Lease Auditing
A BDO Lease Audit can uncover problems and help clients save money in:
Operating Expenses
While lease language may be properly drafted and vigorously negotiated, the billing of expenses identified in the lease often contains errors in some of the following areas:
- Janitorial
- Payroll
- Insurance
- Management Fees
- Repairs & Maintenance
- Capital Expenditures
- Occupancy Adjustments
- Tenant Chargebacks
Utilities Costs
A strong possibility exists that the utility bills you pay are prepared incorrectly. Landlords, and even the utility companies, sometimes erroneously bill utility charges, resulting in sizeable overcharges in the following areas:
- Pro Rata Share
- ERIF (Electric Rent Inclusion Factor)
- Sub-metered
- Chilled Water & Overtime HVAC
- Utility Rate Structure
Real Estate Taxes
Numerous errors are often discovered, including failure of the landlord to distribute refunds and tax abatements, and allocate real estate taxes to the non-office portions of the building.
Additional Services
In addition to providing lease audits for clients throughout the United States, BDO leverages its strategic associations with other organizations in the industry to also provide electric energy consulting, strategic planning, site selection, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, lease drafting and abstracting, and lease administration consulting. We are dedicated to continually expanding the range of comprehensive services and resources we provide to our clients.
The BDO Corporate Real Estate Services lease audit typically consists of a three-phase process:
- Pre-qualification Analysis: Our professionals conduct a thorough analysis of all lease and occupancy charges to pre-qualify the client's specific situation. We also will perform an expense trend analysis and market comparison during this phase to evaluate the potential for overcharge.
- Detailed Audit: We will conduct an in-depth and thorough audit of landlord records to pinpoint errors that affect you. This phase includes a review of the general ledger and other accounting records, paid invoices, service contract, calculations and adjustments used to arrive at the amounts billed.
- Resolution: We will also handle the process of negotiating a settlement, which includes recovering overpayments and achieving a mutual agreement for future billing practices.
View the Corporate Real Estate Services Audit Process Flow Chart.
For more detailed information about our lease audit process, contact us.
