More Expertise, More Protection, More Savings for you!

I am a Toronto Commercial Tenant Broker - Real Estate Broker and Owner - 25 Year Licensed, Insured, Professional Lease Negotiator, CAM Lease Audit, Consultant, Speaker, Author of the book The Ultimate Guide to Commercial Real Estate Leasing.

We Find Space, Prepare Custom Negotiation Strategies and Documents and Negotiate Them for You, Identify Hidden Costs and Legal Pitfalls in Leases and Show You How to Avoid Costly Mistakes!

Toronto Commercial Real Estate tenants often feel like they are in the fight of their lives, up against juggernauts ranging from life insurance companies and huge international landlord brokers, and pension funds, the biggest behemoths of all.

The complexity of the commercial real estate market and the proliferation of landlord lawyers and other experts who work diligently to increase the landlord's bottom line bodes ill for tenants. Landlord publications like the well read Commercial Property Lease Advisor published out of New York City for landlords constantly look for ways to get one up on commercial tenants.

A recent article by a prominent attorney entitled "Secure Extra Way to Terminate Troublesome Tenant's Lease" showed landlords how to include language in the lease that allows termination of the tenant's lease upon request to assign or sublease.

Industry associations like Building Owner and Management Association work diligently to redefine measurement standards so that the same building gains more and more rentable space. And eager beaver lawyers write and rewrite lease clauses allowing for re-measurement of the space during the lease term based on these new measurement standards which has meant a whopping bill for some unlucky tenants. Worse still, some landlords have no measurement standards and exceed standard measurements by measuring to the outside wall of the building. And yet year after year I successfully negotiate such unfair landlord clauses out of leases and insert my own clauses that protect tenants. How can this be? What is the secret?

Forget All About 'Normal' Commercial Lease Negotiations

I probably spend more time on a negotiation than most tenant brokers because I do such a phenomenal job of maximizing value from a commercial real estate lease. But even farther outside the norms of commercial leasing are the ways I support tenant clients. My famous "Leasing System" encompasses all aspects of lease management for commercial tenants. From selecting an architect or space planner through providing expert property and financial analysis, lease document negotiation, providing legal and paralegal specialists, chartered accountants who specialize in real estate lease audit, while teaming up with construction management professionals to providing tenants with value added services throughout the entire lease term - it's a full spectrum service, is standing the industry on its head!

Dragging An "Old" Industry Into the 21st Century

"The commercial leasing business is still largely comprised of huge landlord brokers both blessed and cursed with traditions," I says, "now fighting for more and more listings and providing non-traditional services like property management for landlords, yet are woefully behind the times in knowledge of real estate lease clauses and value added services for tenants. The salvation and prosperity of my own business has been entirely due to my literally turning my back on the way real estate brokerage has always been done, going outside the industry, and returning with value added services and expertise completely foreign to the real estate business, but proven elsewhere."

In the last 17 years, over 100 tenants have utilized my Leasing System, began using my tenant oriented construction process, lease negotiation, lease audit and paralegal services, and have achieved truly remarkable results. For example, one tenant achieved over $5 million dollars of rental savings. Another prevented the potential loss of $200,000 by changing one lease clause. Millions of dollars have been recovered in landlord overcharges and millions more in future overcharges have been avoided. A travel company saved hundreds of thousands in direct rental savings and then went on to avoid a large re-measurement charge that was thwarted by one of I's additions to the lease. Many more testimonials can be found from tenants large and small who have benefited from my expertise.

In 2006, "Streetwise Small Business Book of Lists: Hundreds of Lists to Help You Reduce Costs, Increase Revenues, and Boost Your Profits!" Available for purchase at Amazon.com named us #1 Most Celebrated Commercial Leasing Expert. I also was invited to speak on commercial leasing to industry groups. Small Business Visa interviewed and featured me as a leasing expert in "We Need More Space" an article written about the perils of business leasing.

Maybe even more important than any specific strategy is the way I guides my clients to an entirely new and different way of thinking about their commercial real estate. Tenants in all categories have been conditioned to focus on rental rates, free rent and landlord inducements. While all of these things are important, they are no longer enough. We place more emphasis on balancing lease clauses to include clauses that don't just protect landlords and which include clauses that limit operating costs and taxes. Then, we make sure that these clauses are respected by the landlord by a thorough audit of the landlord's billings.

What's the point of negotiating a lease for many weeks or even months and spending thousands of dollars on legal fees if the landlord just tosses the lease into the same pile as all the rest. Even worse, what happens when the landlord's accounting team becomes complacent about respecting these leases, makes huge mistakes, or even worse actively disrespects them by blatantly overcharging the tenant. No tenant wants to be overcharged or even worse face a huge bill at the end of the lease because the landlord has made accounting mistakes.

In my role as the tenant's guide to the brave new world, I say one must coach them on new ways of thinking about the nature of their role in their leasing process, their relationship with their landlords, their competitive positioning on both new leases and lease renewals, as well as the nuts-and-bolts of more effective lease management.

Perhaps the shining jewel of my accomplishments was my team approach to lease management. Most agents are lone wolves, who find tenants space and then lease it to them. Then they are on to the next deal. Tenants lose on out on specialized knowledge from experienced leasing professionals such as lease auditors and leasing legal experts who are integrated into I's lease management process from the negotiation stage and throughout the full term of the lease.

Request Assistance