In most commercial leases, tenants are required to pay for their fair share of building operating expenses, taxes and utilities.  These obligations are rooted in lease language that is often complex and therefore difficult to administer.

Lease auditing is the process of analyzing these charges to ensure that they are consistent with the lease.  Although most tenants perform some level of analysis of their bills before they pay them, lease auditing is more rigorous:  it is a very intensive analysis of these charges, and includes an investigation as to underlying intent, scrutiny of lease wording, a comparison of costs to market rates, and a physical review of the landlord’s books and records.  Lease auditing also involves the presentation of claims to the landlord and recovery of overpayments.

KBA pioneered the field of lease auditing in 1985.  Since that time, KBA has consistently been recognized as the signature firm in the industry.  This reputation is based on our:

• Intensive knowledge of complex lease issues.  Our commercial lease expertise and sophisticated approach enable us to identify the more complex claims, which ensure the tightest compliance with lease agreements and yield the greatest recoveries for our clients.
   
• Keen sensitivity to landlord-tenant relationships and effectiveness in negotiation.  Both our clients and their landlords respect us for our ability to resolve our clients’ rent overcharges quickly and amicably.  Our professional approach is based on ensuring that our claims are reasonable, supportable, fully-documented and presented in a non-adversarial manner.  In fact, less than 0.5% of our cases ever require legal action of any kind.  These skills make the difference between amicable and hostile resolutions, and ultimately between success and failure.

We have audited over 10,000 leases and have the proven experience to know what to look for, what to avoid, and how to apply the right resolution strategy to achieve recoveries.