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Cost of tenant turnover calculator

Add up what one turnover really costs — rent lost while the unit sits empty, make-ready and cleaning, marketing, and screening the next tenant. The estimate is based on your own numbers.
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The short answer
How it works
4
Make the result useful
Questions landlords ask
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Cost of tenant turnover calculator
Run operations
Last updated: July 2026
1. Enter the monthly rent and drag the slider to the days the unit sits vacant between tenants.
How it works
2. The tool annualizes the rent to a daily rate (rent × 12 ÷ 365) and multiplies by the vacant days to size the lost rent.
How it works
3. Add your make-ready and cleaning, marketing, and screening costs — the tool sums all four into one turnover figure.
How it works
4. The result is an estimate from your inputs; real costs vary with the unit’s condition, your market, and how fast you re-lease.
How it works
5. Why is turnover so expensive?
Questions landlords ask
6. How is the lost rent calculated?
Questions landlords ask
7. What should I put in make-ready?
Questions landlords ask
Cost of tenant turnover calculator
Category
Run operations
Last updated
July 2026
The assumptions that move this result
Monthly rent
The rent you expect to collect after the turn.
Vacant days
Days without collected rent, not just days contractors are present.
Turn costs
Documented cleaning, repair, marketing, and leasing amounts.
The short answer
1. Enter the monthly rent and drag the slider to the days the unit sits vacant between tenants.
Tenant turnover costs more than the empty weeks: it combines lost rent while the unit sits vacant, make-ready and cleaning, marketing the listing, and screening the next applicant. Added together, one turnover can eat a large share of a unit’s annual profit. This estimate sums those four pieces from the numbers you enter.
The short answer
Last updated: July 2026
Tenant turnover costs more than the empty weeks: it combines lost rent while the unit sits vacant, make-ready and cleaning, marketing the listing, and screening the next applicant. Added together, one turnover can eat a large share of a unit’s annual profit. This estimate sums those four pieces from the numbers you enter.
After the estimate:
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Turnover cost calculator
What one tenant turnover really costs.
Add up the four things a turnover costs you — rent lost while the unit sits empty, make-ready and cleaning, marketing the listing, and screening the next applicant.
Monthly rent
$
Used to price the rent you forgo for each day the unit is empty.
Days vacant between tenants
21
0 days
90 days
Make-ready & cleaning
$
Cleaning, paint, repairs, and turnover labor to get the unit rent-ready.
Marketing & advertising
$
Screening & application costs
$
Input-driven result
Your inputs
Formula
Result below
Estimated cost per turnover
$2,885
21 days empty plus make-ready, marketing, and screening.
Lost rent (21 days × $85/day)
$1,795
Make-ready & cleaning
$900
Marketing & advertising
$150
Screening & application
$40
Estimate based on your inputs. Not a promise of results.
Estimate only. Lost rent annualizes your monthly rent (× 12 ÷ 365) to a daily figure. Real turnover costs vary with the unit's condition, your market, and how fast you re-lease.
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How it works

How this tool works.

Losing a tenant costs far more than the rent for the empty weeks. Between the vacancy, the make-ready work, advertising the listing, and screening the next applicant, a single turnover can quietly eat a big share of a unit’s annual profit — which is why keeping a good tenant is often worth more than a rent bump.
This calculator adds up all four pieces: enter the rent, the days the unit is vacant, and what you spend on make-ready, marketing, and screening, and it estimates the total cost of one turnover. It’s an illustration from your inputs, not a measurement of any specific turnover.
1
Enter the monthly rent and drag the slider to the days the unit sits vacant between tenants.
2
The tool annualizes the rent to a daily rate (rent × 12 ÷ 365) and multiplies by the vacant days to size the lost rent.
3
Add your make-ready and cleaning, marketing, and screening costs — the tool sums all four into one turnover figure.
4
The result is an estimate from your inputs; real costs vary with the unit’s condition, your market, and how fast you re-lease.
Make the result useful

Price the full handoff, not just cleaning

Turnover cost can include lost rent, cleaning, repairs, marketing, leasing, and owner time. Keep each assumption separate so you can see which part is driving the result.
Use this total to compare renewal decisions with an honest re-listing scenario.

The assumptions that move this result

Monthly rent
The rent you expect to collect after the turn.
Vacant days
Days without collected rent, not just days contractors are present.
Turn costs
Documented cleaning, repair, marketing, and leasing amounts.
Worked scenario
At $2,000 rent, 15 vacant days cost about $986 in rent; adding $700 cleaning and $400 marketing creates a $2,086 turnover model before repairs.

Does it include every cost?

Only costs you enter; carrying costs and owner time may be separate.

Does it decide whether to renew?

No. Tenant performance and local requirements matter too.
Questions landlords ask

Questions about this tool and its limits.

Why is turnover so expensive?

Because several costs land at once. The unit earns nothing while it’s empty, then you pay to clean and repair it, advertise it, and screen applicants — all before a new rent check arrives. Stacked together, one turnover often costs more than a modest rent increase would have earned in a year.

How is the lost rent calculated?

It annualizes your monthly rent to a daily figure (rent × 12 ÷ 365) and multiplies by the days vacant. So a $2,600/month unit empty for 21 days loses roughly $1,795 in rent — separate from the make-ready, marketing, and screening costs you enter.

What should I put in make-ready?

The work to get the unit rent-ready again — cleaning, paint, small repairs, and turnover labor. Bigger capital improvements you’d make regardless of turnover are better tracked separately, since they aren’t strictly a cost of the tenant leaving.

Can Aptoria reduce turnover costs?

This calculator sizes what each turnover costs, so you can weigh what better retention or a faster re-lease is worth. Tenant messaging and maintenance coordination in Aptoria are planned; the figure here is your own math, not a promised saving.
Editorial ownership
Written and maintained by the Aptoria editorial team
Editorial method reviewed July 28, 2026. Aptoria reviews scope, source fit, examples, limitations, links, and publication gates. This record does not claim attorney, CPA, lender, appraiser, or other independent professional sign-off.
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Aptoria was built by an owner-operator managing a Brooklyn portfolio — the 11pm calls, the awkward rent texts, the April receipt-pile — not by a software team guessing at the problem.
Keep exploring

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