AMTdirect has been an active member of the NRTA (National Retail Tenants Association) for sometime now, and in my opinion, it has always been one of the better organizations out there. There are numerous benefits of becoming a member of the NRTA, but one of my favorite benefits is the ability to access their message board.

Message Boards and User Forums provide industry experts with an online bulletin-board community that is responsible for uniting industry professionals in order to share thoughts, ideas, and provide technical assistance. The NRTA message board is a great online resource for industry professionals to obtain advice from fellow professionals.

For example, one of last month’s NRTA posts dealt with removing prior year’s CAM charges when a new management company is in place. Listed below is the question posted by a lease management professional on the message board along with fellow industry professionals’ responses.

NRTA’s Message Board Question of the Month:

Question:

While reconciling 2005 and 2006 CAM charges against our Lease, I discovered my company was being charged for expenses that are not our obligation under the Lease. The management company for the Landlord agreed with my assessment, is crediting my company $10,000 to reimburse for the charges, is adjusting the monthly payment down going forward, and removing these charges from future reconciliations.

Looking deeper into the file, I discovered that we have paid these charges dating back to 2002, when our Lease began. Is there a statute of limitations in this situation? Is the current management company obligated to credit erroneous charges assessed by another company prior to their contract? Management companies I have dealt with in the past reason that they are only responsible for that which happens under their guard. I appreciate any insights on the matter.

Responses:

1) I have had this happen multiple times and have always been successful at getting it back. There have been a couple of times where we only got half back after negotiations. You have to look at whether or not it was just the property management company that changed or the ownership (and along with that, the new PM). If the ownership changed, was an estoppel given? Always try, because it doesn’t hurt to ask. Good Luck.

2) If I understand this correctly your issue is with the previous landlord, not with either a current or previous management company. It would seem inappropriate to expect the current landlord to reimburse overpayments made to the previous landlord, unless you could document that the funds representing the overpayments transferred ownership to the purchaser through the purchase and sale agreement.

3) This is an interesting question that is frequently posed at NRTA conferences. Not suprisingly, it touches on a number of topics and issues. The first is the role of the management company, which is strictly an agent of the Landlord. Therefore, their “objection” that the overcharge occured on someone else’s watch is legally irrelevant. Assuming that the landlord hasn’t changed over the years, then the issue becomes one of lease language — was there a limitaiton of the time to object or audit? - and applicable law, ie: the statute of limitations. Given that the statute of limitations for contract (ie: lease actions) is usually at least four years - and your time to bring a claim commences only when you recieve the final reconciliation, it is likely that this would not foreclose your claim. You may also be foreclosed from pursuing this by what are called “equitable” defenses, that is, that you failed to object to these charges over the years and are now prohibited from doing so. Having said all this (and warning you that you can only get legal adivse from your counsel), I would politely but firmly inform the management company that regardless of who was representing the landlord in the past, you are still entitled to recovery (if, indeed you are), and that you hope that they will pursue the matter in your behalf, or you will do so directly.

This is just a small preview of what the NRTA message forum has to offer and I encourage you to visit their website to learn more about their organization.

Other organizations/associations include:

International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) – www.icsc.org
Corenet – www.corenetglobal.org
National Retail Federation – www.nrf.com
Realcomm – www.realcomm.com
Boma – www.boma.org

I ran across an interesting article in this month’s issue of Realcomm Edge regarding the Top 10 IT Issues for Commercial Real Estate in 2008. Realcomm surveyed their 2008 Real Estate CIO advisors on a number of topics from server utilization to staff development and asked where they see there top IT issues in the coming year.

At number one in the list was Document Management. The article states that commercial real estate remains the most paper-intensive industry on the planet and, at the same time, offers the greatest potential for paperless workflows. Document and file versioning, indexing, and retention strategies are among the greatest challenges for IT today.

The explosion of the “Green” movement has been a driving force for Document Management being number one. Under the “Green” movement, it is more common that employers are willing to let employees work from home a couple of days of week resulting in an increased need for automation and anytime access to your leases/contracts. It seems that not only are real estate management systems aligning your real estate strategy with corporate strategy, but are also playing a pivotal role in aligning your real estate strategy with your “Green” strategy. The article goes on to mention other Top 10 concerns include vendor viability, business intelligence, and staffing.

The Top 10 in order are as follows:
1. Document Management
2. Disaster Recovery - If your company suffers a major loss of data, are you prepared?
3. Business Intelligence - Does the “one-size-fits-all” approach really apply for enterprises?
4. Building Automation Strategies - Intelligent, green building technology experts are in short supply.
5. Global Expansion
6. Alignment - Are you maximizing the ROI of IT services by leveraging them across multiple business units?
7. Vendor Viability - How secure is your vendor with companies being acquired at an increasingly frenzied pace.
8. CRM -
9. Staffing
10. Virtualization - Virtual machines offer a significant means to cut IT costs while “greening” IT operations.

To see a detailed list of the Top 10, see this month’s RealcommEdge Magazine.

The good news is that if you are using AMTdirect, then you are already utilizing one of the eleven tips to green your work. The Software as a Service (SaaS) model provides a twofold approach to green savings. SaaS allows corporations to focus on the actual dollar cost savings needed to grow your company as well as the environmental benefits that can assure future generations a greener world. At AMTdirect, we believe it is the corporation’s responsibility to not only grow their respective companies, but to do their part in improving the earth. AMTdirect’s SaaS model accomplishes both feats by offering greater agility, profitability, efficiency and innovation. Through the utilization of AMTdirect’s SaaS model, you are taking a step towards a greener world.

How does AMTdirect’s SaaS model contribute to a Greener World?

Reduction of Carbon Dioxide Emissions:

AMTdirect’s SaaS model saves a ton of energy by more efficiently using computing resources through the centralization of data center operations. Instead of thousands of individual companies operating their own power hungry data facilities, SaaS combines the operations of countless companies, therefore driving efficiencies and directly reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that are released into the atmosphere. On average, a typical server operates at 450 watts, multiply this number by the tens of thousands of servers needed for companies to host their own software and the energy savings become substantial. In addition, corporations will see a significant financial cost savings because of the electricity reduction that is no longer needed to run their own large data center.

Additional Energy Savers:

SaaS data centers are built to maximize energy usage and improve efficiency as a result of stringent customer service level agreements that require data centers to have the most up-to-date energy efficient equipment on the market. Therefore, AMTdirect’s data centers are always running at their most efficient energy level.

Not to be overlooked is the actual AMTdirect application. AMTdirect’s foundation is based on the premises of helping you actively manage your real estate assets through the use of our web-based software. And as a result, you can eliminate the rows of filing cabinets containing redundant leases, work order requests, and countless other contracts that can pollute your hallways.

As more and more companies move to the SaaS model, AMTdirect is committed to continue using only SaaS applications when conducting business. Whether it’s doing payroll, customer relationship management, or sales, AMTdirect strives to do its part and serve as a role model for environmental responsibility.

Top Ten Ways To Go Green At the Office:

Did you know that one office worker can use a quarter ton of materials in a year–which includes 10,000 pieces of copier paper? Heating, cooling and powering office space are responsible for almost 40% of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. and gobble more than 70% of total electricity usage. Commuters spew 1.3 billion tons of CO2 a year. Computers in the office burn $1 billion worth of electricity annually–and that’s when they’re not producing a lick of work (according to Time Magazine). All our unnecessarily generated company waste adds up to unnecessarily wasted company cash. TreeHugger has put together a top ten list of simple ways a company can go green:

1. More work, less energy
For many people, a computer is the central tool at work. Optimizing the energy settings for computers and other devices can be more than a modest energy saver. Set computers to energy-saving settings and make sure to shut them down when you leave for the day (“standby” settings will continue to draw power even when not in use). By plugging hardware into a power strip with an on/off switch (or a smart power strip), the whole desktop setup can be turned off at once (make sure to power down inkjet printers before killing the power—they need to seal their cartridges). Printers, scanners, and other peripherals that are only used occasionally can be unplugged until they’re needed. And of course, turn off lights in spaces that are unoccupied.

2. Digitize
It does seem a bit strange that in the “digital age” we still consume enormous amounts of mashed up, bleached tree pulp, most of which gets used once or twice and then tossed or recycled. The greenest paper is no paper at all, so keep things digital and dematerialized whenever possible. The more you do online, the less you need paper. Keep files on computers instead of in file cabinets (this also makes it easier to make offsite backup copies or take them with you when you move to a new office). Review documents onscreen rather than printing them out. Send emails instead of paper letters.

To see the rest of the Top 10 Ways To Green Your Office…go HERE

If you have any other ways that you are greening your office place, then let us know by commenting below.