Michael Emilio

When in a commercial lease, tenants are usually required to contribute payments for taxes, utilities, and building operating expenses. They are billed typically during the first or second quarters of the year.

Review the charges

Remember to always revise and review these bills! They often contain errors. One of the reasons why there are many mistakes is that the provisions in the lease are very complex. There are many small details that can add up to big payments a tenant may be paying for unnecessarily. If you’re a tenant, it really pays to learn as much as you can about lease structures and basic contract language and wording. And when I say it “really pays” it really does! You can really save a lot of money you’d be unnecessarily paying by looking over your contracts and the bills you receive to contribute to your lease. As a landlord it also pays to learn as much as you can about lease and contracts or pay someone who really knows to handle it for you! As a landlord you have to do a cost-benefit analysis of the situation. Is it worth you taking the time and look and look and revise and revise a contract? Or is it worth paying an expert in the field that has intimate knowledge of contracts and legal knowledge to revise them for you? Perhaps your time and money is better spent in marketing or developing your business and not with your nose buried in paperwork.

Make sure the items charged are correct

Another reason why these bills may contain errors is that landlords often are unable to devote the proper time to customize the bills to each individual tenant’s particular lease. There may be so many tenants in the office building or retail space that the landlord cannot create a custom lease for each office tenant. As a tenant, take responsibility and look over the lease and see if there’s items in there that may not pertain to your situation. Maybe you’re getting charged for a particular service you’re not using. Maybe you’re paying for parking you’re not utilizing. Maybe there’s a concierge service that is not applicable. Look into the details and make sure everything is detailed correctly. As a landlord, again think of the benefits of your time and money! Is it worth the time involved to do this yourself? You may actually be losing money in the long run (and getting way more headaches in the process) by doing the contracts and billing yourself. You may be overbilling some of your tenants and underbilling others, and it may even be to the point where you’re getting a net loss from the lack of tailoring your bills to each tenant!

30 days to dispute the charges

There are legal restrictions to dispute any erroneous charges on a lease. If you’re a tenant you better be quick with any disputes you want to resolve because often there is a time limit of 30 days or less. There must be a detailed objection given within 30 days that the bill has been issued. There are many legal templates available that you can use as a tenant to submit a bill dispute. You want to customize the template to fit your situation and then submit this, in person if possible since you don’t want the possibility that this may get lost in transit or in the mail (as we know, the post office sometimes has a magical ability to make mail disappear). Make your letter, take it in person, and keep the communication lines open. Call them up and ask them questions. Get the details and use that to your advantage in the letter. Get names of people that have answered questions that pertain to your situation and write down their responses with their full name and department. This is your evidence.

Compare and contrast

In this situation you must compare your charges as a tenant to the lease language. If possible compare them to the landlord’s books and records - a legal profession should help you here. It’s a tricky situation but it’s one that as a tenant and as a landlord you should be on top of.

The money is in the details.