Real Estate Bookkeeping In Missouri
Missouri's two major markets pose opposite problems. Kansas City sits on a state line, so one portfolio commonly runs under two different landlord-tenant regimes at once. St. Louis carries a large inventory of historic building stock in active conversion, which makes rehabilitation credit and basis work a first-class concern. Outside them the market is individual investors, where the defining issue is books never properly separated from personal finances.
Locate the city nearest to you and select your software below to learn more. Don’t see your city? Schedule a meeting with us to learn more about how REA can help your property management accounting needs.
Missouri at a glance
- Security deposit return
- 30 calendar days
- Governing statute
- RSMo 535.300
- Cities we publish
- Kansas City · St. Louis · Springfield
What Missouri Law Changes About Your Books
Deposit Handling and Trust Requirements
Trust and deposit rules are set state by state, and they change the accounting itself, not just the paperwork around it. A deadline is a ledger requirement: you cannot return a deposit inside a statutory window if the ledger cannot say what is owed.
Security deposits
Missouri RSMo 535.300 caps the deposit at two months' rent and requires the balance, or a written itemised statement of deductions with any remaining balance, within 30 days of the tenancy ending. A tenant may recover up to twice the deposit if that is missed, and the statute is enforced strictly enough that a short delay is not treated as harmless.
Trust and segregation
Missouri is specific about custody as well as timing: deposits must be held for the tenant in a bank, credit union or depository institution insured by an agency of the federal government. That is a testable condition, so the account itself forms part of compliance rather than only the per-tenant ledger behind it.
What we do about it
- Deposit liabilities tracked per tenant, so a 30 calendar days deadline is answerable from the ledger
- Trust accounts reconciled three ways, including every beneficiary balance
- Deduction documentation recorded against the correct ledger, not filed separately
- Aging deposits flagged before the statutory window closes
Summary of statutory requirements provided for orientation. It is not legal advice, and local ordinances can impose stricter rules than the state minimum.
Cities We Cover in Missouri
Market by Market
We work with property managers and investors across all of Missouri, all 945 cities and towns of it. The markets below are the ones we publish Missouri-specific detail for. If yours is not listed, the same team and the same RSMo 535.300 rules still apply.
Kansas City
Kansas City is the one major American market that sits on a state line, and a single management company here routinely runs doors on both sides of it. That is not a geographic curiosity, it is two sets of landlord-tenant rules inside one rent roll.
Bookkeeping by platform
St. Louis
St. Louis has one of the largest inventories of historic building stock in the country being actively converted to rental use, and Missouri runs a state historic preservation tax credit alongside the federal one.
Bookkeeping by platform
Springfield
Springfield is dominated by individual investors and small operators rather than institutional owners, and that changes the accounting problem entirely. The issue is rarely volume.
Bookkeeping by platform
Select Your Software
We Work Inside Your Platform, From Anywhere in Missouri
Services Available in This State
Every back-office function below is available on its own or as part of a full monthly close, anywhere in the state.
Experts In All Property Types
Residential, commercial and everything in between. The asset class changes what the books have to prove, and our teams are staffed accordingly.
- Single-Family
- Multifamily
- Student Housing
- Affordable Housing
- Community AssociationsSee the page
- CommercialSee the page
Check Out What Our Clients Have To Say About Us
Property Managers, Investors & Owner Operators
Real-estate-only specialists
As REA exclusively specializes in Real Estate, I rest easy knowing my financials are precise every month while saving money at the same time, an invaluable benefit.
Handed over the whole accounting function
I highly recommend Real Estate Accounting (REA) services from this group. They truly are great and have helped us tremendously at a time we needed it the most. I felt very comfortable giving up all my accounting responsibilities to this team and I'm still glad I made the decision to work with this group. Nothing less than an amazing experience!
Day-to-day financial operations
REA and team have been nothing but excellent helping our firm with its day to day financial needs. Their expertise, professionalism, and timeliness have made our lives so much easier. We foresee a long relationship with REA and team.
230+
Property Accountants
30M+
Commercial Sq. Ft.
Up to 50%
Saved vs In-House
Every month
On-Time Close
Property Accounting for Missouri Portfolios
Schedule a call and we will walk your Missouri deposit and trust setup, tell you whether it reconciles today, and scope the monthly work.