Property management & leasing
Rent Roll: Definition & Example
What Is a Rent Roll?
A rent roll is a report that lists every unit in a property with its tenant, rent, lease dates, deposits, and balance due, giving a snapshot of the property’s rental income.
What does rent roll mean?
A rent roll shows who occupies each unit and what each unit is supposed to produce. Typical columns include unit number, tenant name, unit type and square footage, lease start and end dates, monthly rent, security deposit, and any past-due balance. Vacant units are listed with market rent and marked vacant.
Buyers, lenders, and appraisers rely on the rent roll to value income-producing property. A lender underwriting a loan on a 20-unit building will compare the rent roll to leases and bank deposits to confirm the income is real.
Property management software generates rent rolls automatically, but they are only as accurate as the ledger behind them. Comparing a rent roll against actual deposits is a standard due diligence step.
Rent roll example
An investor is buying a 12-unit building. The seller’s rent roll shows 11 occupied units at an average rent of $1,150 and one vacant unit, for $12,650 in monthly scheduled rent. During due diligence, the investor’s lender compares the rent roll with signed leases and three months of bank deposits before finalizing the loan.
Related terms
- Rental LedgerA rental ledger is a running record of every charge and payment on a tenant’s account, including rent, fees, credits, and the resulting balance.
- Vacancy RateVacancy rate is the percentage of rental units in a property or market that are empty and available at a given time, or the share of potential rent lost to vacancy.
- Occupancy RateOccupancy rate is the percentage of a property’s units that are currently leased or occupied, the inverse of the vacancy rate.
- Market RentMarket rent is the amount a rental unit would likely lease for today on the open market, based on comparable units nearby with similar size, condition, and amenities.
- Due DiligenceDue diligence is the investigation a buyer, investor, lender, or partner performs before a transaction to verify facts, uncover risks, and confirm what they are getting.
- Owner StatementAn owner statement is a periodic report a property manager sends a property owner summarizing income collected, expenses paid, management fees, and the net amount distributed.
Rent roll FAQ
- What is the difference between a rent roll and a rental ledger?
- A rent roll summarizes every unit in a property at one point in time. A rental ledger tracks every charge and payment for a single tenant over time.
- Why do lenders ask for a rent roll?
- Lenders use the rent roll to estimate the income a property produces, which drives its value and how much can be borrowed against it.
