Lease Audits:  Our Experts Can Save You Money

Do you currently lease over 25,000 sq. ft. of office, retail, or industrial space?

Is your lease coming up for renewal and you need leverage for renegotiations?

Does someone in-house or a real estate services firm review your lease payments?

Do you ever wonder if your landlord is charging you properly based on the terms of your lease?

If you answered Yes to one or more of the questions above, but have never had your lease audited at the landlord’s office, then our Lease Audit services are for you.  We do not take the place of your accounting department, property management department, or lease administration provider; we supplement their services by taking the necessary detailed financial review of your lease to the next level, beyond what they do.  Our Lease Audit experts level the playing field through our in-depth knowledge and technical expertise of lease language and industry standards.  Our review of lease related costs ensures you pay only what you bargained for and what your lease allows, by actually going to the landlord’s office and auditing all lease related costs.

Our Lease Audit team has audited thousands of Our Clients' leases saving its clients millions in the process.  Such savings are typically the result of landlord oversights, math errors, lease misinterpretations, etc., and are found in areas such as rent, percentage rent, escalations, gross-ups, operating expenses, CAM, real estate taxes, insurance, marketing dues, utilities, offsets, etc.  There are also often times recoveries related to potential tenant / co-tenant / sub-tenant billings, as well as the square footage of your space.  We know where the opportunities for recovery are; and more importantly, we know how to realize those recoveries for you.

Have you determined your rentable versus usable square footage as specified in your Lease?  Do you know how the landlord determined its “common area factor?”  If necessary, we will measure your leased space using the appropriate standards, BOMA, ANSI, etc., and determine whether or not you are paying for space you are not occupying.  If not detected, a miscalculation here can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of your lease.

Our fees are based on contingency.  If we do not save you money, we do not get paid.  It is that simple and it works.  Our clients almost exclusively insist on this arrangement, so they have absolutely no risk. 

Landlords are used to having lease audits.  Often times, our clients have language in their leases that if we find a certain percentage of overcharges (maybe 3%), then the landlord must pay the cost of the audit.  In these instances our services may be absolutely free.  If you do not have this language, be sure to add it to your next lease.  Please note, even if your lease does not contain audit language, you have the right to audit.

Furthermore, we understand landlords are your long-term partners, so we conduct our business being very sensitive to those relationships.  Our Lease Audit experts have previously worked for developers and management companies, so we understand not only how to work effectively within their organizations, but also how to identify overcharges and position them in the best possible way to realize a recovery for you.

Even if you have previously had your lease audited, it needs to be audited every year.  Even if you have a third party company performing audits, we have found hundreds of thousands of dollars behind some of the largest lease audit companies due to our detailed approach.  We read every page of your lease and will absolutely find all money due back to you!

Please call us today so we can explain more about our risk free services.  By utilizing our team, at the very least, you will gain peace of mind knowing that you were billed correctly; but more than likely, you will realize a significant savings right to your bottom line.

Below are some of the areas we thoroughly review during your Lease Audit.  We have identified and recovered significant dollars for our clients on every one of these items and are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Real Estate Services

Lease Audit Basic Review Items:

Rent
 Measurement of Premises
 Proper Increases (CPI’s, Step-Ups, etc.)
 Rent Abatements
 Co-Tenancy Requirements
 Offsets for Taxes, Tenant Improvement Allowances, Percentage Rent, etc.
 If Rent is based on Construction costs, our Construction Audit Department will fully audit all project costs.

Common Area Maintenance (CAM) / Escalations / Operating Expenses
 Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, & Restrictions (CC&R’s)
 Association Dues
 Reciprocal Easement Agreements (REA’s)
 Vertically Integrated Management Companies
 Competitive Costs
 Capital Costs
 Prorata Shares
 Administrative Fees
 Management Fees
 Home Office Charges
 Most Favored Nation Clauses
 Tenant Specific Charges
 Original Construction Costs / Initial Installations
 Building Related Costs vs. Common Area Related Costs
 Proper Base Year Charges
 Gross-Ups, Caps, Fixed Increases, CPI Adjustments, etc.

Real Estate Taxes
 Building Taxes
 Land Taxes
 Common Area Taxes
 Ad Valorem Taxes
 Parcels
 Prorata Shares
 Acres
 Assessed Values
 Valuation Methods
 Fiscal Tax Years
 Due Dates
 Discounts
 Special Assessments
 Personal Property Taxes
 Consulting Fees
 Base Year Charges / Was the Proprty Fully Assessed or Has Their Been New Construction?
 Gross-Ups, Caps, Fixed Increases, CPI Adjustments, etc.

Insurance
 General Liability
 Excess Liability
 Umbrella
 Property
 Limits
 Boiler & Machinery
 Loss of Rents
 Windstorm
 Flood
 Earthquake
 Deductibles
 “Wrap Around” Policies
 Self Insured Policies and Retentions
 Guaranteed Cost Programs
 Retrospective or Deductible Plan
 Mutual or Stock Insurance Companies
 Worker’s Compensation
 All other coverages
 Competitive bids

Utilities
 CAM Consumption
  Electric
  Water / Sewer
  Trash
  HVAC
  “Steam or Boiler” Systems
  Allocation methods, Gross-Ups, After Hours, Etc.

 Utilities for Premises Consumption (Landlord Billed)
  Electricity (Proper meters or sub-meters, rates, adherence to proper state regulations)
  Water / Sewer
  Trash
  HVAC
  “Steam or Boiler Systems”
  Allocation methods, Gross-Ups, After Hours, Etc.

Percentage Rent
 Gross Sales
 Exclusions from Gross Sales
 Offsets
 Verify annual calculations versus payments

Marketing Fund / Merchant’s Association Dues
 Increases
 Proper Expenditures and Co-tenant requirements

Construction Allowance / Tenant Improvement Allowance
 Verify Actual Receipt
 Verify Proper Calculation

Sub-Tenant / Tenant / Co-Tenant Billings
 Verify that ALL revenue due our Client has been billed AND collected
 Rent, CAM, Taxes, Insurance, Utilities, etc.
 Shared easements
 Shared utilities
 Shared parking
 Shared security
 Shared pylon or monument signs
 Any other amounts billable to other parties