What is Rent Roll?
A detailed schedule of all tenants in an income-producing property, listing tenant names, unit numbers, lease start and end dates, monthly rent amounts, security deposits, and any concessions.
Rent Roll in commercial lending practice
The rent roll is cross-referenced against the operating statement (T-12) during underwriting to validate income and assess lease rollover risk. It feeds the WALT (weighted average lease term) calculation, the tenant concentration analysis, and the NOI normalization. AI-assisted rent roll analysis extracts tenant-level data, rolls up effective gross income, and flags lease rollover concentrations automatically.
Worked example
Rent Roll in numbers
Setup
A small mixed-use property has 8 units. Six residential units rent for $1,950, $1,925, $1,800, $1,800, $1,750, and $1,700 per month respectively. Two ground-floor commercial units rent for $3,400 (NNN, 5-year lease, 18 months remaining) and $2,800 (modified gross, lease expires in 7 months, no extension confirmed). One residential unit (the $1,700 unit) is currently vacant.
Calculation
Residential gross potential rent = ($1,950 + $1,925 + $1,800 + $1,800 + $1,750 + $1,700) × 12 = $133,500
Commercial gross potential rent = ($3,400 + $2,800) × 12 = $74,400
Total gross potential rent = $207,900
Vacancy and credit loss (UW at 7% physical, plus loss-to-lease on vacant unit) ≈ $14,500
Effective Gross Income = $207,900 − $14,500 = $193,400
Interpretation
The underwriter would note three rent-roll concerns: the $2,800 commercial lease expiring in 7 months without confirmed extension is concentrated rollover risk (15% of EGI), the vacant residential unit needs a market-rent confirmation rather than the historical $1,700 figure, and the modified gross commercial lease should be re-cast as if it were NNN to compare apples to apples in the expense underwriting.
Variations by loan type
How Rent Roll differs across CRE, C&I, and SBA
Multifamily
Rent roll typically lists unit number, unit type (1BR/2BR), square footage, current rent, market rent, lease start and end dates, security deposit, and any concessions. Underwriters reconcile rent roll against the trailing 12 months to confirm collected rent and assess the gap between in-place and market rents (the loss-to-lease).
Office
Rent roll is materially more complex: per-suite tenant name, square feet, base rent psf, escalations, expense recoveries (CAM, taxes, insurance, utilities), tenant improvement allowance, free rent periods, options to renew or terminate, and lease commencement/expiration. WALT calculation and tenant-credit analysis are central.
Retail
In addition to office-style detail: percentage rent clauses (tenant pays a share of sales above a breakpoint), co-tenancy clauses (rent reductions or termination rights if anchor tenants leave), exclusivity and use restrictions. Rent roll analysis often pairs with sales-per-square-foot benchmarks for the in-line tenants.
Industrial
Generally simpler: fewer, larger tenants, often on NNN leases with annual escalators (2.5%-3% is typical). Rent roll work is less granular but tenant credit and lease term concentration are the primary risk drivers because losing a single tenant can mean losing a meaningful share of NOI.
Further reading
Go deeper on Rent Roll
Frequently asked
Rent Roll FAQ
How is the rent roll reconciled with the T-12?
Underwriters annualize the in-place rent from the rent roll and compare it to the rental income reported in the trailing 12 months. Material gaps (more than 3%-5%) need explanation: typically a recent rent increase, a new lease that has not yet flowed through 12 months of collections, or vacancy that has been backfilled. Unexplained gaps are a flag for revenue overstatement.
What is WALT and why does it matter?
WALT (weighted average lease term) is the average remaining lease term across all tenants, weighted by rental income or square footage. A long WALT (5+ years for office, 7+ for retail, 10+ for net-leased single-tenant) means stable cash flow visibility. A short WALT means the underwriter must stress test rollover risk — what happens to NOI and DSCR if the renewing tenants negotiate lower rents, or do not renew at all.
How are pro forma rents handled in the rent roll?
Pro forma (projected) rents are typically excluded from the in-place underwriting and shown separately. Banks underwrite to in-place rent on a stabilized property and may give partial credit to pro forma uplift on a value-add deal, but only with documented evidence (signed leases, market rent comparables, sponsor track record on similar value-add executions). Treating pro forma as in-place is a common cause of overstated NOI.
Do underwriters use as-is rent or stabilized rent?
For stabilized properties, as-is rent is the underwriting basis. For value-add, lease-up, or under-rented properties, the underwriter typically runs both an as-is and a stabilized scenario. The loan structure (interest-only period during lease-up, conversion to amortization at stabilization) usually mirrors the rent roll trajectory. The credit memo should be explicit about which rent set is driving the loan sizing.
Related terms
Related concepts in commercial underwriting
NOI (Net Operating Income)
Total property revenue minus operating expenses, excluding debt service, capital expenditures, depreciation, and income taxes.
Read definitionCRE (Commercial Real Estate)
Real property used for business purposes, including office, retail, industrial, multifamily (5+ units), and hospitality properties.
Read definitionT-12 (Trailing Twelve Months Operating Statement)
A financial statement showing a property's actual income and expenses over the most recent twelve-month period.
Read definitionWeighted Average Lease Term (WALT)
The average remaining lease term across all tenants in a property, weighted by each tenant's proportional share of total rental income or square footage.
Read definitionSee it in Aloan
How Rent Roll shows up in AI underwriting
Aloan automates the underwriting analysis where rent roll matters — spreading, global cash flow, credit memo generation — with source-cited audit trails on every figure. See it run on a real deal in your standardized format.
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