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Multifamily Chart of Accounts: The Account List for an Apartment Building, With a Free Download
A chart of accounts for an apartment building is the list of named accounts its books use, so that every dollar of rent, cost, deposit, reserve and loan lands in the same place every month.
This chart is for one apartment building with 5 or more units. Every account on it exists because a page on this site records money into it. 36 accounts, 2 files, no sign-up.
The only numbers on this page are from Birch Way, our invented 50-unit building, shown once so you can see the chart produce a P&L.
What is a chart of accounts for an apartment building?
A chart of accounts for an apartment building is the list of named accounts its books use. It decides where every dollar of rent, cost, deposit, reserve and loan is recorded.
If your chart has only Rent and Repairs, it has no place for the money you hold for tenants or the money the lender holds for you. It has none for unpaid rent either. The chart is the frame for apartment building bookkeeping.
Which income accounts does an apartment building need?
Gross potential rent, vacancy loss and concessions, so lost rent is visible. Then one account each for utility bill-backs, late fees, laundry, parking, and pet rent.
Income accounts, 4000s
| Number | Account | What goes in it | Birch Way, one month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4010 | Gross potential rent | The rent if every unit were full and paid, at the lease or market rent. | $72,500 |
| 4020 | Vacancy loss | The rent of empty units, subtracted from gross potential rent. | -$4,350 |
| 4030 | Concessions | Move-in specials and credits, subtracted from gross potential rent. | |
| 4040 | Unpaid rent written off | Rent owed that will never arrive, taken off when the owner gives up on it. | |
| 4100 | Utility bill-backs | What tenants repay for water, sewer, gas and trash. | |
| 4110 | Late fees | Late fees collected. Never recorded as rent. | |
| 4120 | Laundry | Coin or card laundry income. | |
| 4130 | Parking | Assigned spaces, garages and carports. | |
| 4140 | Pet rent and pet fees | Monthly pet rent and one-time pet fees. Refundable pet deposits go to 2100. | |
| 4150 | Other fees | Application fees, lease fees and other charges the lease allows. |
Vacancy loss, concessions and written-off rent are subtractions from gross potential rent, so the P&L shows what the building could have earned and what it gave up. These accounts become the lines of an apartment building profit and loss.
Which expense accounts does an apartment building need?
7 groups: on-site payroll, repairs and unit turns, utilities, property tax, insurance, management fee, and office costs. Unit turn costs get their own account inside repairs.
Expense accounts, 5000s, and the loan interest account, 7000
| Number | Account | What goes in it | Birch Way, one month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5010 | On-site payroll | Wages and payroll costs for the staff who work at the building. | $6,500 |
| 5100 | Repairs | Fixing what breaks. Big improvements go to 1510. | $4,800 with 5110 |
| 5110 | Unit turn costs | Cleaning, paint and small fixes to get an empty unit ready for the next tenant. | |
| 5200 | Utilities: water and sewer | The building's water and sewer bills. | $5,200 with 5210 to 5230 |
| 5210 | Utilities: gas | The building's gas bills. | |
| 5220 | Utilities: electricity | The building's electricity bills. | |
| 5230 | Utilities: trash | The building's trash and recycling bills. | |
| 5300 | Property tax | The month's share of the yearly property tax bill. | $4,600 |
| 5310 | Insurance | The month's share of the building's insurance premiums. | $1,900 |
| 5400 | Management fee | What the property manager charges, each fee on its own line in the detail. | $2,700 |
| 5500 | Office and other | Software, bank fees, legal, advertising and the rest. | $1,300 |
| 7000 | Loan interest | The interest part of each loan payment. Principal goes to 2500. | $24,300 |
Loan interest sits at 7000, below the running costs, so net operating income can be read before the loan. Principal goes to 2500, the loan balance.
Which balance sheet accounts does an apartment building need?
Each bank account, rent owed by tenants, lender escrow and reserves, the building, bills to pay, security deposits held, prepaid rent, the loan balance, and owner contributions and draws.
What the building owns, 1000s
| Number | Account | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| 1010 | Operating account | The building's day-to-day bank account. Rent comes in, bills go out. |
| 1020 | Deposit account | Where tenant security deposits are held. Its balance equals the deposit ledger. |
| 1030 | Reserve account | Money the owner sets aside in the building's own bank for big repairs. |
| 1100 | Rent owed by tenants | Rent due and not yet paid, by unit. Equals the unpaid rent list. |
| 1200 | Tax and insurance escrow, held by the lender | Part of each loan draft the lender holds to pay property tax and insurance. |
| 1210 | Replacement reserve, held by the lender | Part of each loan draft the lender holds for big repairs, and the draws paid out of it. |
| 1500 | Building and land | The purchase price of the building and the land. |
| 1510 | Improvements | Big improvements that add to the building, such as a new roof. Not repairs. |
What the building owes, 2000s
| Number | Account | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Bills to pay | Invoices received and not yet paid. |
| 2100 | Security deposits held | Tenant deposits owed back, one line per unit. Never income. |
| 2110 | Prepaid rent | Rent paid before the month it is for. Income when that month comes. |
| 2500 | Loan balance | What is still owed on the building's loan. Principal payments lower it. |
Owner money, 3000s
| Number | Account | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| 3010 | Owner contributions | Money the owner or partners put into the building. |
| 3020 | Owner draws | Money the owner or partners take out. Not a cost of the building. |
The accounts most charts leave out are 1200 and 1210, what the lender holds, and 2100 and 2110, what the building holds for tenants. Without them the bank balance looks like the owner's money. The CPA may add accounts for the tax return; those are not on this chart.
How should an apartment building's accounts be numbered?
Use ranges: 1000s for what the building owns, 2000s for what it owes, 3000s for owner money, 4000s for income, 5000s and up for costs. Leave gaps for new accounts.
- 1000s: what the building owns. Bank accounts, rent owed, what the lender holds, the building itself.
- 2000s: what the building owes. Bills, deposits held, prepaid rent, the loan.
- 3000s: owner money. Contributions in, draws out.
- 4000s: income. Rent first, then other income.
- 5000s and up: costs, in the order of the P&L. Loan interest at 7000.
The numbers on this chart leave gaps, so a new account fits in without renumbering the rest.
Can several apartment buildings share one chart of accounts?
Yes. Use one chart for all of them and tag every transaction with its building. Each building then gets its own P&L in the same format.
The 5 buildings on our home page board, Oak St, Elm Ave, Pine Ct, Maple Dr and Cedar Ln, would use this one chart. We tag each transaction with its building, so each building gets its own P&L with the same lines. Its bank accounts sit under 1010 to 1030. How the tags and bank accounts are set up is in separate books for several buildings.
How do you load an apartment building's chart of accounts into QuickBooks?
Download the import file, open the chart of accounts in QuickBooks, choose import, and match the 4 columns: number, name, type and detail type.
These steps follow Intuit's own article, Import your chart of accounts to QuickBooks Online, read on November 12, 2026. Intuit says the spreadsheet needs Account Name, Type and Detail Type, with the number optional. Our file carries all 4.
- 1Download the QuickBooks file above. It has the 4 columns Intuit names: Account Number, Account Name, Type and Detail Type.
- 2In QuickBooks Online, go to Settings, then Import data, then Chart of Accounts. Browse to the file and select Next.
- 3Map the columns. Match Account Name, Type, Detail Type and Account number to the 4 columns in the file, then select Next.
- 4Review. Fix anything shown in red, set a type or detail type if one did not match, untick any account you do not want, and select Import.
Intuit's article says opening balances do not come in with the accounts; they are entered afterwards with a journal entry. Menus change, so check the article on the day you import. The rest of the setup is in QuickBooks for apartment buildings.
How is an HOA chart of accounts different?
An HOA's chart is split into an operating fund and a reserve fund, and its income is dues and assessments, not rent. It needs its own chart.
An association has no rent roll. It has 2 funds, operating and reserve, and they must stay apart. The fund version is the HOA chart of accounts.
Multifamily Bookkeeping sets up this chart for every building it keeps. See monthly bookkeeping for apartment buildings.