Accounting software for property management companies in UAE, with landlord money kept apart

The core of a property manager’s ledger is the split between funds held for landlords and the company’s own revenue. HelloBooks sets this up with landlord liability accounts and classes for each building or owner.

• Landlord funds held (a liability), sub-divided by owner or building
• Management fee income, leasing fee income and renewal fees
• Maintenance recharged to landlords and maintenance absorbed by you
• Tenant security deposits held
• Contractor costs for cleaning, AC servicing and repairs

The FTA’s real estate guide sets out that residential leases after the first supply are exempt, commercial leases are standard-rated at 5%, and the first supply of a new residential building within three years of completion is zero-rated. A manager handling both villas and shops therefore deals with three treatments in one rent run. Your own management fee is a separate service and is normally standard-rated.

Whether rent is your supply or the landlord’s depends on the agreement. If you act as agent, the landlord is the supplier and the treatment follows them. HelloBooks records the treatment per unit so the agent applies it consistently; your tax agent should confirm the agency position.

Upload the bank statement and the agent matches each tenant cheque or transfer to its unit and lease. Contractor invoices for a burst pipe in tower B are read and posted against that building and the right landlord. At month end it drafts landlord statements: rent collected, AED costs deducted, management fee with VAT, and the balance to remit.

Ask “which tenants have bounced cheques this quarter?” or “what do we owe the owner of unit 1204?” You review every landlord statement before it is sent and approve each remittance.

Managers usually watch rent arrears by building, landlord balances held, maintenance spend per unit and fee income. For example, a 7% fee on AED 1.2 million of annual rent collected is AED 84,000 of fee income before VAT.

The landlord statement layout, fee formulas and approval steps for large repairs can be tailored to your contracts. Book a call at /book-a-demo or email hello@hellobooks.ai to discuss your structure.