How to read a Tbilisi rent roll without the cousin’s nicknames

Most rolls we are handed in Tbilisi were not written for a briefing. They were written so someone could remember who to telephone. That is a different job.

Start with doors. Walk the common parts, or send someone who still has the keys, and write the number that is on the timber. If there is no number, assign one for the roll and say that you assigned it. Do not keep three numbering systems in three columns and hope a partner will add them up across the table.

Then put one tenant name per unit — the name on the lease if a lease exists, the name on the bank line if it does not. “The baker” can sit in a note. It cannot be the only identity. When a family occupies two rooms under two informal agreements, that is two lines, or one line with a sentence that says why it is not.

Collections belong in a column that can be added. Mix of cash envelopes and bank transfers is ordinary; mixing them with “usually pays” is how arrears disappear before the sitting. If a month is missing, leave it missing. A reconstructed month from memory is a rumour with a date.

The test is simple. Could a person who has never entered the courtyard take this roll to the doors and find the tenants? If not, the occupancy plate will lie, and everyone in the room will feel it when the caretaker speaks.