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Managing a property for its owner

How to mark a flat or house as managed for someone else, record disbursements, and produce an owner's statement of accounts.

If you run a flat or house for someone else, mark it as managed, record the money you pass on to its owner, and give them a statement of accounts.

Mark a property as managed

When you add a property:

  1. On Properties, select Add, then Add a property.
  2. Type the postcode or address.
  3. Under Who owns it?, choose I manage it for its owner.
  4. Enter the Owner's name, a person or a company. Email and Phone are optional, and nobody is contacted. Managed by can stay on Me personally unless one of your companies runs the property.
  5. Select Continue.

The Add a property window with I manage it for its owner chosen, the address picked, Margaret Hale as the owner's name with her email, and the Managed by box below

For a property you already have, open its Finance tab and select the button beside Rent status. It reads Held personally until you change it. The How this property is held panel opens.

The Finance tab of a flat held personally: Held personally beside Rent status, and the How this property is held panel open with the Change who owns it button

  1. Select Change who owns it.
  2. In the Who owns this property? window, choose For someone else.
  3. Enter the Owner's name, and an email and phone if you want them on file.
  4. Select Save.

The Who owns this property? window with For someone else chosen, Margaret Hale's name and email filled in, the Managed by box and Save

The Ownership part of the property's details has the same Change who owns it button. The Finance button then reads Managed for and the owner's name.

Change the owner, or stop managing

Select the Managed for button to open the How this property is held panel, then Change who owns it.

The Who owns this property? window, pictured above, opens with For someone else chosen. Change the name, email or phone and select Save. If you have added a company of your own, Managed by lets you record which one runs this property for the owner, or Me personally. It does not change any figures yet.

To stop managing the property, choose Me or One of my companies in the same window. We ask Stop managing it for the owner's name. Select Me (or One of my companies) to confirm, or Keep managing, then select Save. Disbursements you have already recorded stay as they are.

Your money and theirs

The rent is the owner's money, so we keep it out of your own income and tax.

On the property's Finance tab, As owner shows the property as its owner would see it. Its tax estimate assumes the highest rate, because we do not know theirs.

As manager shows your side: Fees earned, Held for owner, Rent collected, Paid to owner (disbursements) and a row for the owner. The tax card is greyed out. We do not work out or file tax for an owner.

The As manager view of the Finance tab for 22 Hawthorn Avenue: Fees earned £112, Held for owner £354, Rent collected £11,600, Paid to owner £11,200, Margaret Hale's row and the greyed tax card

Rent collected and Paid to owner (disbursements) are this year's totals: £11,600 in and £11,200 paid across. Held for owner is a different figure, a running balance of the owner's money since the opening balance date you set. It is the rent received, less the owner's costs, your fees and what you paid over, so it is not the difference between those two totals. The Finance page works the same way across all your properties. Its Owned property and Managed property switch keeps their money apart from yours. To add your fee to a cost, see Charging your management fee.

Record a disbursement

A disbursement is money you pass on to the owner.

  1. On the property's Finance tab, select Tools.
  2. Choose Add transaction, then Expense. On a phone, choose Add expense.

The Tools menu on the Finance tab, with Add transaction open to Income and Expense

  1. Under Category, pick Disbursement (paid to owner). The window becomes Record a disbursement, and Paid to fills in with the owner's name.
  2. Enter the Amount (£) and change the Date if you paid on another day.
  3. Select Record disbursement.

The Record a disbursement window for 22 Hawthorn Avenue, with 300 typed as the amount and Paid to showing Margaret Hale

The payment shows greyed in your transactions and is not added to your income, expenses or tax.

Make a statement of accounts

  1. On the property's Finance tab or the Finance page, select Tools, then Statement of accounts.
  2. Under Property, pick a property you manage. The statement is for its owner and covers all their properties.
  3. Under Period, pick a month, or Custom dates… and set From and To.
  4. Check the preview, then select Download PDF.

The Statement of accounts window for Margaret Hale, 1 July to 30 September 2026, with the preview readable: three rent receipts, two repair costs each followed by a Commission row, the August payment under Disbursements and the balance carried forward of 1,805.60, and Download PDF ready📱 Mobile screenshot coming soon

The statement shows the balance brought forward, then each property's money in and out by date. Your fees appear as Commission. A Disbursements section lists what you paid over, and the balance carried forward comes last. A deposit is the tenant's money, so it is left off. A minus sign on the balance means the owner owes you.

The first time, we ask how much of the owner's money you were holding the day before the statement starts. The question reads First statement for the owner's first name, and asks how much of their money you were holding on that date. Type the amount in the box beside it and select Save. Enter 0 if you held nothing.

We also ask for your Letterhead, your business name and address. Select Add letterhead to enter it. You can change it later under Settings, on the Profile tab.

Send the PDF to the owner yourself. We do not email statements.

If something's not right

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