Add lease cost diligence services
Offer lease cost diligence as a narrow workstream.
Use it for targets with leased commercial sites. Check CAM bills against signed lease terms.
Do not fold this into broad QoE work. Do not treat it as legal advice.
Venable keeps finance, legal, and property review apart. Its 2026 guide also tracks material contracts.
Your service should respect those review lanes. It should also give the deal lead usable proof.
Screen the target first
Start with six intake fields. They show fit before staff open files.
| Intake field | Ask | Stop rule |
|---|---|---|
| Leased sites | Which sites does the target lease? | No leased commercial site exists |
| Statement years | Which CAM years are in scope? | No CAM statement is held |
| Source files | Are signed leases and changes present? | The signed lease is missing |
| Open disputes | Is any charge already disputed? | The dispute owner is unknown |
| Deal stage | When does the team need the schedule? | The work has no review owner |
| Expert needs | Which issues need counsel or QoE? | Expert scope is not set |
A target with one leased site may fit. A target with many owned sites may not.
Site count alone does not decide value. File quality and deal need matter too.
Request matched source files
Ask for files by location and year. Do not accept one mixed lease folder.
Request these records when they exist:
- Signed lease
- Signed lease changes
- Annual CAM statement
- Landlord cost support
- Payment history
- Credit records
- Dispute notices
- Delivery proof
Deloitte lists real estate records. Its guide is for property owners. It is not a tenant company QoE guide.
The record groups still help here. They keep each charge tied to source proof.
Mark every missing file. Do not infer a lease term from a bill.
Set a narrow scope
Write the service boundary before review starts.
The core scope can include:
- Lease and statement matching
- CAM charge tests
- Source line citations
- Open item tracking
- A location and year schedule
- An issue routing memo
Keep these items outside the CAM scope:
- Company valuation
- Full quality of earnings work
- Legal opinions
- Tax return review
- Environmental review
- Property condition work
- Deal term approval
That line protects the client and your team. It also makes specialist handoffs easier.
Route each issue
One finding may affect several workstreams. Give it one lead owner first.
| Issue | Lead owner | CAM reviewer gives |
|---|---|---|
| Lease wording is unclear | Counsel | Clause and billed line |
| Expense may affect earnings | QoE team | Supported amount and status |
| Seller file is missing | Deal lead | Exact file request |
| Credit is already booked | Accounting team | Credit record and source |
| Process fix is post-close | Operations lead | Open item and next step |
Baker Tilly says earnings work uses support schedules. A proposed change needs facts that support it.
The evidence schedule supplies those facts. The QoE lead owns the earnings call.
Give the team two outputs
The first output is an evidence schedule. Use one row for each location and year.
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Statement year | |
| Lease version | |
| CAM statement | |
| Support status | |
| Finding status | |
| Source citation | |
| Open question | |
| Review owner |
The second output is a routing memo. Keep it short and direct.
For each issue, state:
- What the source says
- What the bill shows
- What remains unknown
- Who reviews next
- Which deal item may change
Do not state that value changed. The deal team decides that result.
Price the scope with assumptions
Do not quote one flat effort level blindly.
Write down the scope drivers first:
- Number of leased locations
- Number of statement years
- Lease change count
- File readiness
- Open dispute count
- Needed update rounds
- Meeting and memo needs
Then state what your fee includes. Also state what starts a new scope.
Missing files may pause the review. New locations may need a fee change.
That is a scope rule. It is not a claim about deal value.
Walk one sample scope
The sample is fictional. North Trail and every sample fact are made up.
North Trail Services rents four work sites. Three sites have matched lease files.
One site lacks the signed lease change. That site stops at file request.
The other sites enter CAM review. One statement has a flagged charge issue.
The CAM reviewer cites the lease clause. The reviewer also cites the billed line.
Counsel receives the unclear lease wording. The QoE team receives the supported amount.
Neither team assumes a recovery. Neither team books an EBITDA change yet.
The deal lead receives one open item map. That is the service outcome.
Put the routing memo to work
Add six lease fields to your intake. Use the fit screen from this guide.
Then test it on one active deal. Stop any site that lacks core proof.
The evidence schedule is your working record. Its routing memo names each next owner.
Send a large site set to the multisite queue. Send book treatment to the QoE proof guide. A seller file owner can use the data room list.
Set the offer on the deal advisor page.
Find more work in the deal guide hub. Compare firms at Practice Growth.
Where CAMAudit fits
Deal advisors can add this step to the diligence schedule.
Your firm locks the scope first. Then CAMAudit reads the matched source files.
Its math checks may flag a billed item. The diligence flag cites its lease and bill lines.
CAMAudit can build a branded CAM audit from approved findings. The deal lead chooses the next handoff.
Your firm reviews and signs the audit before delivery. It decides what the deal team receives.
CAMAudit may also prepare a dispute letter draft. Your firm reviews that draft and sends it to counsel.
It is not legal advice. Have counsel review before sending.
Set fee and delivery terms with the service line guide.
Ready to add this work to your firm? Get started.
Sources
- Venable transaction diligence guide
- Deloitte real estate diligence artifact
- Baker Tilly guide, 2023-07-18, updated 2025-03-12