What is Tenant Advisory?
Tenant advisory is assistance throughout the comprehensive process required for a tenant to secure an optimized new or renegotiated lease agreement. It ensures that the leased premises are tailored to the company’s specific needs under competitive terms. The tenant advisor acts solely on behalf of the tenant, focusing entirely on the tenant’s goals.
What is the Role of the Tenant Advisor in the Lease Agreement?
Lease agreements are significant commitments for any company, often involving long-term and rigid obligations to ensure predictability for both the business and the landlord. A lease agreement consists of the legal document that becomes crucial in case of disputes between the landlord and the tenant, a description of the leased premises (often referred to as a specification or delivery description), and several key annexes that safeguard the interests of both parties. The tenant advisor’s role is to secure the strongest possible position for the tenant within the complete lease agreement. Key aspects of a lease include flexibility, maintenance responsibilities, return clauses, equal treatment, options, and rights of first refusal.
The industry standard for leases is well-developed but typically favors landlords, meaning it is essential to negotiate strong clauses that protect the tenant’s interests. The outcome depends on experience, negotiation tactics, and the position the tenant has secured during discussions. Among the annexes, the most critical document is the specification or delivery description, which acts as the tenant’s primary safeguard in the agreement. This document details all negotiated performance requirements, quality standards, and modifications for the tenant, ensuring protection throughout the lease term.
What Can a Tenant Advisor Do Regarding Commercial Terms?
A tenant advisor provides the tenant with an overview of all available options, along with expert assessments based on market experience and knowledge. By strategically strengthening the tenant’s negotiating position and creating leverage, the process saves both time and money through structured and effective negotiations. The advisor works closely with the tenant to ensure key goals are met, focusing on optimizing space design, lease clauses, and commercial terms.
What is a Specification or Delivery Description?
The specification is the tenant’s most important document! Often, this appendix is incomplete, written with the landlord’s priorities in mind, or entirely missing. A well-prepared specification, developed by a tenant advisor, safeguards critical quality standards, performance expectations, and other key tenant needs.
Does the exclusive area have enough ventilation when filled with employees and customers?
Is the lighting designed for both productivity and an inviting atmosphere?
Do meeting rooms support confidentiality, preventing disturbances from virtual meetings?
Are acoustic conditions optimized for a comfortable working environment?
Landlords often provide generic spaces that overlook crucial factors. A specification ensures these details are documented, providing enforceable obligations for the landlord throughout the lease period. If any aspect does not meet the agreed standard, the landlord is required to address it.
Key topics in a strong specification:
Sustainability – Material selection, reuse requirements, waste management, certifications, lifecycle assessments.
Energy – Operational efficiency, energy sources, sun shading.
Smart Buildings – Integration of property functions, data collection for optimizing energy use, space efficiency.
Quality – Custom modifications by the landlord beyond standard adjustments, covering surfaces, IT infrastructure, security, branding, design, and specialized furnishings.
Structure – Decision-making frameworks, project management, regulations.
Why Use a Tenant Advisor?
A skilled advisor is a "three-in-one" solution—providing detailed focus on lease clauses, technical aspects, and quality assurance for a significant corporate commitment. With extensive experience in complex leasing processes, the advisor ensures effective handling, negotiation leverage, and expertise that tenants rarely develop on their own due to the infrequency of relocations.
A structured process simplifies internal decision-making, ensuring the best possible terms for the company. Well-negotiated lease terms can have a significant impact on both financial commitments and the quality of the workspace. Avoiding misjudgments, pitfalls, and oversights through expert guidance significantly reduces risk.
Why Choose Return?
Selecting the right advisor is challenging, as many firms offer similar services with varying approaches. Return stands out with its highly educated, structured, independent, creative, and ambitious methodology. Unlike larger firms where a senior consultant handles the sales pitch but a junior takes over the project, Return ensures a single expert handles the process, bringing in additional resources only when necessary.
Key advantages of Return:
No corporate conflicts of interest.
Lower overhead = lower fees.
Faster, well-tested methods = less internal resource waste.
How Can Market Insight Be Ensured Without a Dedicated Analysis Team?
Return uses the industry-leading tool Create Insight from Visma Property Solutions, refined over decades and used by 400+ companies. This provides full transparency into the real estate market, ownership structures, area trends, vacancy rates, pricing, and relocation patterns—ensuring expert knowledge no matter the tenant’s location.
Looking for expert guidance?
Contact Return for a no-obligation consultation to assess your situation.