Property Depreciation Excel Template – Free (2026)
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Rental Ledger Excel - Free Template
Track rent due, payments, balances and tenant details across four Excel sheets for Australian landlords, property managers and investors.
A rental ledger Excel template is a spreadsheet for recording rent charged, payments received, payment dates and outstanding balances for each tenancy. This Australian template includes a Rental Ledger, Tenant Summary, Dashboard and Instructions sheet, giving landlords and property managers one place to track residential rent.
The main ledger records the tenant, property address, rental period, rent due, amount paid, payment method, balance and status. The sample entries use Australian addresses, dollar formatting and DD/MM/YYYY dates, so you can replace them with your own tenancy records.
Image 1 shows the Rental Ledger with its 13-column payment record. Image 2 shows the Tenant Summary, while images 3 and 4 cover the Dashboard and Instructions sheets.
The key benefits of this Excel template
- Record each rent transaction with the date logged, rental period, amount due and amount paid.
- See the outstanding balance for each payment record instead of checking bank statements line by line.
- Keep tenant names and property addresses beside the relevant payment history, which is useful when managing more than one dwelling.
- Compare payment dates and payment methods, including bank transfer and other methods you enter in the ledger.
- Use the Tenant Summary to review tenancy information without scrolling through every transaction.
- Use the Dashboard for a quick visual view of the rental records and payment position.
- Keep the workbook as a supporting record for ATO rental-property bookkeeping and end-of-financial-year preparation.
Step-by-step guide
- Open the Rental Ledger sheet and read the sample row before entering your own information. The headings run from No. and Date Logged through to Status and Notes.
- Replace the sample tenant names and property addresses with the details for each tenancy. Use one row for each rent charge or payment period you need to monitor.
- Enter the Date Logged, Period Start and Period End using DD/MM/YYYY, such as 01/06/2026 and 30/06/2026.
- Enter the rent due and amount paid as dollar amounts. For example, a monthly charge of $2,600.00 paid in full should show $2,600.00 in both columns.
- Add the payment date and payment method, such as Bank Transfer. Use Notes for part-payments, arrears arrangements or other details you need to retain.
- Review the Balance and Status columns after each entry, then check the Tenant Summary and Dashboard sheets for the broader position.
- Save a dated copy after your monthly reconciliation and keep the workbook with bank records, tenancy documents and other property records.
What is included
A 13-column Rental Ledger covering No., Date Logged, Tenant Name, Property Address, Period Start, Period End, Rent Due, Amount Paid, Payment Date, Payment Method, Balance, Status and Notes.
Australian currency formatting displayed as $#,##0.00, including the sample rent amounts of $2,600.00 and $2,200.00.
Australian date formatting using DD/MM/YYYY for logged dates, rental periods and payment dates.
A separate Tenant Summary sheet for reviewing tenant and tenancy information away from the detailed transaction list.
A Dashboard sheet that presents the workbook information in a more visual format for a quick review.
An Instructions sheet explaining the intended use of the workbook and the information to enter.
Teal heading styles, alternating light fills, borders and wrapped column headings that make the ledger easier to read on screen or when printed.
How Australian landlords use this Excel template during a tenancy
For private landlords checking the weekly rent
A private landlord often opens the ledger when a scheduled payment lands in the bank account. If a tenant pays $650.00 each week, the landlord can enter the period covered, payment date and method immediately rather than trying to reconstruct six weeks of transactions at tax time.
This is especially useful when one owner has properties in different suburbs or states. Image 1 shows the practical layout: the tenant and property address sit beside the rental period, while Rent Due ($), Amount Paid ($), Payment Date, Payment Method, Balance ($), Status and Notes keep the financial detail together.
For a property manager or office administrator
A small property-management office can use one row per rent period for each property, then review the Tenant Summary before contacting a tenant or owner. For example, 12 properties with four-weekly rent creates roughly 156 payment rows in a year, which is much easier to filter than a folder of separate spreadsheets.
The office administrator can enter a payment after the daily bank reconciliation and use Notes for a repayment arrangement or a part-payment. A tenant owing $300.00 against $1,200.00 due is visible as a short-paid period, rather than being hidden in a total for the month.
At month-end and financial year-end
At month-end, compare the Amount Paid column with the property bank account and investigate any unmatched item. At the end of the Australian financial year on 30 June, the ledger gives your accountant or bookkeeper a clear starting point for rental income records, without confusing rent with the bond.
The Dashboard is useful for a quick owner review, while the Instructions sheet helps a volunteer administrator or family member follow the same entry process each time. For a sole owner with two tenants, five minutes after each payment is usually safer than a two-hour catch-up before the income tax return.
The same tenant payment trail also makes it easy to prepare a GST invoice record when rent is billed through a business or registered property entity.
Australian rental records, GST and ATO requirements
Residential rent is generally not a GST charge
Ordinary residential rent is generally GST-free in the sense that it is input taxed: the landlord does not add the 10% GST rate to normal residential rent and cannot claim GST credits for expenses connected with that rental income. A residential rental ledger should therefore record the agreed rent, not invent a GST component.
That treatment is different from commercial premises or some short-stay arrangements. A $650.00 weekly residential payment is recorded as $650.00 received. It is not turned into $715.00 by adding 10% GST merely because the landlord has an ABN or is registered for GST on another business activity.
Keep the ledger with the property evidence
The ATO expects records supporting rental income and deductions to be kept for five years from the date the relevant tax return is lodged, although some records can need to be retained longer when an asset or ownership position is still relevant. Keep this workbook with bank statements, lease agreements, invoices, rates notices and loan-interest records.
The ledger supports the income figure but does not replace the lease or a bank reconciliation. If the workbook shows $31,200.00 received for the year but the bank deposits total $30,550.00, investigate the $650.00 difference before using the figure in the tax return.
State tenancy requirements still apply
Residential tenancy law is state and territory based. For example, NSW uses the Residential Tenancies Act 2010, Victoria uses the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and Queensland uses the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008. Those laws and their regulations govern rent records, receipts, notices, access and disputes in each jurisdiction.
Use this Excel file as an internal tracking record, not as a substitute for a state-required form or an official bond record. A $2,000.00 bond should be handled through the relevant state or territory bond authority process, separately from the rent ledger. Check that your payment history and any receipt you give the tenant agree exactly.
The rental ledger errors that create arrears and disputes
Wrong periods and duplicate payments
The most common problem I see is entering the bank date as the rental period. A payment received on 03/06/2026 might cover rent from 01/06/2026 to 30/06/2026; if you enter both as June dates without distinguishing them, the history becomes difficult to explain when a tenant queries arrears.
Duplicate entry is another quiet one. If a $2,600.00 transfer is entered once on the day it appears in the bank feed and again when the remittance email is filed, the ledger can falsely show the tenant $2,600.00 in credit. That can lead to an incorrect arrears notice or an owner being paid out too much.
Part-payments and changing rent
A part-payment needs its own clear note. If $900.00 is paid against $1,200.00 due, recording $900.00 without the $300.00 balance makes the row look complete to a rushed reviewer. The same issue occurs when rent rises from $600.00 to $630.00 and the old amount is copied into every new row.
For a four-employee tradie business, a missed payroll entry can be corrected in the next pay run; a rental arrears error can affect notices and a tribunal file. The practical position is to keep the agreed rent and the actual payment visible, rather than overwriting history to make the balance look tidy.
Mixing rent, bond and property costs
Bond money is not ordinary rental income, and a repair invoice is not a rent payment. Combining a $2,000.00 bond, $1,500.00 rent receipt and $450.00 plumbing expense in one total produces a number that is useless for both tenancy administration and the property’s profit and loss.
Another failure is leaving a tenant or address blank on a copied row. With three properties, a $750.00 payment assigned to the wrong address can take hours to unwind. Before filing the month, match every row to the bank statement and lease, then use the Notes column to explain adjustments rather than deleting the original evidence.
How to make the rental ledger part of your month-end routine
Attach it to the bank reconciliation
The easiest routine is to update the ledger when you reconcile the property account, not when you remember. Set aside 15 minutes each Friday or on the day rent is normally collected, enter the new payment, and compare the total with the bank statement before closing the workbook.
For a landlord receiving $2,600.00 and $2,200.00 from two properties each month, the expected total is $4,800.00. A quick check against the bank makes a missing payment or duplicate row obvious while the transaction is still easy to find.
Use a consistent workbook process
- Keep the original sample workbook as a clean master and save a working copy with the property owner or portfolio name.
- Use the same spelling for each tenant and address so filtering and the Tenant Summary remain reliable.
- Enter dates as DD/MM/YYYY and amounts as numbers, not text with a dollar sign typed into the cell.
- Do not delete a corrected transaction; add a note explaining the correction and retain the supporting bank evidence.
- At month-end, save a copy such as Rental Ledger June 2026.xlsx and back it up with the property records.
Know when Excel has reached its limit
This template works well for a small portfolio where one person enters and reviews the records. Once you have several hundred rows, multiple users, automatic owner statements, trust accounting or frequent arrears notices, a property platform or bookkeeping system is safer than relying on manual copying.
Excel remains useful as an export and checking tool, but software such as Xero or MYOB is better for bank feeds and the broader accounts when the ledger is no longer the only record. Keep the spreadsheet as a controlled supporting file rather than letting several unlinked copies circulate by email.
Frequently asked questions about this template
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File format
Excel (.xlsx)
Compatible software
Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice
Price
Free