Paying taxes on rental income, minimising your costs, and keeping your business healthy—these are some of the most crucial tasks an accountant does for a landlord. If you are planning to hire one to manage the day-to-day finances and taxes of your rental properties, then it’s important to look at several factors. Here’s what to check while evaluating a potential property accounting firm or accountant for landlord:
Affiliations
Any person can claim to be an accountant even without proper education, training, and work experience. You surely don't want to hire just anyone to work for you. What you are looking for in an accountant as a landlord is someone with in-depth knowledge and expertise in the field of real estate and rental businesses. You can't go wrong with someone who is affiliated with distinguished professional bodies like the ICAEW. Member firms have chartered accountants who have completed above-level studies and have years of relevant accounting experience in the real estate sector.
Professional Indemnity Insurance
An accountant for a landlord that is regulated by a professional body is required to carry professional indemnity insurance, among other requirements. Nevertheless, it pays to double-check and ask how much you may claim should there be a problem. Professional indemnity insurance is important because this will protect your business or cover any losses it may experience due to bad advice, negligence, or mistakes.
Previous clients
Look at their list of current and previous clients. This is a good way to determine if a potential accountant for landlord has direct experience in real estate. Choose a property accountant who has handled many clients in the same business, such as developers, land investment firms, commercial property owners, private homeowners, contractors, etc. Take the time to speak with their references and ask about their experience with the accountant.
