Real estate leases can be very complex documents.  Tenants and landlords pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to brokers and others to negotiate favorable lease terms, but neglect to follow through with an effective way to manage the transactions once the deals are consummated.

In order to maintain control over these transactions and reduce the incidence of error or lost opportunities, many companies implement lease management software and expect that it will magically resolve all of their issues. However, the lease management software will only be effective if the company first designs and documents its Real Estate Lease Information Flow (RELIF) and then develops and implements a solution designed to monitor that flow.

During this 4 part series we will list the steps that can be take to effectively track the flow of information.

Step 1 – Define existing processes, identify hot spots and information required for and from each document that touches the lease deal.
Visualize the path that documents take, and then identify any redundancies, bottle-necks or other problem areas that can slow the process. Be sure to think about all documents, including leases, amendments, estoppels, SNDAs, landlord invoices, change of address letters, etc.

For example, visualize what would happen if an estoppel letter were to come in. Who should receive it, and what should happen prior to execution? If your company requires (as it should) legal department approval, understand what documents and information it would need. Consider who should be consulted in order to find out whether any claims exist against the landlord, the status of the rent account, etc.