Rent roll analysis is usually done on somebody else's document, during a purchase, a refinancing or a management handover, and the total at the bottom is the least informative part of it. Six checks decide whether that total means what it appears to mean, and all six can be done in an hour with the rent roll and a few questions. Skipping them is how a portfolio is bought on a number that was never real.
Check one: the as-at date and what it includes
A rent roll is a position at a date. Ask which date, whether it includes tenancies agreed but not started, and whether units let to related parties or staff are shown at market rent or at what is actually paid. A roll that quietly includes a future tenancy and a concessionary let has overstated income twice in ways that no column heading reveals.
Check two: passing rent against market rent
If the roll shows both, they are different things and only one of them is cash. If it shows only market rent, you are reading a valuation rather than a rent roll. Where passing rent sits well below market, there is upside and a reason it has not been taken; where it sits above, expect it to fall at renewal. Both are the interesting part of the document.
Check three: incentives and how they are shown
Rent-free periods, stepped rents, capital contributions and service charge caps all reduce real income and frequently do not appear on the roll at all. Ask explicitly what incentives are in place across the portfolio and over what remaining term. This is the single most common gap between a rent roll and the cash a buyer actually receives.
Checks four to six: arrears, expiries and deposits
Arrears should come from the ledger, be aged, and be traceable; a typed arrears column is worth nothing. Expiries and break dates tell you how much of that income is committed and for how long, which matters more than the total. Deposits held are a liability you are inheriting, so check they exist where the roll says they do and are held where they should be.
Questions people ask about rent roll analysis
What is the difference between passing and market rent?
Passing rent is what is actually being paid under the lease. Market rent is an estimate of what it would let for today. Only one of them is cash.
Why does the as-at date matter so much?
Because a roll dated after a big letting or before a big expiry tells a very different story about the same portfolio.
What is most often missing from a rent roll?
Incentives. Rent-free periods and stepped rents reduce real income and rarely appear as a column.