Gross rent

“Gross rent” is often used loosely for a rent total before property operating expenses. The phrase is incomplete unless the report also says whether it means gross potential rent, rent scheduled under current leases, charges actually billed, or cash collected. Those amounts can differ even though none subtracts operating expenses.

For a rent roll, scheduled gross rent is usually the sum of applicable contract-rent charges for the reporting period. Gross potential rent instead estimates the rent all rentable units could produce under the report’s assumptions. Collected rent comes from posted and settled receipts. Labeling the number prevents a vacancy, concession, or open balance from disappearing inside one top-line total.

For example, a duplex has $3,000 of monthly contract rent. One unit receives a documented $100 concession, and the other has a $250 balance at the cutoff. Scheduled contract rent remains $3,000, net scheduled rent after the concession is $2,900, and collected rent is $2,650. Calling each figure “gross rent” would hide which gap requires a leasing, accounting, or collection decision.

Gross figures are useful for a quick scale comparison and for calculations such as gross rent multiplier, but they do not show operating expenses, debt service, reserves, or owner cash flow. State the period, property scope, accounting basis, and included rent categories before comparing one property or month with another.