Commercial Property Managers - How to Manage Your Commercial Tenants to Success

The tenants in commercial and retail property should not be forgotten in the property management and leasing process. Do so at your peril!

After the lease is in place, ongoing contact and support of tenant occupation is critical to the performance of the property. Without the tenant stability, the landlord's cash flow is threatened and the property as an investment could then underperform.

Your tenant base and tenant mix in the property have to be protected at all times. Tenants are the foundation of the property investment process.

When tenants are in building or part of building occupation some of the critical things to monitor are:

• Functionality of the property services and amenities


• Use of common areas by both tenants and customers or visitors


• Car park use and integration to the tenant and customer access to the building


• The need for the tenant to expand their occupation


• The need for the tenant to contract their occupation


• Change in business demographics for the tenant (ports, transport, access, labour, raw materials etc.) that may influence future occupation


• The timing and type of future rent reviews


• The timing and implementation of any lease option terms to be exercised by tenants


• The tenants ability to pay rent


• Keep on top of any arrears that may occur and take steps to minimise them


• The terms and conditions of the lease for the tenant should be fully implemented


• Renovation and refurbishment obligations on the tenant and the landlord during the term of the lease


• Make good provisions at the end of the lease


• The recovery of outgoings from the tenant in accordance with the lease

Most of these things evolve from the lease document itself. The property manager or lease manager for the landlord has to know how to read a lease and track the important points contained therein.

The best way to work with tenants in a commercial or retail property is to establish a series of monthly meetings where they can talk about current issues and concerns; they can also be updated on any current property events. In a property that contains many tenants this is absolutely critical as unhappy tenants will talk to others and before you know it you have a property that is unstable and volatile.

The management of commercial tenants is really a constant task that requires diligent and detailed business processes to keep on top of activity and changes. That in a large way can help bring about the success of the property as an investment for the landlord.

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