I'm meeting a prospective customer tomorrow and wondered if there was anything I should be aware of specific to this industry in relation to bookkeeping & VAT.
- such as accounting for repairs on properties are they only recorded on the landlords account & not put through the Letting Agents accounts & VAT?
They've been trading since 2009, but somehow are way behind with their Excel bookkeeping and weeks overdue with their first VAT return.
I have spent hours researching the web but not getting very far very fast.
All advice appreciated so I can be more informed before committing myself.
It turns out that they own a couple of the properties and manage properties on behalf of many landlords.
They charge the landlords a fee for managing the properties, pay subcontractors (eg gas certificate, etc...) on the landlords behalf and deduct these from the rent received and forward the balance through the client account to the landlord with a statement.
They also have their own maintenance department now, where they'll do maintenance/refurbishment work and charge a labour fee and recharge materials at cost.
Since my post I have done a lot of research and found that Letting Agents are not regulated like Estate Agents are.
As far as bookkeeping best practices for Letting Agents goes I didn't find a great deal.
I've re-read the HMRC's VAT guides and made a list of anything that could be relevant to their business.
It's always good to hear from others which may highlight areas missed, not considered, etc...
So I'm keen to hear from anyone with experience in this sector and also from the landlords perspective, from how to's to watch out for this to stories in dealing with these customers.
