Service
Rent Roll Finance
Finance to buy or grow a rent roll, backed by genuine transaction expertise. We understand how rent rolls are valued, what lenders look for, and how to structure the deal so it funds and holds.
- Founded by two former bankers
- Commercial and business finance specialists
- Perth based, working Australia wide
- MFAA member
Finance built around recurring management income
A rent roll is one of the most valuable assets a real estate agency owns, and one of the least understood by mainstream lenders. It is an income-producing intangible. There is no building to repossess, only a portfolio of management agreements and the recurring fee income they generate. That is exactly why so many principals hit a wall when they try to finance a rent roll purchase through an ordinary business loan. In balance sheet terms, almost all of a rent roll's price is goodwill, value sitting above any physical asset, and it takes a lender who funds that on purpose.
Rent roll finance is a specialist field. The lenders who do it well assess the portfolio itself, the quality and spread of the managements, the arrears, the average management fee, the systems and the team, and they lend against the recurring income. Get the lender and the structure right and a rent roll acquisition is very fundable. Get them wrong and a good portfolio looks unbankable.
Rockwall brings something most finance brokers cannot to these transactions. Co-founder Ari Freund spent his banking career at NAB as a senior professional services banker, where he banked some of Perth's biggest rent rolls and wrote this exact lending from the inside. We understand how a rent roll is valued, what makes it hold, and how a lender's credit team will assess it, because assessing it used to be the job. We are based in Perth and work with principals across Australia.
If the purchase involves more than the rent roll itself, a bolt-on business, equipment, or an office alongside it, our guide to choosing a finance broker in Perth covers how a commercial-focused broker works across a full panel rather than a single product.
What we help with
- Buying an established rent roll or a real estate agency with a rent roll attached
- Growing an existing portfolio through a bolt-on acquisition
- Principals stepping out on their own and acquiring their first rent roll
- Partner and shareholder buyouts where a rent roll is the core asset
- Refinancing existing rent roll debt onto better terms
- Funding structured around retention and clawback periods
What lenders look at
A rent roll lender is underwriting the durability of the management income. The assessment covers the quality of the management agreements and whether they are properly executed and assignable, the arrears position, how tightly the managements are held geographically, the average management fee, owner and landlord retention history, the state of the trust accounting, and the systems and staff that come across in the sale. A clean, tightly held, low-arrears portfolio with strong systems supports stronger terms than a scattered, high-churn one.
Most deals include a retention or clawback mechanism, where part of the price is held back and adjusted if managements are lost in the period immediately after settlement. How that is structured affects both the price and the finance, and it needs to be designed in from the start.
How we structure rent roll finance
We start with the portfolio and its management fee income, work out what a specialist lender will advance against it, and build the deposit, security and retention structure around that. Because we understand how the rent roll is valued, we can also flag where the asking multiplier sits relative to the quality of the portfolio, which matters as much to the funding as it does to the price. Where the acquisition sits alongside a broader business purchase or office, we fold it into a wider acquisition finance or commercial finance structure.
Rent roll finance across Australia
Rent roll lending is a national market run by a short list of specialist funders, so the deal is assessed on the portfolio's numbers, not its postcode. We arrange rent roll finance for principals in every state, from single-office portfolios to multi-office books, and the process runs the same way whether the agency is in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney or a regional centre: portfolio summary and management income first, lender selection second, structure and retention terms third.
Distance is not a barrier. The assessment works off the management agreements, the arrears data and the trust accounting, all of which travel by email, and settlements complete remotely as standard. What matters is that the person structuring the deal has actually assessed this kind of lending before, because a rent roll presented like a generic business loan gets a generic answer.
See what you can borrow before you commit
The cheapest time to find a problem with a rent roll deal is before you sign. Start with our rent roll finance calculator: put in the portfolio and your deposit, and in about a minute you will see what the roll is worth, what a lender will likely advance, the repayments, and the cash you need to complete. Then bring us the portfolio summary and the asking price and we will confirm what a lender will actually support, how the retention should be structured, and where the risks sit. If you are still learning how rent rolls are valued and bought, start with our guide to buying a rent roll.
Why principals bring us the deal
We wrote this lending from the inside. Co-founder Ari Freund banked some of Perth's biggest rent rolls as a senior professional services banker at NAB, assessing the managements, the arrears, the multiplier and what makes a portfolio hold. Rockwall was founded by two former bankers, so your deal is presented the way the credit team that approves it will read it. Most brokers guess at that. We did it for a living.
Access to more than 40 lenders. Through our Finsure accreditation we can take a rent roll purchase to the specialist and non-bank lenders that actually fund recurring management income, not just the major banks that cap it or decline it. We know which funders are active on rent rolls and how they want the deal presented.
In before you sign. We test the asking multiplier and the funding against the quality of the portfolio before you commit, so a problem shows up while it is still cheap to fix, not after settlement. Bring us the portfolio summary and the asking price and we will tell you what a lender will actually support.
Licensed and accountable. We are MFAA members and Credit Representatives (579184 and 579182) of Finsure Finance & Insurance Pty Ltd.
Frequently asked questions
Can you get finance to buy a rent roll?
Yes. Specialist lenders fund rent roll acquisitions, lending against the recurring management income the rent roll produces. Because a rent roll is an income-producing intangible rather than a physical asset, it is assessed differently from a property or equipment loan. Lenders look at the quality of the managements, the arrears and condition of the portfolio, the management fee income, staff and systems, and how transferable the managements are. The amount you can borrow is usually expressed as a percentage of the rent roll's value, with the balance funded by your deposit.
How much can I borrow against a rent roll?
It depends on the lender and the quality of the portfolio, but rent roll lending is typically a percentage of the assessed value, with the buyer contributing the balance as a deposit. A clean rent roll with low arrears, geographically tight managements, strong systems and a stable team supports more borrowing than a scattered portfolio with high churn. The management agreements and retention terms also affect how much a lender will advance.
How is a rent roll valued?
A rent roll is usually valued as a multiple of its annual management fee income. The multiplier moves with the quality of the portfolio, the location, the average management fee, the arrears rate, the spread and tenure of the managements, and the systems and staff that come with it. A tightly held, low-arrears portfolio in a strong area attracts a higher multiplier than a scattered, high-churn one. The tangible value sits in the management agreements and the recurring income they produce.
What is a rent roll?
A rent roll is the portfolio of property management agreements a real estate agency holds, together with the recurring management fee income those agreements produce. It is usually the most valuable asset an agency owns, because the income repeats every month regardless of how many sales the office writes. When a rent roll is bought or sold it is priced on that recurring income, and it can be financed against it too.
What deposit do I need to buy a rent roll?
Lenders advance a portion of the rent roll's assessed value and expect the buyer to fund the balance as a deposit, so the answer depends on the lender, the quality of the portfolio and the price being paid. A tightly held, low-arrears portfolio with strong systems supports a stronger advance, which reduces the cash you need to complete. The useful number is what a specific lender will advance against the specific portfolio, which is what we establish before you commit. You can test deposit and repayment scenarios with our rent roll finance calculator first.
Can I borrow against a rent roll I already own?
Yes. An established rent roll can support borrowing in its own right, which is how many principals fund a bolt-on acquisition, buy out a partner, or grow the business without putting the family home on the line. The lender assesses the portfolio the same way it would on a purchase: the quality and spread of the managements, the arrears position, and the durability of the management fee income.
Can I get finance for my first rent roll if I have never owned an agency?
Yes, first-time principals buy rent rolls with finance regularly, but the assessment leans harder on the buyer. Lenders want to see property management or real estate experience, a plan for retaining the managements through the handover, and systems and staffing that hold up from day one. A well-prepared first purchase with a sensible retention structure is very fundable. A thin application is not, which is why the deal is worth structuring before anything is signed.
What due diligence is needed when buying a rent roll?
Due diligence on a rent roll covers the management agreements and whether they are properly signed and assignable, the arrears position, the spread and concentration of the managements, the average management fee, owner and landlord retention history, the condition of trust accounting, the systems and software, and the staff who manage the relationships. A retention or clawback period is common, where part of the price is held back and adjusted if managements are lost shortly after settlement.
Do banks fund rent roll purchases?
Some do, but most major banks have limited appetite for lending against an intangible income stream, and they cap it tightly when they do. The lenders who fund rent roll acquisitions well are usually the specialist and non-bank lenders that understand recurring management income as security. Through the Finsure panel we have access to more than 40 lenders, which lets us take a rent roll deal to the funders that actually support it rather than the ones that will decline it by default. Knowing which lender to approach is most of the job.
Why use a broker who knows rent rolls specifically?
A rent roll is valued and financed differently from any other business asset, and a broker who has not worked with them will treat it like a generic business loan and get a poor result. Co-founder Ari Freund banked some of Perth's biggest rent rolls as a senior professional services banker at NAB, so we understand how a portfolio is valued, what makes it hold, and how a lender's credit team will assess it, because we sat on that side of the desk. That experience is what gets a rent roll deal funded on the right terms.
What multiple do rent rolls sell for in Australia?
Across live national listings, asking multiples currently sit between 3.5 and 4.0 times annual management fee income, moving with portfolio quality and location. A tightly held, low-arrears portfolio with a strong average management fee and good systems commands the top of that range; a scattered, high-churn portfolio does not. The multiple is the headline, but the durability of the income underneath it is what a buyer is really paying for, and what a lender is really assessing.
What percentage of a rent roll's value will a lender finance?
Specialist lenders typically advance up to 70 to 80% of a rent roll's assessed value, with the buyer funding the balance as a deposit. Portfolio quality moves that number more than anything else: the spread and tenure of the managements, the arrears position, the average management fee, and the systems and team that come with the sale. The practical question is never the market range but what a specific lender will advance against a specific portfolio, which is what we establish before anything is signed.
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Want to talk it through?
Book a meeting or make an enquiry. We'll tell you whether it's fundable, how we'd structure it, and which lender we'd take it to. No obligation.