Leasing Toolkit

Establishing Sustainability Goals
Successful organizations establish and clearly communicate their sustainability goals, which include energy and water use, waste minimization, materials recycling and alternative transportation. The Green Policy Statement provides model language for tenant sustainability policy. The statement communicates to both employees and outside vendors the sustainability objectives the company expects to achieve through its office environment and should be introduced to the various parties engaged in the leasing process, such as brokers, architects, and landlords.

Assessing Green Options
Realistic and achievable greening options should be established over the entire leased portfolio. This means that different options will need to be examined for different lease types (HQ vs sales offices, midtem vs. new leases, Triple Net vs. Gross, etc.).

The Lease Profile and Options Matrix assist the tenant in identifying baseline green objectives to pursue through the leasing process. These tools are meant to provide tenants with an understanding of baseline green objectives that constitute achievable lease-based goals, based on generalized elements of their lease profiles. In practice, these tools must be customized to fit the specific porfolio characteristics of each user.

Communicating Green Requirements
Once a short list of sites has been compiled, it is customary for the tenant to issue an RFP through its broker representative. An RFP is used for soliciting, evaluating, and selecting proposals from landlords and lays out the tenant’s basic requirements, definition of the premises, lease term, expansion and renewal options, rental rate, and tenant improvements. The Green RFP includes a tenant’s requirements relating to its green practices and how these will be structured into the lease document.

Analyzing Green Options
After receiving responses from landlords – usually in the form of an LOI – the tenant will need to analyze the proposals. This comparative analysis generally takes into account the financial (rent, expenses, TI allowances), the legal (term, options, use) and the operational (terms of the deals). The Due Diligence Scorecard enables tenants to compare the green characteristics of each deal as part of their assessment of competing offers.

Please see our Green LOI for landlords.

Negotiating a Green Lease
Once a tenant has selected a site, the general business terms of the deal have often been agreed upon and documented in an LOI. These business terms are then transferred into a legal lease document that will be reviewed and negotiated by attorneys representing both sides. Just as is the case with other financial, legal or operational agreements between the landlord and tenant, it is important that green initiatives are properly structured within the lease.

The Green Lease Provision Database is meant to provide the user with examples of lease language and concepts as they pertain to a user’s particular occupancy situation (single tenant vs. multi tenant) or specific objectives (energy utilization, recycling , etc). These lease provisions are not intended to be used without the input of a qualified attorney who is experienced in commercial leasing matters.

	Leasing Toolkit Green Leasing The Market Leasing Tools Establishing Sustainability Goals Successful organizations establish and clearly communicate their sustainability goals, which include energy and water use, waste minimization, materials recycling and alternative transportation. The Green Policy Statement provides model language for tenant sustainability policy. The statement communicates to both employees and outside vendors the sustainability objectives the company expects to achieve through its office environment and should be introduced to the various parties engaged in the leasing process, such as brokers, architects, and landlords. Assessing Green Options Realistic and achievable greening options should be established over the entire leased portfolio. This means that different options will need to be examined for different lease types (HQ vs sales offices, midtem vs. new leases, Triple Net vs. Gross, etc.). The Lease Profile and Options Matrix assist the tenant in identifying baseline green objectives to pursue through the leasing process. These tools are meant to provide tenants with an understanding of baseline green objectives that constitute achievable lease-based goals, based on generalized elements of their lease profiles. In practice, these tools must be customized to fit the specific porfolio characteristics of each user. Communicating Green Requirements Once a short list of sites has been compiled, it is customary for the tenant to issue an RFP through its broker representative. An RFP is used for soliciting, evaluating, and selecting proposals from landlords and lays out the tenant’s basic requirements, definition of the premises, lease term, expansion and renewal options, rental rate, and tenant improvements. The Green RFP includes a tenant’s requirements relating to its green practices and how these will be structured into the lease document. Analyzing Green Options After receiving responses from landlords – usually in the form of an LOI – the tenant will need to analyze the proposals. This comparative analysis generally takes into account the financial (rent, expenses, TI allowances), the legal (term, options, use) and the operational (terms of the deals). The Due Diligence Scorecard enables tenants to compare the green characteristics of each deal as part of their assessment of competing offers. Please see our Green LOI for landlords. Negotiating a Green Lease Once a tenant has selected a site, the general business terms of the deal have often been agreed upon and documented in an LOI. These business terms are then transferred into a legal lease document that will be reviewed and negotiated by attorneys representing both sides. Just as is the case with other financial, legal or operational agreements between the landlord and tenant, it is important that green initiatives are properly structured within the lease. The Green Lease Provision Database is meant to provide the user with examples of lease language and concepts as they pertain to a user’s particular occupancy situation (single tenant vs. multi tenant) or specific objectives (energy utilization, recycling , etc). These lease provisions are not intended to be used without the input of a qualified attorney who is experienced in commercial leasing matters.
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