You probably don’t give your monthly office rent statement much thought. After all, they should simply reflect the rent due under your lease, so common sense says you have better ways to spend your time than analyzing them down to the last detail. However, January is the month when landlords typically update their tenants’ share of operating expenses for the upcoming year. For this reason, January is truly the one month that deserves special attention.

Before you put this year’s rent payments on auto drive, take the time to look for unusual increases and investigate potential causes. Have expenses increased by more than 3%, and if so, why? While one would expect to see expenses follow inflationary trends, staying within a reasonable budget cushion of 3-4%, it is amazing how many statements I review each year where landlords try to pass through increases in excess of 10%.

Your landlord would love nothing more than for you to overlook these annual operating expense increases as you focus on your goals for the coming year. Since one of those goals should be to keep tabs on your bottom line, however, make sure you take time this month to review the operating expenses in your lease.

If you have questions about operating expenses or would like assistance reviewing your rent statements, please feel free to contact Hughes Marino Lease Audit Services at 1-844-NO-CONFLICT. We’re always here to help.