Real estate and property
Owners, landlords and property managers handle costs on two sides: what they bill tenants and what they pay to run buildings. Both sides depend on documents that can drift from their terms.
Fairview Audit connects you with a partner firm that can review these areas. The firm does the review. Fairview does not.
Where property costs build up
Property businesses carry costs that tie to buildings, land and leases. Common cost areas include:
- Leases where you are the tenant, for offices, yards, storage or on-site management space
- Lease billing records for space you rent out, including shared-area charges and recoveries
- Property tax assessed on land and buildings
- Utilities for common areas, vacant units and whole buildings
- Maintenance, cleaning, security and landscaping contracts
- Insurance, repairs and capital work billed through vendors
Your position matters. A landlord checks that charges to tenants follow the lease and that its own vendors bill correctly. A tenant checks the landlord's charges. A property manager often does both for different owners.
Lease review from both sides
A lease sets rent, escalations, shared-cost rules, renewal options and exit terms. The billing for these items is often done by hand or by software set up from a lease abstract. If the abstract missed a clause or an amendment, charges can be wrong for years.
A review compares the lease and its amendments with what was billed or paid. For property businesses, this may include how shared costs are allocated across units and how recoveries were calculated at year end.
See Lease audit and compliance for real estate and property for this pairing. The general category is Lease audit and compliance.
Property tax
Property tax is based on a value set by a taxing authority, and owners can often question that value by filing a protest or appeal with a local review body, usually with supporting evidence. Deadlines and forms differ by state and often by county. [VERIFY: appeal rules and deadlines for the jurisdictions where you hold property]
A property tax review looks at the records behind the assessment, such as property details, classifications and the description of the building. It also looks at whether your tax bill reflects what the authority has on file. In many commercial leases, the lease decides how property tax and shared operating costs are split with tenants, so an error may affect more than one party.
See Property tax for real estate and property and the general Property tax page.
Utilities in many buildings
Property businesses often hold utility accounts for many addresses. Accounts open and close as tenants come and go. Vacant units, common areas and shared meters create bills that are easy to misassign. A review checks account setup, rate class, meter data and whether charges belong to you or to a tenant.
See Utilities for real estate and property and Utilities.
How matching works
Partner firms differ in categories and business size served. The detail for real estate and property is not yet published. [CONFIRM: partner industry detail]
- Choose a request path: larger business, smaller business, or not sure or another need. There is no fixed size cut-off. Fairview matches each request by hand.
- Submit the form for that path.
- Your request goes to the matched partner firm, or to Fairview for manual matching.
- You talk with the firm directly. The engagement and any fees are between you and the firm, under its terms.
Questions about property reviews
I am both landlord and tenant. Can I request one review?
You can describe both roles in your request. The partner firm will tell you how it would handle them.
Do I need lease abstracts?
They help, but the firm will mainly want the leases and amendments. Abstracts can be checked against them.
Does Fairview file tax appeals?
No. Fairview connects you with partner firms. Any filing or representation is a matter between you and the firm. [CONFIRM: a partner firm supplies and approves this statement]
Tell us what you need reviewed. We match you by hand with an independent partner firm. You keep your existing vendors.Find out what you are overpaying.