The first thing Baselane gets right is the obvious problem most landlords ignore: keep your rental money completely separate from everything else.
That sounds basic. But a surprising number of landlords run rental income through personal accounts, manually sort transactions at year-end, and wonder why tax season is so painful. Baselane's pitch is simple — free business banking built specifically for landlords, with property-level organization baked in from the start.
Here's what it actually delivers and where it stops short.
The banking side is genuinely good
The core product is a free business checking account with features that make sense for landlords specifically:
- Virtual accounts per property. Create a separate sub-account for each property with its own routing and account number. Rent hits the right bucket automatically. Expenses go out from the right property. This alone is worth setting up.
- High-yield savings. Idle cash earns a real rate. Good for security deposit reserves or a maintenance fund.
- Online rent collection. Tenants pay directly into your Baselane accounts. No Venmo, no Zelle, no manual tracking.
- Real bank infrastructure. FDIC-insured accounts backed by Thread Bank. Not a fintech wrapper with unusual fund holds.
If you've been using a generic Chase or Wells Fargo business account that has zero concept of a "property," Baselane's organization is a meaningful upgrade.
The accounting side: where the limitations show up
No double-entry accounting
Baselane tracks credits and debits the way a bank statement does — not the way an accountant does. There's no chart of accounts, no journal entries, and no double-entry system behind the scenes. For a lender who wants a proper balance sheet, or a CPA preparing a partnership return, Baselane alone won't get you there.
No balance sheet (yet)
As of now, Baselane doesn't have a balance sheet. It's a planned feature — but it's not there today. If you need to show net worth to a lender, track equity across properties, or support a 1065 filing with a Schedule L, you'll need something else.
Depreciation is manual entry only
You can enter a depreciation amount in Baselane, but it doesn't calculate or schedule it for you. Multiple assets at different depreciation rates means that math happens somewhere else.
No partnership support
Multi-user access is available on the $20/month plan, but Baselane has no concept of partner capital accounts, profit allocations, or K-1s. If your LLC has multiple members, Baselane can't produce the accounting your partnership return needs.
Who Baselane is a great fit for
- Solo landlord with a personal return (Schedule E, no partnership return)
- Someone who wants per-property accounts without paying for a business bank
- Landlords who want rent collection and banking in one place
- Anyone who just needs income and expense tracking — nothing more complex
Who should look beyond Baselane
- Multi-member LLC that files a Form 1065
- Anyone who needs a balance sheet today
- Landlords whose accountants need a general ledger or depreciation schedule
- Anyone growing a portfolio where proper accounting becomes more important over time
| Feature | Kulta | Baselane |
|---|---|---|
| Free banking | — | ✓ |
| Per-property accounts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Double-entry accounting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Balance sheet | ✓ | ✗ (coming soon) |
| Depreciation tracking | ✓ | Manual entry |
| Multi-member LLC | ✓ | ✗ |
| Tax-ready reports | ✓ | ✓ |
Can you use both?
Yes — and for some landlords it's actually a solid setup. Use Baselane for the banking: free accounts, per-property virtual cards, rent collection. Connect those accounts to Kulta for the actual accounting: double-entry books, depreciation, balance sheet, tax-ready reports. You get Baselane's organizational benefits without compromising on the accounting side.
If accounting is the bottleneck and banking isn't, Kulta connects to your existing bank accounts — no need to switch anything. Start free at kulta.app.