdue
  3. Expenses:$385 for a faucet repair, lawn care, and insurance
  4. Net cash flow:$2,300 − $385 = $1,915, with $1,650 still outstanding
↩ Back to calculator

About this tool

What is this tool?

Track rent, expenses and cash flow for rental properties. Local, no signup, private.

Rent trackingExpense loggingCash flow dashboardJSON export

What Is the Small Landlord Ledger?

This ledger tracks the financial life of rental properties: rent collected per unit per month, maintenance and operating expenses per property, and the resulting cash flow — all in one local-first tool built for portfolios of one to fifty units. It records partial payments, late payments, and security deposits separately from rent; categorizes expenses the way Schedule E expects them; and rolls everything into per-property and portfolio-level summaries you can export for tax season. Data lives on your device with optional backup export, not in someone else's cloud.

Who Should Use This Tool?

Landlords with a handful of units for whom full property-management platforms are priced and featured for companies, not them. Accidental landlords renting out a former primary residence who need to start tracking properly. Investors evaluating whether a property actually cash-flows once vacancy and maintenance are counted. Self-filers who want expenses pre-categorized for Schedule E instead of reconstructing the year from bank statements in April. Partners in jointly owned rentals who need one clean record both can trust.

How Does It Work?

(1) Add each property with its units, rent amounts, and lease dates. (2) Log transactions as they happen: rent receipts including partial amounts, maintenance invoices, insurance, taxes, utilities, and management costs, each tagged to a property and category. (3) The dashboard computes per-property income, expenses, and net cash flow, plus portfolio totals and vacancy-adjusted views. (4) At tax time, export the categorized summary that maps to Schedule E line items. (5) Export full backups regularly so your ledger survives a device change.

What Rental Expenses Can Landlords Deduct?

Schedule E deductions fall into clean buckets, and disciplined categorization is what makes an audit boring. Always deductible current expenses: mortgage interest (not principal), property taxes, insurance premiums, repairs that keep the property in operating condition, utilities you pay, HOA fees, property management fees, advertising, travel between properties, and professional fees for tax and legal work on the rental. Capital improvements — a new roof, HVAC replacement, additions — are not expensed; they depreciate over 27.5 years for residential property, while appliances and carpet depreciate on shorter schedules. The repair-versus-improvement line matters most: patching a roof leak is a repair deducted today; replacing the roof is depreciation. Keep every invoice logged with date and purpose in the ledger as it arrives — contemporaneous records carry weight that April reconstructions do not. Security deposits are not income until you keep them; log them as liabilities, and if you withhold any, document the damages item by item.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my rental data safe?

Yes. All data is stored locally in your browser using localStorage. Nothing is uploaded to any server. You can export a JSON backup at any time and clear all data with one click.

How many properties can I track?

There is no hard limit — the tool works well for landlords with 1 to 50 properties. For larger portfolios, you may want to export backups regularly.

Can I track partial payments?

Currently the tool supports paid and overdue statuses. You can adjust the payment amount when marking as paid to reflect partial payments.

Can I export data for taxes?

Yes. Click the Export button to download a JSON backup of all your properties, payments, and expenses. This can be used for tax preparation or imported into accounting software.

Related tools

Joke of the Day
Sep 7

Why did the elephant paint its toenails red?

100% Free, Forever

Keep Tools Free for Everyone

No paywalls, no signups, no data sold. Built by a solo developer who believes useful tools should be accessible to everyone.

Support me on Ko-fi— keep tools free

100% of proceeds go towards hosting & building more free tools.