HesapHanem

Tenant Turnover Cost Calculator

Calculate the full cost of turning over a rental unit between tenants, including vacancy loss, repairs, and leasing fees.

How it is calculated

Three costs are added: lost rent = monthly rent × vacant months, the repair and cleaning cost you enter in dollars, and leasing fee = monthly rent × fee% ÷ 100. The fee is entered as a percentage of one month's rent, so 50 means half a month's rent and 100 means a full month. The total is lost rent + repairs + leasing fee, and the tool also gives it as a share of annual rent, total ÷ (monthly rent × 12) × 100. Vacancy is in months (decimals allowed), not days. Rent must be above zero; vacancy and repairs cannot be negative, and the fee must be between 0 and 100. Anything outside those limits shows no result, while zero is allowed. Unpaid utilities, legal costs and deposit disputes are not included.

Worked example

A unit rents for $1,500 a month. After the tenant leaves it stays empty for 1.5 months, repairs and cleaning cost $1,200, and the agent charges half a month's rent (50%). Lost rent: 1,500 × 1.5 = $2,250. Leasing fee: 1,500 × 50 ÷ 100 = $750. Total: 2,250 + 1,200 + 750 = $4,200.00. Annual rent is 1,500 × 12 = 18,000, so the turnover costs 4,200 ÷ 18,000 = 23.33% of a year's rent, a little over two and a half months of rent.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Entering vacancy in days (such as 45). The field is months, so 45 is treated as 45 months and lost rent reaches $67,500.
  • Typing the leasing fee as a dollar amount (750). It is a percentage of one month's rent and cannot exceed 100, so 750 gives no result.
  • Leaving out the rent lost while the unit is being repaired. Count the whole empty period, from the move-out date to the new tenant's first rent.
  • Forgetting that fees can be set per lease. If your agent charges a flat sum, convert it into a percentage of the monthly rent first (for example $750 on $1,500 rent is 50).

About this calculator

Tenant turnover cost is the total expense a landlord incurs when one tenant moves out and a new one moves in, adding together three components: lost rent during the vacancy period (months vacant × monthly rent), repair and cleaning costs to make the unit rentable again, and a leasing fee such as advertising, screening, or agent commissions, entered as a percentage of one month's rent. The total is also expressed as a percentage of annual rent to show how much of a year's income the turnover consumes.

Property managers and landlords use this figure to decide how much it is worth spending on tenant retention — offering lease renewal incentives or handling maintenance requests promptly — since a single turnover event routinely costs the equivalent of one to two months' rent once vacancy loss, cleaning, painting, and marketing are added up. Real estate investors also use average turnover cost per unit as an input when underwriting a rental property's net operating income, since high turnover directly erodes annual cash flow.

Part of a month counts as a fraction, so a vacancy of about 15 days is entered as 0.5.

Was this helpful?

You can pick up to 3 reactions.

Comments

  • Be the first to comment.

Popular calculators

Loan Calculator

Monthly payment, total interest and full amortization schedule.

Percentage Calculator

Percent change, percent of, and ratio calculations.

Discount Calculator

Calculate final price, savings, and discount amount.

BMI Calculator

Body mass index from height and weight (metric or imperial).

Age Calculator

Compute your exact age in years, months and days from a birth date.

Compound Interest Calculator

Calculate the final amount and interest earned with compounding.

All Calculators