How to Create an Ironclad Rent Roll Template [Free Template]

As a landlord, you understand the importance of staying organized and up to date with your rental income and expenses. However, doing this manually can be tedious and lead to costly mistakes.

Without a rent roll form, keeping an accurate accounting of your monthly rent payments and other expenses can be difficult. It could mean missing out on potential benefits or filing erroneous taxes — something no one wants!

Creating a rent roll template is an excellent way to ensure you accurately collect all necessary rental property information. It allows you to easily track your rental income and expenses so you can maximize your profits while ensuring compliance with financial and tax reporting.

In this article, you’ll learn what a rent roll report is, how it works, and how to create your own rent roll, including a template you can download for free.

What Is a Rent Roll?

A rent roll document is a rental business management tool for tracking a property's details, including its address, lease information, tenant details, and rental payments. Due to its extensive data, it's among the essential tools every landlord should have.

A rent roll can provide a landlord with answers to key questions, such as:

• Do any of my tenants have a balance outstanding?
• What is the current condition of my rental properties?
• How long has each tenant held their lease agreement?
• Are there any tenants who have payments outstanding or a history of late payments?
• Who is responsible for utilities in the rental units?

A rent roll lets landlords and other stakeholders gain a quick and comprehensive overview of their real estate investments without manually searching through countless rental agreements.

It provides an up-to-date look at the status of tenants, their payment history, and other pertinent details such as utility responsibility and how long a tenant has held their lease agreement. All this information is consolidated into one convenient document, allowing easy access and analysis.

‍

How Does a Rent Roll Differ from a Rent Ledger?

A rent roll is a document or record listing all tenants currently occupying units in a building or properties owned by the same landlord. It typically includes tenant names, rental amounts, payment history, and more.

On the other hand, a rent ledger is a document or book used to track monthly income related to individual rental properties. It includes rent payments received, late fees charged, and notes associated with managing a property.

While both documents list important rental information in their own way, a rent roll summarizes it, while a rent ledger tracks it in greater detail.

How to Create a Rent Roll Template in Excel

Creating a rent roll template in Microsoft Excel can be an ideal way to keep track of rental income and any payments due. It’s particularly useful for landlords managing multiple properties and businesses leasing real estate.

With a rent roll, it’s easier to remain organized and efficient when dealing with tenants and other parties involved with the property. There are two main sections in a rent roll.

Heading

The heading of a rent roll typically includes basic information about the property, such as its address and identification number. It may also contain the landlord’s name, the property manager, and other relevant contact details.

This section is for quickly identifying properties, managing leases, and remaining organized. It includes details such as:

• Owner’s name
• Property manager name
• Business office address
• Lender name
• Insurance company name

Property Information

Create columns and rows in your rent roll worksheet for the remaining property information. Each row must have a header listing details such as:

• Tenant details (e.g., tenant’s name)
• Unit type
• Unit number
• Size (square footage)
• Number of rooms (e.g., number of beds and bathrooms)
• The lease period (e.g., start date, end date, and renewal date)
• Current rent amount
• Additional rent amount (e.g., service charge)
• Total rent amount
• Rent due date
• Rent payment date
• Security deposit
• Rent increase rate: frequency and percentage (e.g., annually at 2%)
• Notes: an extra column for additional information
• Period totals: columns with totals for monthly and annual rent collected

Creating a rent roll template from scratch can be challenging for many, so why bother if you don't have to?

Our free rent roll template gives you access to an effective, efficient document with just the click of a button. Download our resource today and save yourself time, energy, and effort in the long run:

Rent Roll Template

‍

Updating Your Rent Roll

It’s essential to keep your rent roll up to date as a landlord. Keeping a record of all changes to the rent roll will give you greater clarity into how much money you can expect from each unit at any given time.

Your rent roll should include all tenants who are currently occupying units, as well as any prospective tenants in the pipeline. You should also review it periodically to ensure it’s accurate and reflects any recent changes.

When updating your rent roll, start by verifying tenant information to confirm all their contact details are correct. You should also check that payment terms and conditions for each tenant are current.

If you decide to change the rental terms or add new fees or charges to existing tenants, document it clearly so there is no confusion down the line.

Finally, record the receipt of payments from current tenants and if you have imposed any late fees. This documentation will help protect both parties from disagreements due to any misunderstanding of the payment terms or discrepancies in reporting.

Other Parties Interested in a Property’s Rent Roll

A rent roll benefits not just the property owner and manager but other parties too.

Insurance Company

A landlord’s insurance company may use a rent roll for insight into the state of their client's real estate investments. This information provides valuable context to help assess a landlord's overall risk and provide them with an appropriate level of coverage.

By analyzing a rent roll, insurers can ascertain the number and types of properties covered by a particular policy and identify problematic tenants who may be at risk of not paying their rent on time.

Lender

A rent roll assures financial institutions and mortgage brokers their investment will be secure. Lenders can assess the amount of risk associated with a loan by determining the stability of a landlord's investments based on their tenants' ability to pay rent on time and in full each month.

This data also gives lenders insight into whether there is sufficient cash flow in case of tenant occupancy disruption or unforeseen payment delays.

Investors

From a buyer's perspective, a rent roll is a fundamental reference point for evaluating whether or not to purchase a rental property.

A rent roll helps buyers quickly determine whether tenants have been reliable in paying their rent on time and if the average rent rate is comparable with fair market rent rates. Buyers better understand their potential return on investment while also factoring any long-term lease commitments into the sale price.

For sellers, an up-to-date rent roll is essential because it assures that the property will continue to perform in its new owner's hands. It demonstrates they have maintained a stable tenant base and ensures prospective buyers can accurately assess the property as part of their due diligence process.

Authorities

Government agencies sometimes rely on a rent roll to verify the accuracy of information provided in tax filings. Government officials examine rent rolls to identify the size and type of the property, the number of units, the intended use of said property, and any rent payments due or already collected.

This information helps ensure that any taxes paid by landlords reflect the actual business activity conducted on their properties. It also provides greater clarity when assessing compliance with taxation laws.