The end of the financial year is only days away. For landlords, 30 June is a natural checkpoint — a moment to make sure the year's paperwork is tidy, the property is in the condition you want reported, and there are no small items being left on the table. Here is the short list we run through with our own clients.
1. Reconcile the year's income and expenses
Make sure your property manager's June statement lists every rent payment received and every expense passed through the trust account — repairs, water rates, agent fees, statutory charges. Any discrepancy is easier to sort out now than in October when your accountant is asking.
2. Bring forward deductible maintenance
If there is deductible maintenance that needs doing anyway — a repair, a service, a licensed inspection — completing it before 30 June lets you claim it in this year's return rather than next year's. Talk to your property manager about what is outstanding.
3. Update the depreciation schedule
If significant works have been completed on the property in the past twelve months — new appliances, flooring, a bathroom refit — your depreciation schedule may need updating. A quantity surveyor's report can pay for itself many times over in a single year.
4. Confirm landlord insurance
Landlord insurance renews on cycles that don't always match 30 June. Make sure yours is current, and that the sum insured reflects any improvements to the property in the past year.
5. Ask your property manager for the year's summary
A good property manager provides a full financial year summary — rent received, maintenance completed, arrears history, vacancy periods — as a matter of course. If you don't get one automatically, ask. It is the single most useful document your accountant will see this year.
If your current manager isn't producing this by early July, it is worth asking why. Ours does.
