Rent Income
SalesThis Sales code records income the business earns from rent income. As an income account, it normally carries a credit balance: credit entries increase the balance (recording new income) and debit entries decrease it (for example, a credit note issued to a customer).
Real-world examples
Property and letting business (commercial landlord)
A property company lets units in a commercial building and issues quarterly rent demands. A £6,000 demand is a debit of £6,000 to 1100 (Debtors Control Account) and a credit of £6,000 to 4904 (Rent Income) if the property is VAT-exempt — the default for commercial property. If the landlord has opted to tax the building, the demand instead carries VAT in the normal way: a debit of £7,200 to 1100, a credit of £6,000 to 4904, and a credit of £1,200 to 2200 (Sales Tax Control Account).
Any trading business subletting spare space
A business with more office or warehouse space than it needs sublets part of it — a corner of a workshop, say, or a spare desk — to another company. A monthly sublet charge of £400 is a debit of £400 to 1100 and a credit of £400 to 4904, generally without VAT unless the main tenant has itself opted to tax the property, which is unusual for an arrangement this small. Because it's incidental to the main trade rather than the business's real purpose, this income sits in 4904 rather than being folded into ordinary sales, however small the amount.
Commonly confused with
Because code 4903 (Insurance Claims) sits right next to this one in Sales, it's a common mis-posting target. Code 4904 is specifically for rent income, while 4903 covers insurance claims — similar in nature, but keeping them separate is what makes the sales section of your management accounts meaningful rather than a single lumped total.
What a mis-posting here costs you
A sale posted to the wrong Sales code won't change total turnover, but it will distort the sales analysis used to see which products, services or channels are actually driving revenue.