Anytime Fitness is a long term client of the Greenstead Consulting Group. We were recently asked to review the operating cost reconciliation sent them by a new landlord, who purchased the property in 2022.
We found the landlord did not characterize the expenses in accordance with the lease terms. This resulted in an overbilling to our client of $10,000 for this one year alone. Over the term of the lease this error would amount to an overbilling of $100,000 had it not been caught. We did catch it, and notified the landlord of the error in such a way they could not refute our findings, resulting in a quick adjustment to the invoice in a matter of 24 hours.
There are two important things to note here:
1. The lease was negotiated at the beginning to give our client leverage to challenge the billing. It was not the landlord’s standard lease wording. If it was the standard wording our client would not have realized the savings, so it is vitally important to have a well negotiated lease to start with in the first place. That is where we start to look after your interests.
2. This new landlord prepared their reconciliation using their knowledge of their standard wording, rather than reading each tenant’s lease. This happens a lot, because it is easier and quicker for the landlord to quickly send out their tenant billings. It happens so often that it is estimated that up to 50% (or more) of all landlord billings are incorrect. In fact, many landlords put the onus on the tenant to justify the validity of the invoices they receive. Unfortunately, too many tenants assume the invoices are correct and simply pay them. This costs them not only for the time period of the invoice but the balance of the term.
When we asked one landlord lease administrator during an industry survey if they knew of a standard of what a landlord can bill a tenant, their response was very telling. They said; “Whatever the landlord feels they can get away with.”
Don’t waste your money. Make sure all landlord billings are accurate and are according to your individual lease. Better yet, contact us to help you.