Australian property owners should keep ownership and loan papers, leases, insurance policies, council rates and water notices, strata records, warranties and tax receipts. The ATO asks you to hold tax-supporting records for five years. Store them in one secure place, tagged to each property. Pocket Space gives owners that home, with secure document storage built in.
- Keep ownership, loan, lease, insurance, rates, strata, warranty and tax records.
- The ATO asks owners to keep tax-supporting records for five years.
- Scattered documents cost you time, money and cover.
- Pocket Space stores every document securely, tagged to each property. Join the waitlist.
You need your landlord insurance policy, and now. Your property manager just called about a burst pipe, and the paperwork sits somewhere between the policy email 8 months ago, a desk drawer, and an unrecogniseable file on your laptop.
Sound familiar? Property documents scatter fast, and they always hide on the day you need them.
Pocket Space fixes that. It gives Australian owners secure document storage built for the way property really works, so every paper lives in one place, tagged to the right property, ready in seconds. First, a clear guide to what you keep, for how long, and where it should live.
What property documents should you keep?
Keep anything that proves ownership, protects you, or backs a tax claim. Miss one and you can lose a deduction, a bond dispute, or an afternoon. For most Australian owners the core list looks like this, per property.
| Document | Why you keep it |
| Contract of sale and title | Proof of ownership |
| Loan and mortgage papers | Interest claims and refinancing |
| Lease agreements | Rights, terms and bond details |
| Insurance policies | Claims and renewals |
| Council rates, water notices and other expenses | Payments and deductions |
| Strata records and by-laws | Levies, rules and disputes |
| Repairs, warranties and invoices | Maintenance history and tax |
| Depreciation schedule | Investor tax claims |
That list grows with every property you add. One home stay manageable. Three, spread across different councils and strata schemes, turns into a genuine filing job.
How long do you need to keep them?
Tax-supporting records: five years. The Australian Taxation Office asks property owners to keep records that back their claims for five years from the date they lodge. Rates, water, repairs, loan interest and depreciation all sit in that group.
Capital gains records run longer in practice. Keep your purchase and sale papers for five years after you sell, because the sale is when the claim happens. Land tax assessments follow the same logic, held per state.
Some documents you keep for as long as you own the property, or longer. Title, loan discharge and major warranties belong there. When in doubt, keep it. As long as finding it later stays easy.
What does scattered paperwork really cost you?
More than a tidy drawer would fix. The cost hides in three places.
- Time. Hours lost hunting for a policy or a receipt you know exists.
- Money. Deductions you cannot prove at EOFY, so you never claim them.
- Risk. A lapsed insurance renewal, or a bond dispute with no paperwork to back you.
None of it lands as a single bill. It leaks, quietly, across the year, until tax time or a tenant emergency drags it into the open.
Where should your property documents live?
Not in three inboxes and a drawer. Email buries things. Drawers lose them. A laptop folder helps no one when you have an emergency plumbing expense to claim and the policy number nowhere in sight.
Documents belong in one secure place, organised by property, reachable from your phone. That single home turns a pile of paper into something you can use. Cloud storage gets you halfway, but a generic drive still cannot tell a Belmont rates notice from a Rockhampton lease.
“Owners rarely lose documents because they are careless,” says Peta, founder of Pocket Space. “They lose them because there is no one clear place to put them. So we built one.”
How does Pocket Space App store your documents?
Snap a photo or upload a file, and Pocket Space files it against one of your properties. Search once and find it in seconds. Leases, insurance, contracts and certificates, all in secure document storage, all in your pocket.
Each document sits with its property, next to the bills and records it belongs to. So the insurance policy lives beside the home it covers, not buried three folders away. No more guessing which drive, which inbox, which drawer.
Need to share documents with your financial advisor, a co-owner or a family member? Share secure access without giving away your password.
Homeowners and investors: the same need, one view
Own the home you live in? Keep the policy, the warranty and the rates notice in one place, and give a family member access if you ever need someone to step in.
Run a portfolio? Share the right documents with your accountant, co-owners or property manager, so your team works from the same records instead of chasing each other by email. Same secure document storage, scaled to as many properties as you hold.
That is the line between having documents and actually finding them.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Where should I store important property documents?
A. In one secure place, organised by property and reachable from your phone. Pocket Space gives owners secure document storage for leases, insurance, contracts and more.
Q. How long should I keep property records in Australia?
A. Keep tax-supporting records for five years, as the ATO requires. Keep title, loan discharge and major warranties for as long as you own the property.
Q. What property documents do I need for tax time?
A. Council rates, water, insurance, loan interest, repairs and depreciation records. Storing them per property in Pocket Space makes EOFY a quick turnaround.
Q. Can I share documents with my accountant or family?
A. Yes. Pocket Space lets you share secure access with an accountant, co-owner or family member, without sharing your password. Simply invite them to a property, and they follow the steps when it lands in their email.
Q. Is the Pocket Space App available yet?
A. Pocket Space launches soon in Australia. Join the waitlist for early access.