Rent Roll

What is a rent roll?

A rent roll is a schedule of every unit in a portfolio showing the tenant, lease dates, contract rent, deposit held, and current balance. It is the operational inventory of the business and the document lenders, buyers, and owners ask for first. For a property manager, the rent roll is also the control total that collections, the trust account, and owner statements all have to agree with.

What a usable rent roll contains

Unit identifier, tenant name, lease start and end, contract rent, any concession, deposit on hand, prepaid amounts, current balance, and occupancy status. Vacant units appear with market rent so potential income is visible. Lease expiration dates let you see renewal exposure concentrated in a single month. A rent roll that omits vacancy or deposit detail cannot be used for the purposes people actually request it for.

Using it as a monthly control

Total contract rent on the rent roll should tie to rent charged in your accounting system each month. A variance means a lease was renewed at a new rate without updating the system, a concession was applied inconsistently, or a unit turned over without the charge changing. Likewise, total deposits on the rent roll should equal the deposit trust balance. Running both comparisons monthly catches errors while they are still one month old.