Accounting & tax
Rental accounts receivable
Amounts that have been billed or otherwise recorded as due to the rental operation but have not yet been settled, adjusted, or removed under its accounting policy.
Glossary
Accounting & tax
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Accounts receivable is the record of amounts owed to the rental operation at a point in time. In a landlord workflow it can include posted rent and other supported tenant charges that remain open, while a broader property-management ledger may also track amounts due from owners or other parties. The balance should identify who owes it, what created it, when it was due, and every payment, credit, reversal, or adjustment applied.
The tenant ledger is the detailed source for resident receivables; the general ledger summarizes the accounting balance. An aging report then groups open items by age so staff can review exceptions. Advance rent and refundable deposits should not be treated as receivables after they have been received, and an unposted charge is not made accurate merely by adding it to a month-end total. The lease, invoice, or other governing record must support the entry.
For example, a tenant ledger shows $1,500 of October rent, a $50 supported utility reimbursement, a $1,400 payment, and a $25 approved credit. Accounts receivable is $125 if those are the only open items. If $75 of the payment is later returned by the bank, the ledger reverses that receipt and receivables rises to $200 with a traceable event date; nobody should overwrite the original payment as though it never happened.
Red flags include negative balances that are really unapplied payments, old items with no source document, duplicate charges, and receivables that do not reconcile to the detailed ledgers. Review open balances by cause and age, assign a next action, and preserve disputes or pending assistance separately from accounting status. The receivable balance reports what remains open; it does not decide the lawful collection step or whether an amount will ultimately be recovered.
Receivable event model and running balance
A receivable begins with a supported obligation and charge, not with an aging report. In this example, a $2,400 rent charge creates $2,400 open AR. A settled $1,500 payment reduces it to $900. An approved $100 credit reduces it to $800. A later settled $500 payment leaves $300. Each event keeps its own identity, effective date, posting date, source, approval, and allocation; the closing balance is the result, not a replacement for that history.
A payment plan changes the authorized collection schedule or workflow state but does not automatically change the accounting balance. A dispute marks the amount for review; it does not prove the charge is valid or invalid. A write-off follows an approved accounting policy and preserves the original obligation, collections history, and legal status. Reversal, refund, concession, credit, and write-off are different events and should not share one generic “adjustment” reason.
Six related records answer six different questions
Do not choose one convenient system as universal truth. Reconcile assertions at their proper scope. A lease can support the obligation but cannot prove payment. A processor can prove its own state but cannot decide the correct tenant or charge allocation. A bank can prove cash movement but not the legal amount owed. The general ledger can balance while a tenant subledger is assigned to the wrong resident.
Failure modes, corrections, and close evidence
A pending processor payment should remain visibly pending until the defined settlement evidence arrives. If it is posted as settled and later reverses, record a linked reversal rather than deleting the receipt. When a payment is allocated to the wrong charge, preserve the receipt and correct the allocation. When a charge or credit is duplicated, reverse the unsupported duplicate and retain the detection and approval record. When an old balance rolls forward, prove each open item instead of accepting the opening total.