Can Your Business Save Money With a Lease Audit?

Conflict-Free Tenant Representation: it is the backbone of Cresa’s occupier-only business model, and what separates us from our competitors.

But how does this conflict-free approach present itself to our clients and prospects?

It starts with a robust set of tenant-focused offerings such as Cresa’s Lease Auditing and Forensics service.

Lease auditing is, as it sounds, a deep-dive into the financials of a lease. Our team of trained auditors will investigate the specific numbers that form the basis of our clients’ annual real estate expenses, looking for inconsistencies and places where they are being charged more than they should be. Whether it’s operating expense pass-throughs, capital expense exclusions, pro rata share calculations, or base-year calculation and application, there are many seemingly small details that, if calculated improperly, can cost a company tens of thousands of dollars per year.

Let’s say our auditors find out that you’ve been paying excessive operating expenses because your landlord miscalculated your pro rata share of your building (you occupy 5% of the building, but they charge you for occupying 7%). Knowing this, we can confront your landlord and demand that they pay back the balance retroactively. Thus, you’ll earn immediate savings, while also avoiding additional costs for whatever years remain on your lease. You’ll also have a leg-up in future negotiations, and oftentimes the opportunity to break your lease early should you so desire.

Seems like a great idea, but what about the cost of this service?

That’s the best part. This service is free. Cresa’s team provides a “desktop audit” of your lease for $0.00 upfront. We only get paid if we are successful in finding you savings, of which we take 35% of whatever we uncover. All it takes is providing us a copy of your lease and annual expenses, and we can perform this service each year to make sure that you’re not paying more than you should.

Why haven’t I heard of this before? Is this a new concept?

Nope. It’s simply common sense for any company representing their clients to the best of their ability.

So why don’t many of the largest commercial real estate firms provide the same service?

Simple. Because companies like JLL, CBRE, and Cushman & Wakefield generate nearly 70% of their revenue from representing landlords. Why take the fight to the landlord when you are the landlord?

Cresa is not the landlord, and we will never represent the landlord. We specialize in tenant representation only, so that we can provide the best possible service to our clients, bar none. We will always negotiate strictly on your behalf, and we will always do whatever we can to make sure that you are getting the best deal possible on your real estate transactions.