Record costs for a property on mobile

This article explains how to use the FreeAgent mobile app to record costs for a property that you’ve added to an unincorporated landlord account in FreeAgent.

If you have an unincorporated landlord account type and rent out a property, you can record costs related to the property by either explaining a bank transaction as a ‘Payment’ or creating an out-of-pocket expense or bill. Please note that recording the cost using more than one method will result in your cost being double or triple counted.

Before entering this data, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the difference between an expense, a bill and a bank payment in FreeAgent.

If you have received rental income from one of your tenants, find out how to record rental income for a property using the FreeAgent mobile app.

Begin by opening the FreeAgent mobile app on your iOS or Android device and log in using your FreeAgent login details if prompted. If you’ve accessed the app recently, you may be logged in automatically.

Explaining a bank transaction

If you’re explaining a bank transaction instead of creating an out-of-pocket expense or bill, tap the three-lined 'hamburger' icon at the top-left of the FreeAgent mobile app and select 'Banking'.

Choose the relevant bank account from the list.

Select the transaction that relates to the property costs. Select ‘Payment’ from the ‘Explained as’ menu, select the relevant cost category from the ‘Category’ menu and choose the relevant property from the ‘Property’ menu.

Select ‘Explain transaction’ to complete the process. Find out more about how to explain bank transactions on the FreeAgent mobile app.

If you have more than one transaction that you need to explain to the same cost category for the same property, you can explain multiple transactions in bulk.

Creating an out-of-pocket expense

If the property cost was paid for using personal funds and you’re creating an out-of-pocket expense instead of explaining a bank transaction or creating a bill, tap the three-lined 'hamburger' icon at the top-left of the FreeAgent mobile app and select 'Expenses'.

Tap the '+' at the top-right of the screen and select ‘New expense’. Select ‘Payment’ from the ‘Expense type’ menu, select the relevant cost category from the ‘Category’ menu and choose the relevant property from the ‘Property’ menu.

Once you’ve entered the necessary details for the out-of-pocket expense, select ‘Save’ in the top-right to complete the process.

Creating a bill

If you’re creating a bill for the property cost instead of explaining a bank transaction or creating an out-of-pocket expense, you will need to add the supplier as a contact in FreeAgent before adding the bill.

Add the supplier as a contact

To do this, tap the three-lined 'hamburger' icon at the top-left of the FreeAgent mobile app and select 'Contacts'.

Tap the '+' at the top-right of the screen and follow the steps for adding a contact using the FreeAgent mobile app.

Add the bill

Next, tap the three-lined 'hamburger' icon at the top-left of the FreeAgent mobile app and select 'Bills'.

Tap the ‘+’ at the top-right of the screen and choose the relevant tenant. Choose the relevant property from the ‘Property’ menu and enter a reference in the ‘Reference’ field.

Once you’ve entered the necessary details for the bill, select ‘Create bill & add line items’ and follow the steps for adding a bill using the FreeAgent mobile app to add details of the cost.

Find out how to view a breakdown of the costs allocated to a property and its overall profitability.