Assessing Your Relationship With Your Landlord

June 07, 2011

Tenants often define the relationship with their landlord based on financial terms but other indicators are also important to consider in assessing the relationship. They fall in several buckets:

• Information exchange and transparency:
  • Operating expense statements and year-end reconciliations are easy to decipher and come with supporting documentation.
  • The landlord makes it easy for the tenants to correspond by receiving phone calls as well as email and text messages.
  • Tenant surveys to gauge landlord performance are given to tenants annually.
• How they treat you:
  • The property management team has developed a relationship with people inside the tenant organization.
  • Tenant appreciation events are happening several times a year.
  • Resources are being invested to refurbish common areas keeping the building fresh for tenants and their clients.
• How they work:
  • Phone calls are returned within an hour of initial contact.
  • Work orders are completed within one business day.

Now, evaluate your current tenant relationship using these as a guide.  Does your current landlord deliver on all, some, none of these measures?  Which are especially important to you?  In this economy, you can expect a professional relationship with an active level of interest and support of you as a tenant.  If you do not have a landlord that delivers on these, consider your options now while the market still has a lot of flexibility.  Please call us for thought leadership and to secure the best possible terms for your next lease.

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