Your property manager sends you an owner statement every month. It’s a single document that summarizes everything that happened with your rental properties: what rent was collected, what was spent, and what’s left over for you.
Most investors glance at the bottom line, see a deposit that roughly matches expectations, and move on with their day.
That’s a mistake.
Owner statements are where PM errors hide. They’re where unnecessary fees quietly accumulate. They’re where the difference between a good PM and a mediocre one becomes visible in black and white. If you’re paying someone 8-12% of your gross rent to manage your properties, you owe it to yourself to understand exactly what they’re reporting.
Here’s how to read your owner statement like the investor you are, not the passive recipient your PM hopes you’ll be.
What an Owner Statement Actually Is
An owner statement is a financial report your property manager generates, usually monthly, showing all income collected and expenses incurred on your behalf for a specific period. It’s the PM’s accounting of your money.
Every PM formats their statement differently, but they all contain the same core sections: income, expenses, management fees, reserves, and your net disbursement. The numbers in this document should directly correspond to what shows up in your bank account.
If they don’t, you have a problem. And you won’t know unless you check.
Section 1: Rental Income
This is the top of the statement. It should show every unit, the rent amount due, and what was actually collected.
What to verify:
Check that the rent amounts match your lease agreements. PMs occasionally fail to update rents after increases, meaning they’re collecting the new rate from the tenant but reporting the old rate to you. Also confirm that every unit is accounted for. If you own a fourplex, you should see four lines, not three.
Look at the collection date. A deposit on the 15th when rent was due on the 1st tells you something about either the tenant or the PM’s collection process. You don’t need to manage the situation directly, but you should know.
Vacant units should appear as a line item showing $0 collected. If a unit simply doesn’t appear on the statement, ask why. Some PMs quietly exclude vacant units to make the statement look cleaner.
Common errors: Rent amount doesn’t match current lease terms. Missing units on multi-unit properties. Late collection not flagged or explained.
Section 2: Other Income
This includes late fees, pet fees, application fees, laundry income, utility reimbursements, or any non-rent revenue.
What to verify:
If your lease allows a $75 late fee and a tenant paid late, that fee should appear here. Some PMs collect late fees and keep them per their management agreement, which is fine if that’s what you agreed to, but you should know the policy and verify it’s being applied correctly.
Application fees are another area to watch. If your PM processed five applications for a unit and collected $50 each, that’s $250 in fee income. Depending on your agreement, some or all of that may be yours.
Common errors: Late fees collected but not reported. Application fee income missing entirely. Utility reimbursements not passed through.
Section 3: Management Fees
This is what your PM charges for their services. It’s typically a percentage of collected rent, usually 8-12%, though fee structures vary.
What to verify:
Multiply the total rent collected by your agreed percentage. The management fee on the statement should match. If you agreed to 10% and your PM collected $5,000 in rent, the management fee should be $500, not $550.
Watch for minimum fees. Some PMs charge a minimum monthly fee per unit regardless of occupancy. If a unit is vacant and generating zero income, you may still see a $100 minimum management fee. This should be clearly stated in your management agreement.
Also watch for lease renewal fees, tenant placement fees, and maintenance coordination fees. These are legitimate charges that many PMs include, but they should match what’s in your contract.
Common errors: Percentage calculation doesn’t match agreed rate. Fees charged on vacant units without contractual basis. Surprise charges not in the management agreement.
Section 4: Maintenance and Repairs
This is the section where most money disappears without the investor noticing.
What to verify:
Every maintenance charge should have a corresponding work order or invoice. If you see “$400 - Plumbing repair at Unit 3” on your statement, you should be able to request the invoice and see exactly what was done, who did it, and what the parts and labor breakdown was.
Look for patterns. If you’re seeing monthly maintenance charges of $200-500 across your properties, that may be normal. If one property suddenly has $2,000 in maintenance in a single month, you need the details.
Compare similar repairs across properties. If a toilet replacement at one property cost $180 and the same job at another property cost $450, something is off. PMs that use preferred vendors sometimes receive referral fees or markups on maintenance work. This isn’t necessarily dishonest, but you deserve to know.
Common errors: Vague descriptions (“general maintenance” with no detail). Charges significantly above market rate for the work described. Multiple charges on the same day for the same property. No corresponding invoice available upon request.
Section 5: Other Expenses
This covers everything that isn’t management fees or maintenance: HOA dues, insurance premiums paid from your account, property taxes, utility bills, landscaping contracts, pest control, and similar recurring costs.
What to verify:
These should be predictable month to month. If your landscaping contract is $150/month, that number shouldn’t suddenly become $225 without explanation. Verify that one-time expenses like annual insurance premiums or property tax payments match your actual policy amounts and tax assessments.
Watch for administrative fees tucked into this section: “statement processing fee,” “technology fee,” “compliance fee.” Some PMs add these charges quietly over time. If you didn’t agree to them in your management contract, push back.
Common errors: Insurance premium paid doesn’t match actual policy cost. Property tax payment doesn’t match county assessment. New recurring fees that weren’t in the original management agreement.
Section 6: Reserves
Many PMs hold a reserve from your disbursement, typically $200-500 per property, to cover unexpected expenses without having to request funds from you.
What to verify:
Your reserve balance should remain relatively stable. If it’s being drawn down and replenished frequently, you should know why. Ask for a reserve activity report showing every withdrawal and replenishment.
If your reserve grows significantly beyond the agreed amount without explanation, that’s your money sitting in your PM’s bank account earning them interest instead of you.
Common errors: Reserve amount exceeds what’s specified in the management agreement. Reserves drawn down for non-emergency items without notification. Reserve balance not itemized on statement.
Section 7: Net Disbursement
This is the bottom line: what your PM is depositing into your account.
The math should be simple: Total income collected, minus management fees, minus expenses, minus reserve contributions, equals your disbursement.
Do the math yourself. Every month. It takes 90 seconds with a calculator and catches errors that cost hundreds per year.
What to verify:
The disbursement amount on the statement should match the actual deposit in your bank account. If the statement says $3,200 and your bank shows $2,950, you have a $250 discrepancy that needs an explanation.
Check the deposit date against the statement date. Most management agreements specify disbursement timing, often by the 10th or 15th of the following month. If your PM is consistently late on disbursements, that’s a performance issue worth addressing.
Common errors: Disbursement amount doesn’t match bank deposit. Timing consistently later than contractually agreed. Math doesn’t add up when you total the line items yourself.
What to Do When You Find an Error
Don’t panic. PM statement errors are common and usually not malicious. They’re typically data entry mistakes, formula errors in the PM’s accounting software, or miscategorizations.
Start with a professional email referencing the specific line item, the amount, and what you believe it should be. Ask for clarification, not accusation. Good PMs appreciate investors who pay attention because it helps them catch their own mistakes.
If errors are frequent, that’s a different conversation. Consistent inaccuracy in your owner statement is a sign of either understaffing, poor systems, or indifference. None of those serve your investment.
Automate the Verification
Reading your owner statement manually works when you have two or three properties. At ten or twenty, it becomes a part-time job.
This is exactly what DoorVault’s AI assistant Knox was built for. Forward your PM’s statement email to Knox, and it extracts every line item, cross-references against your lease terms and historical data, and flags anything that looks unusual. It won’t replace your judgment, but it ensures nothing slips through unnoticed.
Whether you use software or a spreadsheet, the principle is the same: verify every dollar your PM reports. Your investment portfolio depends on accurate data, and the owner statement is where that data lives.
DoorVault helps PM-managed investors verify owner statements, track portfolio performance, and prepare taxes with AI-powered intelligence. Start free at doorvault.app.
