Landlord Cash Reserve Calculator
Work out the cash reserve a rental portfolio needs to survive voids and major repairs, and how many months your current reserve covers.
💼 Are you a real estate agent or broker? Send this calculator to your buyers on your own branded listing page — every enquiry comes straight to your WhatsApp. Create free agent page →Landlords fail on liquidity rather than on yield. The mortgage, insurance and taxes continue whether or not rent arrives, and the events that stop rent arriving — a void, an eviction, a boiler failure — tend to cluster rather than arrive politely one at a time.
A reserve sized to cover several months of fixed costs across every property, plus one significant repair, is what turns those events from a crisis into an inconvenience.
The calculation
Total fixed monthly cost = properties × the fixed cost each. The reserve needed is that figure across the months of cover you want, plus an allowance for one major repair happening in the same period — because it usually does.
Worked example
Three properties with 1,100 of fixed monthly costs each is 3,300 a month. Four months of cover is 13,200, and a 4,000 repair allowance brings the target to 17,200, or about 5,733 per property. A reserve of 8,000 covers only 2.4 months, leaving a 9,200 shortfall.
Reserves are not idle money
Held in an offset account against a mortgage, a reserve earns the mortgage rate tax-free while remaining instantly available. That removes most of the argument for running thin, since the buffer costs almost nothing to maintain.
Turn a calculation into an enquiry
Buyers who run these numbers are ready to talk. Give every listing its own page with your photo, phone and WhatsApp on it — leads land straight on your phone.
Create your free property pageFrequently asked questions
How many months of cover is enough?
Three to six months of fixed costs per property is a common target, more where properties are older, tenants are higher risk, or the portfolio is heavily geared. One property with a mortgage needs proportionally more than ten do.
Should the reserve scale with the number of properties?
Partly. Risk diversifies across a portfolio, so ten properties rarely all void at once, but each one adds fixed costs. Scaling the void cover slightly below linearly while keeping a full repair allowance is a reasonable approach.
Where should the reserve be held?
Somewhere instantly accessible. An offset account against a mortgage is ideal because it earns the mortgage rate without tax and can be drawn immediately. Anything with notice periods or market risk defeats the purpose.