Single-family rental income and expense spreadsheet: one house, one tenant
One rented house means a one-row rent roll, so the sheet stays small: is this month's rent in, what did the house cost to run, and what happens to the numbers when it sits empty.
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General information only, not tax, legal or accounting advice. Late-fee, deposit and notice rules vary by state, city and lease; check your own. Names and numbers in the example are invented.
What changes for this kind of rental
With one house and one tenant, the Units & Leases tab has a single row, so the rent roll is one line and the Rent Ledger takes one row a month. The Property cell still matters: the ledger finds each row's property from it, and Schedule E and net operating income by property group by that name, which counts the day you add a second house.
Vacancy is the part a single house cannot spread around. When the tenant leaves, log the stretch in the vacancy log at the bottom of Units & Leases: the first vacant day and the next lease start, both typed by you (leave the second empty while the house is unrented). Vacant days in period is a formula from those two dates and feeds physical vacancy on the P&L.
A worked month: 48 Larkspur Lane
Invented names and numbers, to show the shape. 1 unit on the Units & Leases tab, all with the Property cell set to 48 Larkspur Lane.
| Unit | Tenant | Monthly rent |
|---|---|---|
| Main | Dana Whitfield | $2,150 |
Occupied units schedule $2,150 a month.
One Rent Ledger row per occupied unit for the month:
| Unit | Tenant | Rent due | Amount paid | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main | Dana Whitfield | $2,150 | $2,150 | $0 |
| Total | $2,150 | $2,150 | $0 |
The month shows $2,150 collected of $2,150 scheduled, with $0 still owed.
Bills for the month, one Expenses row each:
| Bill | Category | Amount | How it is logged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawn and snow service | Cleaning and maintenance | $120 | Property level, not split |
| Water heater flush and anode check | Repairs | $95 | Unit Main, not split |
| Property manager monthly fee | Management fees | $215 | Property level, not split |
| Total | $430 |
Where each piece goes in the workbook
- Units & Leases: Add one row for the house: the address in Property, the tenant, lease dates, monthly rent and due day, with Status set to Occupied. Leave Deposit held alone; it fills from the Deposits tab.
- Rent Ledger: Add one row per month with the unit, the first of the month, the due date, the rent and what was paid. A move-in or move-out date prorates that month by the rule you picked on Start Here.
- Expenses: Log each bill on the day you pay it, with the Property filled in. With a single unit there is nothing to divide, so leave Split by units set to No and pick the category from the dropdown.
- Deposits: Give the tenant one row with the deposit amount and the date received. Held now is a formula from that row. For the reconciliation, type the balance of your deposit account from the bank statement; the Difference should be 0.
Two formulas worth a cell of their own
- Units in a property, the number behind every split:
=COUNTIF('Units & Leases'!$B$6:$B$15,"48 Larkspur Lane")returns 1 here. - Rent paid by one unit across the ledger:
=SUMIFS('Rent Ledger'!$G$6:$G$505,'Rent Ledger'!$A$6:$A$505,"Main")returns $2,150 on this example.
Four tracking tips
- Name the property by its street address, spelled the same way on Start Here, Units & Leases and Expenses. The Property cell is matched as typed, so 12 Oak St and 12 Oak Street count as two different properties.
- Keep a property manager's fee and your own purchases in separate rows, even when the manager pays the bill and sends one monthly statement. One statement line is one Expenses row, with the statement number as the receipt reference.
- If you buy a second house later, add it to the property list on Start Here and keep the same workbook. Each property gets its own column on the Schedule E tab and its own line in net operating income by property.
- Check the Rent Ledger status once a month against the as-of date on Start Here. For live use, type =TODAY() in that cell so statuses and days late move on their own.
Questions
Is one house worth a whole workbook?
Yes if you want rent, bills and the deposit in one place. One row each on Units & Leases and Deposits, one Rent Ledger row a month and a few Expenses rows is a light load, and the P&L and Schedule E tabs fill from the ledger and the expenses.
Where does the mortgage payment go?
Log the interest part as an Expenses row in the mortgage interest category; the dropdown has no principal line. The workbook does not split a payment for you, so read the interest from your lender statement. Type the year's full payments once on Yield & Summary as annual debt payments.
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Already built
The Landlord Rent & Expense Tracker has the rent roll, rent ledger, expenses, deposits and P&L tabs wired together, with example data on every tab. One Excel file, $29.