The property records to gather before retirement

Before you work out what a property might add to retirement, gather the papers that show what you own, what you owe, and the money coming in and going out. Keep the date with every amount. Each figure should lead back to a document, which a tidy spreadsheet of guesses cannot do.

You do not need to settle every tax question first. You do need to keep confirmed facts apart from gaps, estimates and questions for an adviser. This checklist is for gathering records. It does not decide whether to keep or sell a property.

Start with ownership and purchase records

Find the purchase contract, the settlement statement and the papers that show the registered owners and their shares. Keep any later change of ownership with them. The person who manages the property or pays a bill is not always its only owner.

Record the purchase price, the contract date and the settlement date apart.
Keep invoices for purchase costs and for later major work on the property.
Gather leases, and records of when the property was rented, empty or used privately.
Keep any valuation with its date, its source and what it was for.

A value estimate today does not replace the purchase price, and it is not a tax cost base. Keep each of these records. Do not pick one number to stand for all of them.

Match loan balances to their statements

Gather a recent statement for each loan that matters, its repayment terms, and statements for the period you want to understand. Note the balance date, the repayments due, the interest rate and any planned change to the repayments. Today's balance cannot tell you what was owed on an earlier date.

Keep offset account statements apart from loan statements. Also collect records of extra borrowing and redraws, and what that money paid for. Do not guess what a loan was for from the property it is secured on. If the transaction history has gaps, write down what is missing. Do not fill in a purpose from memory.

Collect rent and costs for the same period

Use the rental statements to find the rent received, the fees held back and the bills paid for you. Match them with your bank deposits and the bills you paid yourself. A managing agent's deposit may already have fees taken out, so it may be less than the gross rent.

Gather rates, insurance, strata levies if there are any, and management statements.
Include repair invoices and bills that come now and then, as well as monthly payments.
Mark unpaid bills and rent owing apart from money already paid or received.

For household spending, MoneySmart's budget guide recommends checking your bank statements. It has you write down what each expense is for, how much it is and when it is paid. That puts the property's cash beside the bills retirement income would need to cover.

Finish with a list of open questions

Add the tax returns, assessments, depreciation schedules and written advice you already have. They are where you start. They do not confirm that a past treatment applies to a future event. Ask a registered tax agent about missing tax records or a treatment you are unsure of.

The guide Records that need a newer figure says which records need one and how often.

For each gap, note the document you need and who can give it to you. Leave an unknown amount unknown. Enter zero only when a record shows it is zero. Keep the original documents as they are, and put your notes beside them. In the end, you should be able to follow each important figure back to its source without piecing the story together again.