28 January 2026
What a rent roll shows that memory does not
Sunday lunch remembers who pays. The spreadsheet remembers the unit number, the start date, and the cousin who never signed. We draw the second version.
A typical first sitting begins with a confident list. Eight apartments, all rented, one shop, the grocer punctual. By the time the leases are on the table, two of the apartments are occupied by relatives without paper, the shop rent includes a back room that was converted into storage without a new agreement, and one “rented” studio last paid in September.
Memory is not dishonest. It is organised around people. A rent roll has to be organised around doors.
How we check
Tamar asks for leases, not summaries. Nino will not colour a unit occupied on a handshake. If you insist that a cousin is “family occupancy,” the board can say that in a third colour. Families often prefer this once they see it, because the argument at lunch then has a page to point at.
Start dates matter on the Boulevard, where summer agreements are sometimes left to run without a winter clause. A roll that lists monthly GEL without a term will be footnoted. We do not invent a term to make the sheet tidy.
What we do with gaps
Missing pages are marked “unverified.” We still walk the stair. The draft sitting is where owners usually produce the missing lease from a kitchen drawer. That is expected. What we will not do is quietly fill the gap from a conversation in the corridor.
If you are preparing documents before you write to us, number the units as the building numbers them. “The nice one on the corner” does not survive contact with a board.