Double-entry accounting for property owners

Proper booksfor property.

BooksRail is double-entry accounting for people who own and manage property. It runs on your own computer and keeps your books in one encrypted file that you own.

Tell me when it launchesSee what it does

For Windows 11 and Mac. Coming to the Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store.

The BooksRail home screen: a navigation rail, tiles for cash at bank, receivables, due to owners and VAT payable read out of the trial balance, a list of what is waiting on you, and an integrity line reading Books balance.

The short version

You keep the ledgeron your own computer.

  1. 01

    Your books, your file

    BooksRail keeps your books in one encrypted file that you own.

  2. 02

    Works offline

    The app works with the network switched off.

  3. 03

    Built for property

    BooksRail handles post-dated cheque lifecycles, straight-lined rent, rent rolls and owner statements.

  4. 04

    Free to start

    Your first entity and five active leases are free.

Built for property

The property work that genericaccounting software handles poorly.

  1. 01 · Post-dated cheques

    Follow each cheque from on hand to cleared

    BooksRail follows a post-dated cheque through its whole lifecycle. It recognises income over the period the cheque covers, not from the cheque date.

    The BooksRail post-dated cheque register: three cheques listed with their due dates, tenants, the period each covers and a state of cleared, bounced or on hand.
    Cheque clearance table: one cheque cleared in 29 days, one bounced, one on hand and not yet deposited.
  2. 02 · Straight-line rent

    BooksRail straight-lines rent across free months and steps

    It handles rent-free periods, step rents, modifications and terminations.

    The BooksRail leases screen: a lease with two rent steps and the monthly schedule showing cash rent, the amount recognised and the straight-line adjustment.
    Rent steps table: six months at 21,000.00 and six months at 23,000.00.
  3. 03 · Contract scan

    Contract scan proposes a lease and you confirm it

    Contract scan reads a tenancy contract PDF and proposes the lease and its cheques. You confirm them before BooksRail writes anything.

    The BooksRail contract scan screen: the fields read from a tenancy contract PDF, each marked sure, with the lease it would add shown for confirmation.
  4. 04 · Reporting

    Report to owners with rent rolls, owner statements and ageing

    BooksRail treats residential, commercial and short-stay property differently because they are different.

    The BooksRail reports screen: the list of available reports and what each one covers.

History you can trust

You correctan entry byreversing it,the original stays.

BooksRail posts a correction as a reversal and leaves the original entry in place. It keeps an append-only audit trail and locks closed periods.

  • A bank account tied to a property cannot be posted elsewhere by accident.
  • BooksRail will not close a period that does not balance.
Posted entries cannot be edited or deleted. A correction is a reversal, which links back to what it reverses.On the Journals screen
The BooksRail journals screen: posted journals, most recent first, with a reversal entry at the top that names the journal it reverses.
Two journal lines: JV-00001, entered here, and above it REV-JV-00001, a reversal that names the journal it reverses.

Bank reconciliation

Unmatched bankmoney waitsin suspense,where you can see it.

BooksRail does not connect to your bank and does not post by itself. You export an MT940 file from your bank, the reconciliation workbench matches it line by line, and you decide each match.

The BooksRail bank reconciliation screen: an imported statement, its lines, and for each line a status and the reason for it.
Three bank statement lines with their amounts: one not considered, one matched and not posted, one unmatched.
Suspense: unmatched receipts of 12,345.67.

Your books, your file

Your books stayon your computer.

BooksRail keeps them in one encrypted file that it backs up automatically and you can restore. You need no account, no sync service and no subscription, and the app works with the network switched off.

Try itNetwork on

  • Post a journal works
  • Record a cheque as paid works
  • Reconcile a bank statement works
  • Export a report works

Switch the network off and each task below still works.

Reports

Export reports you can handto an owner or an auditor.

BooksRail exports the trial balance, profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow as formatted Excel, plain Excel, PDF or CSV. It also produces rent rolls, owner statements, and tenant and supplier ageing.

  • XLSXFormatted Excel
  • XLSXPlain Excel
  • PDFPDF
  • CSVCSV
The report list in BooksRail: trial balance, profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, owner statement, rent roll, PDC register, AR aging and AP aging.

Statutory extras where you need them

VAT201 workings, the FAF audit file and e-invoice-ready data switch on where they apply and stay out of the way where they do not.

Pricing

Start free, then pay onceto remove the caps.

Free forever

FreeFor your first entity and five active leases.

  • Every feature is included
  • It covers your first entity
  • It covers five active leases

One payment

OnceYou pay one time and there is no subscription.

  • It lifts the caps on entities and active leases
  • Updates are included
  • You do not renew

Questions

Questions peopleask first.

Where are my books kept?

You keep them in one file that you manage yourself, not in an account we hold. SQLCipher encrypts the file with your passphrase.

Does it connect to my bank?

No. BooksRail does not connect to a bank and does not post by itself. You export an MT940 file from your bank, the reconciliation workbench matches it line by line, and you decide each match.

What does it cost?

Your first entity and five active leases are free, with every feature included. One payment removes the caps. Updates are included and you do not renew.

Is BooksRail only useful in one country?

No. The double-entry ledger, the real estate layer and the reporting are the product, and they work the same wherever you are. VAT201 workings, the FAF audit file and e-invoice-ready data switch on where they apply and stay out of the way where they do not.

Can two people work in the same file at once?

No. One person works in a BooksRail file at a time.

Is there a manual?

Yes. The app carries a full manual that you can search, print and save as a PDF without a connection.

Keep proper double-entry bookson your own computer.

Your first entity and five active leases are free. BooksRail is for Windows 11 and Mac and is coming to the Microsoft Store and the Mac App Store.

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