Recipe
Collect rent as a landlord — without the spreadsheet
Set up each property once, invite your tenants, and collect rent every month with invoices, gentle reminders, and one-tap settle-up. Log utilities and repairs against the property so you always know the real yield. Properties is a Pro feature ($7/month or $70/year).
Last reviewed: January 2026
If you rent out one or two units, you probably track rent in a notes app and chase payments over text. Split The Bill has a dedicated property-management area built for exactly this — a Pro feature ($7/month or $70/year): create a property, invite the tenants, attach the lease, and collect rent as a recurring monthly bill or a proper PDF invoice. Property expenses — utilities, repairs, insurance — get logged against the same property, so at year-end you can see rent collected minus costs in one export. This guide walks a single-unit landlord through the full setup.
Step-by-step
- 1
Create the property
Open Properties in the app and tap New property. Properties is a Pro feature ($7/month or $70/year) — it isn't on the free tier. Give it the address (e.g. "14 Elm Street, Unit 2"), set the monthly rent (e.g. 1450), and pick the currency.
The property becomes the home for everything about that unit: its tenants, its lease document, its rent history, and every expense you log against it. If you own more than one unit, each gets its own property so the numbers never cross over.
- 2
Invite your tenants
On the property page, tap Invite tenant and enter their email. They get a one-click link, create an account if they don't have one, and land on the property as a tenant.
If a tenant would rather not install anything, invite them anyway — the rent invoices you send have a public link they can open in any browser with no account, see exactly what they owe, and pay from there. Nobody is forced to sign up just to pay rent.
- 3
Attach the lease and any documents
Upload the signed lease to the property's Documents section — PDF or photo. Keeping the lease attached to the property means the terms live next to the rent record instead of in an email thread you have to dig through six months later.
Move-in inventory, the deposit receipt, and any addenda go here too. When the tenancy ends, everything you need for the deposit return is in one place.
- 4
Collect rent as a recurring bill
Set rent to recur monthly. On Recurring, create a template:
- Name: "Rent — 14 Elm St Unit 2" - Amount: the monthly rent (e.g. 1450) - Frequency: Monthly - Day of period: the day rent is due (typically the 1st)
Each month a rent bill is created automatically and assigned to the tenant. They see a "Pay" button that opens the payment method you've set — Venmo, PayPal, Revolut, or a SEPA/IBAN QR code — with the amount prefilled. No re-typing the amount, no forgotten transfers.
- 5
Or send a proper rent invoice
If your tenant needs a formal document — for their own records, an employer housing allowance, or a letting agency — turn the rent into a PDF invoice instead. On the bill, tap Create invoice: it generates a numbered PDF with your details as the sender, the tenant as the "Bill to" client, the amount, and a due date.
Save the tenant to your client address book once and they auto-fill on every future invoice. If you rent under a company name as well as personally, keep multiple sender profiles and pick the right one per invoice.
- 6
Log utilities and repairs against the property
Every cost tied to the unit — the boiler service, the plumber, landlord-paid water or building fees — gets logged as a property expense. Add it against the property with a category and amount so it sits in the same ledger as the rent.
This is what turns a rent tracker into a yield tracker: at any point you can see rent collected against costs incurred, per property, instead of reconstructing it from your bank statement at tax time.
- 7
Send a reminder if rent is late
When a tenant hasn't paid, open the rent bill and tap Remind on their share. An email goes out — "rent of 1450 for March is due" — with the payment link. A built-in cooldown means the same tenant can only be reminded once every 14 days, so a reminder stays a reminder and never turns into a barrage.
For tenants who pay reliably you'll never touch it. For the occasional slow month, it's a neutral nudge that doesn't require an awkward text.
- 8
Export the year for your accountant
At tax time, open Reports and export CSV — every rent bill collected, every property expense, every settle-up, per property. It opens cleanly in Excel, Sheets, or Numbers and hands straight to your accountant.
Because utilities and repairs were logged against the property all year, the deductible costs are already sitting next to the rental income. No shoebox of receipts to reconcile in April.
Why this beats a notes app and bank transfers
Plenty of small landlords run on "rent hits my account on the 1st, I check my banking app". It works until it doesn't:
No record of what was owed vs paid. A bank statement shows money arriving, not whether it was the full rent, late, or short. A rent bill records the expected amount and the actual settlement against it, so partial or late payments are obvious.
Chasing rent is manual and awkward. Texting "hey, rent?" gets old fast for both sides. A one-tap Remind with a prefilled payment link is neutral and does the chasing for you.
Costs and income live in different places. Rent is in your bank; the plumber's invoice is in your email; the water bill is on paper. Logging every property expense against the property keeps income and costs in one ledger you can export.
Nothing to hand a tenant or an accountant. A bank transfer isn't a receipt. A numbered PDF invoice is something a tenant can file and an accountant can accept.
Recurring rent bill vs formal invoice — which to use
Both collect rent; they suit different tenants.
Use the recurring bill when you just want rent paid with minimum fuss. It auto-creates each month, the tenant taps "Pay", and you mark it settled. Lowest friction, best for a long-term tenant who pays without ceremony.
Use a PDF invoice when the tenant needs a document — a housing allowance from their employer, a relocation package, a letting agent in the middle, or their own bookkeeping. The invoice is numbered, dated, carries your sender details, and has a public link plus a downloadable PDF.
Many landlords do both: rent runs as a recurring bill for convenience, and they generate an invoice from it only for the tenants who ask for one.
Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
Mixing two units in one property. If you own two flats, don't track them under a single property to save a step — the rent and expenses blur together and the per-unit yield becomes fiction. One property per unit, always.
Forgetting to log the small expenses. The £40 call-out fee and the £15 filter feel too small to bother with, but they add up and they're deductible. Log every property expense as it happens; a two-line entry now beats reconstructing it in April.
Setting rent due on the 31st. A monthly template due on the 31st has no valid date in shorter months. The app clamps the day to the actual month length (31 → 28 in February, 30 in April), so a bill is still produced — but pick a safe day like the 1st and avoid thinking about it.
Treating a bank transfer as the record. The record is the settled rent bill, not the line in your banking app. Mark the bill settled when the money lands so the paid/unpaid state stays accurate and the export is trustworthy.
When to use a different tool
Split The Bill's property area fits the individual and small landlord — a spare room, a couple of buy-to-lets, a family unit you rent out. It covers rent collection, tenant invites, lease storage, expenses, invoices, and export.
If you manage dozens of units with staff, formal accounting integrations, statutory deposit-scheme reporting, and tenancy-law workflows, you'll outgrow this and want dedicated property-management software.
And if your "rent" is really just splitting a shared flat between equal roommates with no landlord, you don't need the property area at all — a plain group with a recurring bill is simpler. See the roommate guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is collecting rent with Split The Bill free?▾
No — Properties (this whole workflow: creating a property, inviting tenants, per-property rent + expense tracking) is a Pro feature, $7/month or $70/year. If you just want to split a shared rent bill with roommates in an ordinary group (no landlord/tenant structure), that's free — see the roommate guide instead.
Do my tenants need to install the app to pay rent?▾
No. Rent bills and invoices have a public link that opens in any browser with no account. The tenant sees exactly what they owe and pays via the "Pay" button — Venmo, PayPal, Revolut, or a SEPA/IBAN QR code. Installing the app is optional for them.
Can I manage more than one rental property?▾
Yes. Create a separate property per unit — each keeps its own tenants, lease, rent history, and expenses so the numbers never cross over. Your reports and CSV export break down per property.
How do I collect rent automatically each month?▾
Set rent up as a monthly recurring bill with the due day (usually the 1st). A rent bill is created automatically each month and assigned to the tenant, who pays via the prefilled "Pay" button. You only configure it once.
Can I send my tenant a formal rent invoice?▾
Yes. Turn any rent bill into a numbered PDF invoice with your sender details and the tenant as the client. Save the tenant to your client address book so they auto-fill next time, and keep multiple sender profiles if you rent both personally and under a company name.
How do I track utilities and repairs?▾
Log them as property expenses against the property — utilities, repairs, insurance, building fees — each with a category and amount. They sit in the same ledger as the rent, so you can see rent collected against costs incurred per property.
What happens when rent is late?▾
Open the rent bill and tap Remind on the tenant's share. An email goes out with the amount and a payment link. A 14-day cooldown per tenant keeps reminders from piling up, so a nudge stays a nudge.
Can I get everything out for my accountant at tax time?▾
Yes. Reports exports CSV covering every rent bill, property expense, and settle-up, broken down per property. Because expenses were logged against the property all year, deductible costs already sit next to the rental income.
Free tier covers most recipes. Pro is 100 receipts every 30 days + private invite links.
