Almost every landlord starts with a spreadsheet for rent monitoring. That's perfectly fine - it's free, flexible and familiar. The question isn't whether a spreadsheet works, but how long it stays the right choice.
What a spreadsheet does well
For a single flat a table is ideal: enter the expected rent, tick it off monthly, done. No tool lock-in, full control, ready instantly. As long as you have the payment in view anyway, that's enough.
Where a spreadsheet hits its limits
The catch: a table checks nothing on its own. You have to enter and compare every payment yourself. From that follow the typical problems:
- Manual upkeep: every month is hand work.
- No reminder: forget the reconciliation and nothing flags it.
- Error-prone: transposed digits and skipped rows creep in.
- Scales badly: with several properties the upkeep becomes a burden - see reconcile your rent account automatically.
What software adds
A tool like BankPilot connects your account and takes over exactly the part a spreadsheet can't: the automatic reconciliation. Payments are matched on their own, and if a rent is missing you get a notification. Instead of actively checking, you get informed. The use case is described on the rent payment monitoring page; the basics in how to monitor rent payments.
The honest recommendation
One flat, run with discipline? Stick with the spreadsheet. Several units, little time, or rent missed once already? Then the switch pays off. A general comparison - beyond rent - is in spreadsheet vs. automatic monitoring.