I am always encouraging all of you to utilize a tenant rep broker for your lease negotiations and I realized that I have not explained the big elephant in the room – how am I paid? The landlord pays my fee. Wait a minute, doesn’t that mean that I work for the landlord? Nope. I work for you and we’ll have correspondence that clearly indicates that both to you and the landlords. Doesn’t this mean that the landlord will put that cost into my lease negotiation? Not exactly. Typically the lease document says that the Landlord is not allowed to pass the leasing commissions through to tenants as part of operating expenses. Landlords have to pay for leasing commission through another budget – it’s capital improvement/costs. It’s like another pocket of money. It’s the same pocket of money they are using to pay their own leasing team.
When would a tenant have to pay my fee? If you need to sublease your office, then you would have to pay me directly. If I help you terminate a lease early rather than sublease it, then you would pay me. So if you renew, expand or relocate your office, I don’t cost you a penny. Smart managers take advantage of this free consultant, so give me a call to see how I can help.
