In commercial real estate leasing, it is important that you, as a commercial real estate agent, have some defined tenant moving procedures. They are almost like a checklist and that checklist will be relevant to the property, landlord, area, and lease. Everything must be marked.

After negotiating the terms of a lease, the central component of moving forward with the tenant is that the lease is properly and legally signed by all parties involved. While the tenant may have signed the lease first (this is normal), the landlord still has to sign and agree to the terms of the lease. For this same reason, the tenant should not have access to the facilities until full acceptance has been given and the landlord approves access. Any other obligations of the tenant must also be satisfied, such as the payment of the rent, the deposits, the guarantees and the required side agreements.

So, here is a list of some things that you can include in your moving procedures with tenants. Add to the list based on your area, property, landlord, agency, and tenants.

  1. The lease must be correctly signed. Normally, the client’s attorney would be involved in that process. The lawyer must confirm that all documents have been executed correctly.

  2. Rentals and deposits must be paid in accordance with the terms and conditions of the lease.

  3. The tenant will normally have to provide some type of guarantee, surety or bank guarantee. That must be done and checked. It must be said that the size of the collateral should be sufficient to protect the landlord in times of default by the tenant. Normally this figure equates to 3 to 6 months of rent and exit costs.

  4. Very often, a lease will involve the provision of an incentive for the tenant. This could be a rental refund, a fitting-out contribution, a cash payment, or a fitting-out. All of this should not be done until the tenant has complied with the terms and conditions of the lease.

  5. All plans and drawings for the tenant’s fitting-out must be provided to the landlord for consideration before the tenant seeks approval from the local council or building approval board.

  6. Inspect the premises to make sure everything is in order with the requirements of the lease. Take a log and photos of the facility as part of that inspection.

  7. Get tenant personnel details and access approvals so property security can be altered.

  8. Signage and directory board modifications will need to be made for the new tenant entering the property.

  9. Inform the tenant about the access and security issues that must be met. If the building has other tenants, this process is really important.

  10. Obtain the tenant’s note of coverage for insurance as provided in the lease.

  11. Inform the property manager of the occupying tenant and introduce the tenant to the property manager.

Different types of properties will add things to this list. It is important that you have a list that includes these things. In this way, you can control that the tenant moves into the commercial or retail property.