RENTAL PROPERTY: WHAT RECORDS DO YOU NEED TO KEEP?

What rental property records do you need to keep for your investment* property? Here is a general guide. All costs are for the 12 months preceding 31 March:

RENTAL PROPERTY

For the rental investment property itself, we need these rental property records:

• Copy of Sale & Purchase Agreement (if first year)
• Total Rent Received
• Insurances, e.g. Landlord Protection, Mortgage Protection, House
• Legal fees
• Property Management fees (if applicable)
• Rates – water and Council
• Maintenance, including any purchases e.g. heat-pump
• Rubbish collection (if you are paying for it)
• Property improvements (detailed invoices please)
• Any other fees or charges
• Sale and purchase agreement
• Valuations – chattels & general

HOME OFFICE COSTS

In our view, Home Office expenses can be claimed if you have rental property. However, as it is generally passive income we recommend a conservative claim:

• Telephone – please separate out the costs of line rental, internet and tolls
• Mobile phone costs
• Stationery, e.g., printer ink, pens, paper etc
• Visits to the rental property: please record the date of each trip you make to your rental property to check on it.
• A % of any existing (if not claimed before) or new business related expenses
  • e.g., computer, cell phone, iPad etc.
  • include make, model, date and cost
• Any “home office” improvements
  • if in doubt, please keep records and we can verify these at year end

If you are self-managing at least one property (or are self-employed or in non-rental business), then you can also claim a percentage of:

• Insurances
• Mortgage interest or rent on your residence
• Utilities
• Some repairs

LOAN INFORMATION

Finally, for your rental investment property or properties we require:

• Full bank statements for the 12 months ending 31 March
  • in CSV format
  • make sure you include all loans
  • don’t forget the transactional account (if any)
• Balances of all accounts at 31 March
• Any fees charged

If you’d like a downloadable copy, please see below.

Why keep good records? Well, the better your records, the more expenses can be legitimately claimed. This generally means a better tax result

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* For guidelines on Business Expenses (non-rental property) please see this page.

​Other FAQs you might have:
HOW DO I DOWNLOAD TRANSACTIONS FROM MY BANK’S ONLINE INTERNET BANKING?
WHAT IS XERO.COM?
WHAT’S THE PROCESS FOR MY TAX RETURNS?

The IRD provides a guide here under the heading “Deductions You Can and Can’t Claim.” 

Please remember, all advice given is to be taken in the light of our  disclaimer. Image courtesy of patpitchaya at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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