Rental expenses are those expenses incurred starting on the date the property is placed "in service". It's considered to be in service on the first day a renter "could" have moved in. So if the room was "Move in ready" on say, Dec 1, 2022 then that's the "in service" date. It's no problem to claim any/all expenses directly related to the rental activity that were incurred on/after that date. Doesn't matter if you have zero income and zero days rented. So long as the property was "available" to a renter on said date, and you can prove it if audited, this isn't an issue. Understand that I seriously doubt the IRS would audit on this, unless your 2023 tax return showed no income and rented zero days for the entire 2023 tax year.
There's different types of expenses too.
Repair expense - deductible only if incurred while the property was classified as a rental.
Maintenance expense - deductible only if incurred while the property was classifed as a rental.
Property improvement - not deductible directly. improvements get capitalized and depreciated over time, with depreciation starting the first day the property improvement was placed "in service". it also doesn't matter if that improvement was done before or after the rental was actually placed in service. It still retains or adds value to the property regardless of when it was done.
Common question: I paid for the advertising before the property was actually placed in service? So can I still claim/deduct that on SCH E?
Simple answer: YES.
