If you have had a bit to do with tenants in leasing any commercial or retail property you will know that they can really delay things for their own reasons, thereby impacting the landlord in negotiation and slowing the agent as to finalizing the deal.  As the leasing professional your job is to work with that challenge and encourage agreement to the benefit of the client.

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Understanding the tenant’s situation now and applying that requirement to the current property market will help you with activating and progressing the lease deal.  That then means a better negotiation.

The tenants focus?

Good questions and research will usually help you to get to the tenant facts and motivators.  As you move through that, don’t forget just who your client is in the process and how you are representing them through the process of leasing.

Here is an interesting leasing based question for you. Can you believe what at tenant tells you about the property lease requirements that they have?  Perhaps not totally, however you can ‘read between the lines’ of what the tenant is saying and doing, and get to some of the real facts of what is happening in their business world.

A good outcome?

A good lease negotiation is generally a result of the leasing broker informing the parties to the deal, then discussing, listening, and seeing through the challenges.  Though all stages of the inquiry, inspection, and meeting process you can find out more of the tenant’s requirements and priorities.

So what really goes on in a lease negotiation?

The balance of any lease negotiation will shift and change based on just how much available space may be in the property market at any point in time; you have to prepare for that variation.  It directly follows that you should be prepared for any and all of these tenant ‘delay’ tactics:

• Looking around at other properties
• Comparing rents across the market and between vacant premises
• Comparing properties and the improvements
• Incentives to sweeten the deal
• Slowing discussion to make a decision
• Wanting to change lease conditions
• Asking the landlord to do some internal fit-out works
• Seeking early access to the premises before documents are signed
• Fit Out approvals slowing
• Plans of the fit-out not available

There are many variations as to what a tenant will be looking to do with a lease negotiation.  As the professional, you are to guide the process and negotiate through these barriers and many more.  Control and research are the keys to any successful commercial property lease negotiation.