MySquareFeet

It's Electrifying! How tenant electric is charged to you.

On our site, MySquareFeet, the premier on-line commercial real estate listing service, we frequently get questions from tenants about bills or notices from landlords that they don't understand.  And, we try to answer all of them or direct tenants to places where they can find answers.  Occasionally, a question leads to a good blog topic, as this one did.  Last week, a visitor to the site linked to our FAQ's and asked about a line item in her most recent CAM (Common Area Maintenance) bill.  She wanted to know why there was an electric charge in the bill when she paid her electric directly to the utility company.

Maybe we can help shed some light on this topic.  Landlords handle electric charges in their buildings in a variety of ways.  Here are the most common ways electric use is charged to tenants.

Help! My retail rent is too high, how can I lower it?

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last year, you could not have missed the news that the economy is stalled, no one is shopping, spending is at a standstill and millions of people have been laid off nationally.  What’s a retailer to do?

 

The lease you signed a few years ago in the economic boom, which seemed good at the time is now a millstone around your neck and threatening to sink your business – what can you do now?

 

In response to these hard times, many retailers are forced to shut their doors, but if rent alone is the make or break issue in keeping your business alive, perhaps there is hope – if – your landlord is willing and able to work with you, and you armed are with the right ammunition.