Proper Rental Accounting Built for Canadian Landlords
Most rental software is a glorified spreadsheet. Tenant Buddy gives you a true general ledger, customizable chart of accounts, multi-period fiscal years, and proper GST/HST/PST handling. Your accountant will actually like it.
Key Benefits
See how this feature helps Canadian landlords save time and stay compliant
Proper Debit/Credit Journals
Every transaction posts proper debits and credits to your general ledger. Draft entries you can review before posting, or batch-post at month-end. Your books actually balance, every time.
Customizable Chart of Accounts
Three-tier structure: General Ledger accounts at the top, Summary Accounts grouping them, and Income/Expense Categories at the detail level. Map your own structure or use our Canadian rental defaults.
Fiscal Periods With Year-End Adjustments
Twelve monthly periods plus a special period 13 for year-end adjustments and a period 0 for opening balances. Lock periods after close to prevent accidental changes to historical numbers.
GST/HST/PST Handling
Configure tax codes with effective-date-based rate tiers (handles a tax rate change mid-year cleanly). Designate taxes as recoverable or non-recoverable. Apply them to income, expenses, or both.
Journal Entry Batches
Create related journal entries together (depreciation runs, accruals, allocations) and post the batch in one operation. Faster month-end close with fewer errors.
Budgets With Monthly Distribution
Build budgets for each property or for your portfolio. Distribute amounts across the twelve fiscal periods (evenly or seasonally). Save budgets as PDF reports to share with partners or your bank.
Why Proper Accounting Matters for Landlords
Whether you own a duplex or a multi-property portfolio, doing the books in spreadsheets eventually catches up with you. Here is why a real accounting layer matters.
Spreadsheets or Generic Accounting Tools
- Numbers do not have to balance, so errors hide
- No clean handoff to an accountant at year-end
- Hard to spot if a deposit is in or out of trust
- CRA audit means weeks of reconstructing records
Real Rental Accounting
- Books always balance, errors surface immediately
- Trial balance, GL detail, and journal exports your accountant expects
- Liability accounts for security deposits track them properly
- Audit trail per transaction, ready when CRA asks
Setting Up Your Books in Four Steps
Get started in minutes with our simple, intuitive process
Configure Your Chart of Accounts
Start from our Canadian rental defaults or build your own. Set up GL accounts (Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Revenue, Expenses), group them with Summary Accounts, and define detailed Income/Expense Categories. T776 categories map cleanly.
Set Your Fiscal Year and Periods
Define your fiscal year start. Tenant Buddy creates periods 1 through 12 for monthly reporting, period 0 for opening balances, and period 13 for year-end adjustments your accountant will post.
Configure Tax Codes
Add GST, HST, or PST codes with effective-date-based rate tiers. Mark them recoverable or non-recoverable. Apply them automatically to invoices and expenses based on the property or category.
Let Transactions Post Automatically
Rent invoices, payments, expenses, and chargebacks all post their own journal entries to the GL. Draft mode for the cautious, auto-post for the rest. Trial balance and rent roll reports run on demand.
An Alternative to Legacy Property Accounting Systems
Tenant Buddy is built for Canadian landlords and property managers who want proper accounting without the overhead. You get a real general ledger, multi-period fiscal years, GST/HST/PST handling, journal entry batches, and budgets — with transparent per-unit pricing that scales with your portfolio. You only pay for the units you have, and your storage and AI limits scale up with you instead of getting capped at arbitrary plan tiers.
Pair it with our CRA-ready financial reports, AI-powered expense tracking, and automated invoicing for an end-to-end picture of your portfolio.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions about property management software for Canadian landlords
Accounting Questions
No. The defaults are configured for Canadian rental properties so most landlords never touch the chart of accounts directly. Transactions post automatically as you create invoices, record payments, and enter expenses. The accounting depth is there when you (or your accountant) want it.
Yes. Even with a single duplex, having a real general ledger separates rental income from your personal finances cleanly, tracks security deposits as proper liabilities, and gives you a tidy hand-off to your accountant at year-end. The complexity scales down so simple portfolios stay simple.
QuickBooks is a great general-ledger product but it does not understand rental properties. You end up wiring up classes per property, classes per unit, custom categories, and manual workarounds for things like security deposits and tenant chargebacks. Tenant Buddy is property-aware out of the box, with rent rolls, T776 categorization, and tenant-level subsidiary ledgers built in.
Yes. You can invite your accountant or bookkeeper as a team member with appropriate permissions. They can review draft journal entries, post adjustments to period 13 at year-end, run trial balances, and export data as needed.
You define tax codes with effective-date-based rate tiers, designate each as recoverable or non-recoverable, and assign them to the right Income/Expense Categories. When a tax rate changes mid-year, you simply add a new tier with the effective date, and the old rate continues to apply to historical transactions.
You set your fiscal year start when you set up your books. Periods 1 through 12 follow that start date. Period 0 captures opening balances and period 13 captures year-end adjustments your accountant will book.
Bank reconciliation is on the roadmap. Today, payments and expenses post directly to the appropriate cash/bank accounts in the GL, and you can reconcile against your bank statement using the General Ledger Detail and Transactions reports.
Budgets can be created and saved as PDF reports today. Side-by-side budget vs actual reporting is on the roadmap. In the meantime, you can compare your budget PDF to your Income Statement for the same period.
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