How do you calculate what a vacant apartment costs per day between tenants?

The per-day number

There are two parts: the rent you are not getting, and the costs you keep paying. Rent per day is monthly rent divided by 30 (or by the actual days in the month if you want to be precise). Carrying costs are anything you pay for the unit while it is empty: utilities you keep on, insurance on the unit, a listing fee, lawn or snow service, and any HOA dues.

Example a made-up unit rents for $1,400 a month. Rent per day is $1,400 / 30 = about $46.67. While it sits empty the owner pays $90 a month for electric and water and $60 a month in HOA dues, which is $150 / 30 = $5 a day. The daily cost of vacancy is about $51.67, so a 12 day vacancy costs about $620.

The numbers above are made up. Use your own rent, your own bills and your real days vacant.

Add the cost of the turn itself

The days are only part of the cost. The work during those days has a price too: paint, cleaning, repairs, and any flooring. These are the one-time costs of a turn, and they are separate from the daily cost of waiting. Keep them in different lines so you can see which one is bigger.

Example using the same made-up unit, the turn costs $900 for paint, cleaning and repairs and takes 8 days before the listing, plus 6 days to find a tenant. Total vacancy is 14 days at $51.67, which is about $723, and with the $900 turn the whole change of tenants costs about $1,623, or about 1.2 months of rent.

Decisions the number helps you make

• Rush fee or wait: if a painter can start tomorrow for $150 more, and that saves 3 days at $51.67, the rush pays for itself. If it saves 2 days, it does not.
• Renewal incentive: if a tenant who is thinking about leaving would stay for a $100 a month discount, compare $1,200 a year with a vacancy of about 14 days and a turn of $900.
• Showing before move-out: letting people tour a unit with notice, where your lease and state allow it, can shave days off the empty period.
• Standard finishes: using one paint color and one flooring style lowers your cost per turn and speeds the next one.

These are tradeoffs, not rules. A small saving in turn cost that adds a week of vacancy usually loses money.

Track your own averages

After three or four turns, compute your average days from move-out to move-in and your average turn cost. That tells you the real daily cost of vacancy in your market, which is much more useful than any national figure. Write the numbers down per property, since a condo and a duplex rarely behave the same way.

For taxes, vacancy is not deductible as lost rent, but expenses you pay for the unit while it is held for rent generally are. See IRS Publication 527 and your tax preparer for what applies to your case.

How DoorKeeping handles it

DoorKeeping keeps each property's books, so the utilities and dues you pay on a vacant unit are already tagged to it, and you can ask Claude or ChatGPT for the cost of a vacancy from the ledger. Turn work is tracked on a work order with its invoices, so the one-time turn cost is separate from the daily carrying cost.

Sources

1. IRS Publication 527: Residential Rental Property (expenses while held for rent), read Oct 30, 2026

Questions

How do I calculate the cost of a vacant day?

Divide monthly rent by 30 and add your daily carrying costs, such as utilities and dues for the unit while it is empty.

Is lost rent a tax deduction?

No. Rent you did not collect is not an expense, though other costs of holding a unit for rent are generally deductible. Ask your tax preparer.

Is it worth paying extra to speed up a turn?

It is if the days saved times your daily vacancy cost is more than the extra fee.

How long should a vacancy last?

It depends on your market and the unit. Track your own average and compare each turn with it.