How RE Backoffice assisted America’s Largest Provider of shared Wireless Infrastructure manage their active Tower Agreements better after a Merger

The 6-month long project involved abstracting, standardizing, and updating key data points from the tower licenses acquired as a part of the merger, into the client’s database.

WHO WAS OUR CLIENT?

The client was the nation’s largest provider of shared wireless infrastructure, collaborating closely with wireless carriers, communities, governments, and local property owners to provide access to wireless telecommunication infrastructure. The client manages and provides telecom site services to approximately 40,000 cell towers comprising approximately 91,000 installations and has a key presence in all the major markets in the US, with approximately 71% of their towers located in the top 100 markets.

WHAT DID THEY NEED?

The client had recently acquired another leading telecom company and approaches to managing the active tower license agreements were very different between the two companies. The client wanted the critical information in the licenses of the newly acquired company to comply with its existing approach. The client already had a database and were expanding it to include key data points from the newly acquired licenses. These key data points related to the licenses acquired as a part of the merger had to be abstracted and updated in the client’s database. The key data points included accurate information about the validity of the communication tower permits and information on the expiration and renewal dates of the licenses related to the communication towers located across the United States.

This was accomplished in two phases, each phase treated as a separate phase:

First, where they wanted 10,000 cell tower permits analyzed, abstracted, verified, and updated in their native cell tower permit management platform and;
Second, they wanted RE BackOffice to abstract 10,000 cell tower licenses and their related service level agreements. The timeframe for the first project was 90days, while the second project was to be completed in 5 months.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

How RE Backoffice added value to the client

RE BackOffice deployed a team of 50 experienced lease analysts on the project
For ease of communication, there was one dedicated project manager who acted as a single point of contact for the client. In their absence, a dedicated assistant project manager took over the role to ensure the project progressed smoothly, without deviating from the desired quality and timeline
To ensure the client’s quality goals are met effectively, RE BackOffice put an objective, 3-tier quality control process which had a team of senior analysts verifying 100% of the output
The documents provided by the client weren’t organized as per the cell tower sites. As a part of the document management optimization process, RE BackOffice scrutinized each document to identify the cell tower it represented and uploaded them in the client database for the concerned business unit
RE BackOffice custom-built ad at a platform to suit the specifics of the client’s project. This platform consisted of all the data fields that the client required abstracted
RE BackOffice’s team would update the abstracted data onto the platform which then allowed them to export the abstracts as a single excel file—the way the client wanted
RE BackOffice also identified the patterns linking the Master Level Service Agreements (MLAs) to the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) which played a key role in shrinking the timeline of the project by almost 30%

END RESULTS

RE BackOffice successfully completed the project within the said timeline and with 100% accuracy and helped America’s largest provider of shared wireless infrastructure,

Proactively conduct analysis on upcoming renewal options and/or final term end dates and respond in a timely manner with the potential to prevent unforeseen future terminations
Ensure customer retention and satisfaction
Communicate accurately and efficiently with their customers
Anticipate change and associated short/long term impacts and take the necessary steps well in advance
Organize their cell-tower licenses, permits, and other related documents better, which, in turn, improved their overall operational efficiency on the lease management front

To learn more about our tower lease abstraction services, please click here or download our Tower lease abstraction brochure.

Picking the Right Lease Abstraction Vendor

Lease abstracts are the backbone of your lease portfolio process. Abstracting your leases in-houses and staying on top of them always as amendments and addendums are signed, can be challenging. While outsourcing your lease abstraction process to a trusted lease abstraction service provider is a great idea, there are a few things to consider when doing so.

Learn More in our recent video.

https://youtu.be/WT0PJ8RLlLc

Amendment abstraction: Why is it important?

You know the importance of staying on top of your lease portfolio, which is why you have abstracts of all your leases. However, keeping your lease portfolio updated is an ongoing activity and not a one-time project. Over the years, there are bound to be updates and changes (amendments and addendums) to your existing leases that need to be carefully reviewed and captured in your lease abstracts. The need to stay up-to-date on lease amendments came to light during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, when a lot of retail tenants had to quickly explore the options in their leases that offered them some respite as their finances hit rock bottom due to lockdowns and shelter-in-place restrictions brought on by the pandemic.

But what’s the best way to ensure your lease abstracts reflect the latest amendments and addendums? Even if you already have an in-house lease administration team, they would be too busy managing your lease portfolio on an ongoing basis. Diverting their time and energy to something as mundane as amendment abstraction and updates doesn’t make sense. Plus, amendment abstraction is a one-time project. You won’t need to do it again until you sign new amendments, so bringing new staff on board to handle the temporary assignment is not viable either.

Hence it makes sense to outsource your amendment abstraction work to a trusted lease abstraction vendor. Amendment abstraction goes beyond just scrutinizing amendments and addendums and extracting key information out of them. Amendment abstraction may involve going through any supplementary document such as side letters, email correspondences, notices, etc., that may impact the key terms of your lease. An experienced lease abstraction vendor will be able to identify these key elements, summarize them and enter those into your lease management system to ensure your records are up-to-date.

Outsourcing amendment abstraction offers you an extra hand to update your lease management system with all the changes included in your newly executed amendments, abatements, or deferral clauses and speeds up the process while allowing your in-house lease management team to focus on the more important lease administration activities.

Rebolease.com, powered by RE BackOffice, Inc., is a premier provider of lease abstraction, administration, audit, and accounting services. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, we are a global boutique firm, providing high-quality services to top-tier clients across industry verticals, covering every type of lease and on any lease platform. We are proud to be a trusted partner, for 15+ years, to leading retailers, REITs, property owners/managers, and corporate accounts seeking strategic advantage. All client projects are performed in-house.

Whether it is one clause, one amendment, or a whole lease agreement, we can do it for you. Please contact us today to learn more.

Lease abstraction, Lease Administration, Lease Audit
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May 20, 2021
by ADMIN

Lease Administration post: Are your tax pass-throughs correct?

Real estate taxes are one of the most common elements of operating expenses that the landlord passes on to tenants. However, did you know that you could be paying much more than your actual share of real estate taxes for the premises you leased? In our blog this week, we talk about four kinds of mistakes your landlord could be making as a result of which you may be ending up paying more than what you owe.

Tax Refunds

When the landlord levies property taxes on tenants as per their pro-rata share, they should also credit any tax refunds received to the tenants’ accounts accordingly. However, sometimes, landlords may fail to credit the tax refunds or make errors in refund pro-rata calculations that tenants need to watch out for.

Not pursuing tax certioraris

The landlord must assess the taxes levied upon them every year to ensure they are in accordance with the local real estate laws. Tax certiorari allows landlords to challenge the real estate tax amount levied upon them. However, many landlords may overlook this step as they know their tenants will share the tax load anyway as per the lease agreements.

Including personal taxes

Landlords may erroneously include their personal taxes such as the tax on personal property or tax on income from a rental property in the real estate tax calculations for the leased premises, thus passing it on to their tenants.

Tax professional’s fees

Your landlord may incorrectly bill you for the expenses they incur when they hire a tax professional to work out their real estate taxes. While, as a tenant, you may be obligated to pay your share of the real estate tax as stipulated in your lease, the clause most likely won’t cover tax professional’s fees, which means, sharing the fee as a part of the tax pass-throughs would be incorrect.

Tax pass-throughs are just one of the many items in operating expenses that need to be audited by tenants to ensure they are not being overcharged. A lease audit that covers all elements of CAM charges and operating expenses is a must on an annual basis to ensure you, as a tenant, don’t pay more than what’s due.

Lease Abstraction post: Taking a second look at your Lease Abstracts from the ASC 842 Compliance Perspective

The ASC 842 regulations bring a lot of changes to the way leases are treated in financial statements and books of accounts. In this blog, we outline the key challenges businesses face when embarking on their FASB compliance journey.

Scope of work

While businesses know compliance with the updated FASB regulations entails having to reassess their books of accounts, many tend to underestimate the scope of work. There is a feeling that they have all the data they need and it is just a matter of restructuring it to suit the ASC 842 regulations. However, the ASC 842 regulations require a lot more than just data restructuring and the compliance process is much more time-consuming and labor-intensive than accounted for. As companies get started with the compliance process, they realize that they were mistaken. A lot of them struggle with data in complex spreadsheets that make it difficult to make sense of the vast amount of information contained therein.

Inaccurate or outdated lease abstracts

Even businesses that have lease management systems in place find that sometimes they are not on top of their lease portfolios and the information in their lease abstracts is outdated and virtually useless. Also, the FASB regulations have brought about changes to the typical lease abstract templates by adding to the data points, making it necessary to include new information to the existing lease abstracts. These data points sometimes do not even exist in the original lease. They may be in the form of email communication, side letters, and other correspondence, which may have not been considered at the time or original abstraction.

Expertise

As discussed above, making your lease abstracts meaningful from the FASB compliance perspective entails a significant lease abstraction template redefinition–something that only an experienced lease abstraction vendor, with in-depth knowledge, perspective, and expertise into the lease abstraction process will be able to offer.

Scaling to meet the timeline

The FASB compliance process comes with a definite timeline that needs to be adhered to. Also, after you get your leases in order and update your lease abstracts to reflect the information you need for your books of accounts, you should still consistently audit and update your lease abstracts at regular intervals to ensure you stay compliant.

Bringing a trusted lease abstraction services provider on board can help you mitigate all these challenges effectively, efficiently, and meet your compliance requirements on time.

Rebolease.com, powered by RE BackOffice, Inc., is a premier provider of lease abstraction, administration, and accounting services. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, we are a global boutique firm, providing high-quality services to top-tier clients across industry verticals, covering every type of lease and on any lease platform. We are proud to be a trusted partner, for 15+ years, to leading retailers, REITs, property owners/managers, and corporate accounts seeking a strategic advantage. All client projects are performed in-house. Please contact us today to learn more.

How Lease Administration can help you make the right decisions and enjoy significant cost savings

Consistent lease administration can help you stay on top of your lease portfolio and make the right business decisions. This is especially true at the time of renewals. Lease administration helps you stay up-to-date in terms of key lease terms and dates. If you don’t have a consistent lease administration process in place, you may be caught off guard as your lease becomes due for renewal and you will have no choice but to renew your lease on the Landlord’s terms and conditions, in the interest of time.

On the other hand, if you have a solid lease administration process, you will be alerted to critical dates and clauses consistently and that will give you ample time to weigh your options and make the right business decisions. For example, you can plan a few months or even years ahead of lease expiration and enter into negotiations or amendments with your landlord. Being aware of your lease expiration dates well in advance also allows you to scope the real estate market for better options. Apart from helping you make the right renewal decisions, consistent lease administration also helps you stay on top of things when it comes to expansions. It draws your attention to the various rights you have in the event property in your premises becomes vacant. For example, the right of first refusal or the right of the first offer, etc.

Lease administration also helps you avoid penalties and other charges by keeping tabs on upcoming rental obligations. Similarly, it also ensures any other invoices raised by the landlord are accurate and paid off on time. From the CAM and operating expense perspective, a lease administration process that involves reconciliation of account payables and receivables and auditing, thus ensuring you are not being overcharged. When you have a lease portfolio that runs into hundreds of leases or more, these figures can translate into significant cost savings.

Here’s a case study that discusses how America’s leading mid-sized retailers of the largest communication brands save more than $140,000 annually with effective and efficient Lease Administration services.

Rebolease.com, powered by RE BackOffice, Inc., is a premier provider of lease abstraction, administration, and accounting services. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, we are a global boutique firm, providing high-quality services to top-tier clients across industry verticals, covering every type of lease and on any lease platform. We are proud to be a trusted partner, for 15+ years, to leading retailers, REITs, property owners/managers, and corporate accounts seeking strategic advantage. All client projects are performed in-house. Please contact us today to learn more.