The requests start arriving
After the tax year ends, landlords start asking for an annual statement for their accountant. A few ask straight away, many ask close to their filing deadline. Each request means running a report, checking it, sometimes splitting it between joint owners, attaching invoices and emailing it. The accounts team does this on top of the normal monthly work, and the rush peaks when they are busiest.
Some landlords then come back with questions because the annual figures do not match their monthly statements.
Why year-end statements are painful
Most lettings software can produce an annual income and expense report. The pain is everything around it: running it per landlord, checking it for oddities, dealing with properties owned jointly, landlords with several properties, expenses that need invoices attached, and changes of management part way through the year. Done on request, one at a time, it becomes a season of interruptions.
What landlords can claim and how they report it is between them and their accountant. Landlords simply need accurate figures from you.
| Complication | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|
| Joint owners | Statement not split as they need |
| Several properties | Figures combined when separate were wanted |
| Invoices for expenses | Not attached, requested later |
| Mid-year changes | Part-year figures missing |
| Oddities | Uncorrected errors from the year carried into the summary |
What the rush costs
Accounts staff time, at the busiest time of year. Errors in rushed statements create questions from landlords and their accountants, and every correction takes longer than getting it right would have. Landlords who wait for their statements near their own deadline are unhappy, and some question whether their agent has their affairs in order.
Doing it by request also means some landlords never ask and never receive a statement, then discover the gap when their accountant chases them. Others ask several times because they are not sure the first request was received. A predictable date, with every landlord included, removes both problems.
The year-end process we build
- Automatic generation: soon after the tax year ends, a statement is produced for every landlord from your lettings software data, without waiting for requests.
- Checks before sending: each statement is compared with the monthly statements issued during the year, and anything that does not reconcile, such as unusual expenses or missing months, is flagged for your accounts team.
- Splits: statements are split by property and by owner according to the ownership shares recorded, as the landlord has asked.
- Invoices attached: expense invoices already stored in your lettings software are attached or linked.
- Sending: statements go out on a set date, with a note inviting landlords or their accountants to raise questions through one channel.
- Questions log: any questions are logged against the statement so answers can be reused.
Statements contain figures only. No tax advice is given, and landlords are directed to their own accountant for that.
Year-end without the rush
Every landlord receives their statement early, without asking. The accounts team reviews a list of flagged items instead of running reports on demand through the spring. Statements match what landlords saw month by month, so fewer questions come back.
Accountants who act for several of your landlords see the same clear layout every year, which makes their work easier and reflects well on the agency. And because oddities are flagged and fixed before sending, errors from the year are corrected while the details are still easy to check, rather than when a landlord's accountant raises them.
Is this your year-end?
- Year-end statements are produced one by one on request.
- Requests peak close to landlords' filing deadlines.
- Joint owners need statements split by hand.
- Landlords query differences from their monthly statements.