The Ultimate Way to Screen Commercial Property Tenants
When you work with tenants in commercial property leasing, it is best to have a series of questions and concepts that can be explored when a tenant makes an inquiry on any vacancy or property need.
You are likely to know the areas and the property types available; so go deep on questions and qualifications. Bring the leasing requirement down to the key issues that must be resolved by the tenant in any relocation.
Leasing Checklist
The best leasing agents or brokers ask the best questions in exploring the leasing situation and requirements. Create a checklist for that. Consider these facts and issues:
- Company identity – understand exactly what the company is and where they are coming from. Find out all you can about their business profile and history. Go a bit deeper to find out the successes of the business and identify the industry they are or serve. Who or what are their competitors? How is their industry tracking when it comes to business activity? These are all important questions. The landlords that you work for will want to know these things.
- Business leaders – someone will be making the property inquiry. Are they the leader of the business or someone that has been ‘delegated’ the activity? There will likely be a group of people at the top of the business, some of whom will be involved with property leasing needs and or decisions. Get close to the group and find out what they need from an occupancy perspective.
- Previous location – you can determine lots of things about a business when you understand where they are coming from and why they are moving. Check out their business in its current location to see the issues of staff, fit-out, customer service issues, car parking, and the list goes on.
- Rental budget and occupancy costs – some tenants don’t fully realize that rent payments are just one part of the occupancy equation. There will be consumables such as energy and water, plus outgoings or building running costs. They all add up to a figure that the tenant should fully comprehend and consider. You would know the averages of rent for the property type and location; you would also know the outgoings for the location. Ask the question of the tenant as to what they want to pay or consider they should pay, and then compare those numbers to market.
- Required use and property configuration – understanding these facts will help you realize if a new property has the potential of servicing the business in any relocation. Look at departmental business issues, proximity, staff services, customer interaction requirements, and fit-out.
- Timing and location for the next occupancy – through some good questions you can refine the tenant’s property relocation requirement to a zone or precinct. The question from that will be ‘Can the tenant afford the building that they require?’ Gather the facts of comparable properties and recent leasing deals to use in the qualification and conditioning process for the tenant.
You can add to this list based on your location and property types. Better questions help you go to the key points in any property relocation.
