Benchmarking is an essential component of effective tenant lease administration ©

Benchmarking is a process of identifying reasonable unit costs for landlord provided services based on the type and location of the property. When reviewing a landlord billing, once you have confirmed that the landlord is billing for allowable categories (e.g. snow removal, electricity, insurance, etc.) you need to determine if the charges incurred were reasonable and consistent with market conditions. Therefore, Benchmark Data should be based on audited results of comparable properties and data secured from reputable, unaffiliated vendors in the market. Using data provided by landlord sponsored organizations, data that is from unaudited billings related to other properties, or historical billing data from the same landlord, will not yield the information that is essential to a tenant. From a tenant prospective, it is possible to control what appear to be uncontrollable expenses.