Setting up TenantLedger the right way

How you set up TenantLedger in your first month determines how clean your reports look for years. The accounts, properties, and bank records you create now become the foundation that every charge, payment, and report is built on — so it pays to get the order right and enter your foundational data before you record a single transaction. This article walks you through a first-30-days plan: complete the startup checklist in sequence, mirror your accountant’s chart of accounts, keep security deposits in a separate account, and only then start posting money.

Why setup order matters

TenantLedger is built in layers, and each layer depends on the one beneath it:

Chart of Accounts → Bank Account → Owner → Property → Unit → Lease → Charges → Payments

A charge has to be categorized to a chart account. A property has to belong to an owner. A lease has to sit on a unit inside a property. If you skip ahead and start recording payments before the structure exists, you end up with transactions tagged to the wrong category or attached to nothing — and untangling that later is far more work than doing it in order the first time.

Best practice: Complete the full startup checklist before recording any transactions. Getting the foundation right prevents cleanup work later.

Work the startup checklist in order

New accounts show a Getting Started checklist at the top of the Dashboard with quick links to the setup steps. Work it top to bottom — the order is deliberate.

#	Step	Why it comes here
1	Complete your Company profile	Your business name and address become the “letterhead” on every invoice, receipt, and message you send. Set it before anything goes out.
2	Configure General Settings	Date format, currency, and default country affect every screen and report. Lock these in before data exists so nothing displays inconsistently.
3	Set up your Chart of Accounts	Income and expense categories drive all financial reporting. Get these right before any charge or bill is categorized.
4	Add a bank account	Every deposit, bill payment, and check ties to a bank account. You need at least one before recording money.
5	Add an owner	Each property must belong to an owner. If you own the properties yourself, create yourself as an owner.
6	Add a property and its units	The property is the top of the tree; units are the rentable spaces leases attach to.
7	Create a lease	Links a tenant to a unit and sets rent, deposit, and recurring charges.
8	Invite team members (optional)	Add users with the right level of access once the structure exists.
9	Review your subscription	Confirm your plan fits the portfolio you’ve set up.

You can hide the checklist with SKIP, or check Don’t show this again to dismiss it permanently — but only after you’ve actually completed each step.

Mirror your accountant’s chart of accounts

Your Chart of Accounts is the single most important thing to get right early. Every charge, payment, and bill is tagged to one of these accounts, and reports like the Cash Flow report and Balance Sheet are simply your transactions grouped by account. Generic or sloppy categories make those reports useless at tax time.

Recommendation: Before you customize anything, get a copy of the chart of accounts your accountant or bookkeeper uses, and recreate those income and expense categories in TenantLedger. When your categories match theirs, year-end hand-off is fast and the numbers reconcile without translation. If you’ve connected QuickBooks (optional, only if enabled for your account), matching names also make the export far cleaner.

Action in TenantLedger:

Go to Settings → Chart of Accounts. Your account ships with standard accounts already in place (such as Rent Income and Prepaid Rent), so review those first.
Click Add Account for each category your accountant uses that isn’t already there. Pick the Type carefully:
- Income for money tenants and owners pay you (rent, late fees, parking, pet rent).
- Expenses for money you spend (repairs, utilities, insurance, management fees).
- Current Liability for money you hold on someone else’s behalf — this is where security deposits belong.
Use clear, consistent names. “Plumbing Repairs” reads better on a report than “Plumb.”
For finer detail, nest related categories as sub-accounts (for example, “Plumbing” and “Electrical” under “Repairs”).

Why it matters: You categorize transactions thousands of times over the life of your account. A thoughtful chart of accounts set up once saves you from re-tagging history later and gives you reports your accountant can actually use.

Security deposits are a liability, not income

This is the categorization mistake that trips up the most new users. A security deposit is money you hold in trust for the tenant and must return (minus allowable deductions) at the end of the lease. It is not income.

In your Chart of Accounts, the account that tracks deposits should be a Current Liability, not Income — so deposits never inflate your income figures or your tax picture.
When you create a lease, the Deposit Charge panel bills the deposit as its own charge, separate from rent, which keeps it cleanly tracked.

Use a separate bank account for security deposits

Many states require landlords to hold tenant security deposits in a separate account, and even where it isn’t required, it’s a best practice that protects you. Mixing deposits with operating cash makes it hard to prove you’re holding the money in trust and easy to accidentally spend funds you’ll owe back.

Recommendation: Set up at least two bank accounts in TenantLedger from day one:

Account	Purpose
Operating account	Where rent is deposited and bills, payroll, and expenses are paid from.
Security deposit account	A dedicated trust account holding only tenant deposits.

Most landlords also keep a third reserve account for capital and emergencies — add it too if that’s how you operate.

Action in TenantLedger:

Go to Banking and click + Bank Account.
Give each account a clear Account Name like “Operating Checking” or “Security Deposit Trust” so you can tell them apart in dropdowns.
Set the Start Amount and Bank Start Date to match the closing balance and date on your most recent statement for that account. This makes your very first reconciliation line up cleanly.
Repeat for each real-world account you want to track.

Why it matters: Clean separation keeps deposit money safe and traceable, satisfies trust-accounting rules, and makes your monthly reconciliation match your real bank statements line for line.

Enter foundational data before any transactions

Once your company profile, settings, chart of accounts, and bank accounts are in place, build out the portfolio structure — and finish it — before you post a single charge or payment.

A good first-30-days build order:

Add each owner. If you’re the owner-operator, add yourself. Every property needs an owner to roll up to.
Add each property, then its units. Use a consistent unit naming convention across the whole portfolio (for example “Unit 101”, “Unit 102” — not “101” in one building and “Apt A” in another). Reports are far easier to scan when names are uniform.
Add your tenants and vendors. Enter a tenant’s email address whenever you have it — it’s what enables portal access and online payments later. Create vendor records (for example “ABC Plumbing”) before you enter any bills so invoices attach to the right payee, and so you have clean records for year-end 1099 reporting.
Create each active lease. Link the tenant(s) to the unit, set the rent amount, set the Deposit Charge, and turn on Recurring Rent Charges so rent posts automatically going forward.

Only after this structure is complete should you begin recording opening balances and ongoing transactions.

Best practice: Set up recurring charges the moment you create a lease. Automating rent posting means you never miss a billing cycle and your charges stay consistent month to month.

First-30-days checklist

A note on optional features

Some capabilities are optional and only available if you’ve turned them on or connected them. Don’t assume they’re active during setup:

Online payments (Stripe) let tenants pay through the Tenant Portal — available only if Stripe is connected for your account.
QuickBooks export is available only if you’ve connected QuickBooks.
Marketing Sites are available only if enabled for your account.

Set up your core books first. You can layer these on once the foundation is solid.

Distributing profit to owners

TenantLedger has a dedicated screen for owner contributions — money an owner puts into a property. There is no in-app “owner payout” or “distribution” feature for money going out to owners. When you pay an owner their share of the profit, handle it as a normal payment you record yourself (for example, write the check or record the bank payment), categorized appropriately. Plan your distribution method outside the app; TenantLedger tracks the cash side of it like any other payment.

Common mistakes to avoid

Don’t record transactions before the structure exists. Charges with no proper category or property attached create reports you can’t trust. Finish the checklist first.
Don’t skip the Chart of Accounts setup. Generic categories make your reports useless at tax time. Mirror your accountant’s chart from the start.
Don’t treat security deposits as income. They’re a liability you hold in trust. Categorize the deposit account as a Current Liability and keep deposit money in its own bank account.
Don’t mix personal and property funds, and don’t run deposits through your operating account. Use dedicated accounts.
Don’t use inconsistent unit or property names. “Unit 101” here and “Apt A” there makes every report harder to read. Pick one convention and stick to it.
Don’t forget tenant emails. Without them you can’t enable portals or online payments down the road.
Don’t assume optional features are on. Stripe, QuickBooks, and Marketing Sites only work if connected or enabled — confirm before relying on them.
Don’t expect an owner “payout” button. Record money paid out to owners as a payment you enter yourself; only contributions have a dedicated screen.