Have you ever had that dreaded feeling of “Am I forgetting something?” You feel a little off, so you run through a mental checklist and then reflect on the past few days and the days to come. Then it hits you. Your stomach drops. Everything turns to slow motion. You completely and totally forgot about a critical date. Panic sets in and your mind goes into hyper speed.
Be it birthdays, meetings, or even your keys, we’ve all experienced the aftermath of forgetting something important. Hey, at the end of the day we’re human and mistakes happen. The aftershocks that come with missing something, however, can often lead to a whole lot of mess.
Missing a critical date in your commercial lease can open up a can of worms that leads to loss of time, resources, and money. So, prep we must! But which dates exactly should you be tracking? And what’s the most efficient way to ensure you’re always aware of upcoming dates? Keep reading to find out!
The Best Critical Dates to Track
Lease Expirations
If our time in the industry has taught us one thing, it’s that a tenant’s biggest nightmare is missing lease expirations. We get calls all of the time from professionals who struggle to stay on top of expirations as their portfolio grows. The last thing you want is to find out a lease has expired because the expiration smacks you in the face. By then, you’ve lost your negotiation power and have to scramble to find a solution. So, before you find yourself fielding last-minute phone calls from property managers, add expiration date tracking to your list of priorities.
Option Notice Dates
There are all sorts of lease options – purchase options, renewal options, expansion options – and the key to managing them is staying on top of the notice dates. Many options come with two notice dates. The first date is the day that you can begin to notify your landlord, and the second date is the day the option expires. This window of time is important to keep track of, because you have to build your strategy around it.
Rent Escalations
Nobody likes to shell out more cash on top of what they’re already paying, but the reality is that some leases will mandate annual rent increases. To ensure that you say on top of your game, identify these increases at the start of your lease. In some cases, you can go as far as calculating the future increases for the duration of the term and adding them to your rent schedule.
Insurance Policy Expirations
Those pesky insurance policies are always sneaking up on you! In most leases, landlords clearly outline the types of insurance policies they require tenants to maintain. Obviously, it’s important for you to track the expirations so you can be sure you’re always covered, but often times landlord’s require notification of the expirations and expect proof the new policies to be delivered within a certain amount of time. Be sure to add these to your list of dates to track.
The Process of Tracking Dates
The tech gadgets we utilize to get work done, like smartphones and laptops, have made critical date tracking more convenient. With the click of a few buttons, you can set up automated reminders and even share them with your contacts. With software like Quarem, you can easily create automated email reminders, but the best part is that these reminders are connected directly to the lease they’re related to. So, if you receive a reminder for something like an upcoming option notification, the email will link you directly to the option language that’s saved in the lease abstract in Quarem. Pretty handy, right? Schedule a demo of Quarem today to see the full extent of the critical date management feature.
