AboutJim Avancena Expertise I am best qualified to answer any questions that involve commercial leases, the complexities and inter-relationships of the myriad provisions that a lease may contain, and explain how they commonly effect a landlord or tenant in their day-to-day business operation. I can explain most matters that will come up during of the full lease cycle from standard industry practices regarding the lease acquistion process, concerns related to remodeling/improving the leased premises, moving-in, subletting or assigning the leased space, and a long list of other problems that may come up during the lease term. I have practical experience with most property management issues and resolving landlord and tenant disputes. Note that I am not an attorney and cannot provide legal advice.
Experience Twenty-eight years active experience in the commercial real estate industry as a licensed real estate broker in the Washington DC Metro area(DC, Northern Virginia & Maryland). I have been admitted (approved) by the Maryland and DC courts to testify as an expert witness on the subjects of Commercial Leasing and Property Management in the area of standard industry practices. I have had a business for the last 14 years advising virtually every form of business entity from large national corporations to the smallest ma & pa new businesses regarding a wide range of commercial real estate matters in addition to property management and commercial leasing.
Organizations Currently my three children keep me so busy that it is difficult to find time to participate in organizations.
Publications I publish a local commercial real estate newsletter titled: "Tenants First". My firm was the subject of a high profile Washington Post business section cover page (2.25 page)feature story on January 13, 1993; "Overcharging Overhead".
Education/Credentials BA in Political Science from Memphis University, and five years of study in the real estate development summer program at MIT. I was certified as a commercial property manager (CPM-IREM), and currently hold a brokers license licensed in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Awards and Honors Routine, the same plaques and honors that most others in my industry have earned, none that are significant.
Past/Present Clients Past clients include: The World Bank, George Washington University, National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, US Department of Commerce, The American Benefits Council, K-Mart Development, many law firms, a national union, other major organizations, and many, many small business firms and retail operators that I am most honored to serve. I estimate more than 1,500 firms/organizations.
Question i am trying to find out what is the standard fee to charge a tenant when they use utility beyond the regular hours of operations
thanks
Answer Moshe-
There is no standard. The amount is usually whatever the actual expense is that is incurred by the landlord plus a modest administrative fee, however, that amount depends on how the electrical metering is arranged in your building and how large your building happens to be. I hope for your sake it is a small building.
If your building is arranged so that the metering measures electrical consumption based on a what is consumed on a floor by floor basis, the landlord can usually charge you much less than if there is only one meter that measures consumption for the entire building.
Understand that if one meter - the way most buildings were set up until recently - measures all the consumption in the building, the landlord has no way to stop consumption of power that is used by a "sleeping" building after hours.
The meter for the entire building will include the consumption for everything else that is using electricity after regular hours. That would be the lighting on the other floors (if anyone is working late or simply the building emergency lighting), the power consumed by one elevator set on standby (there has to be one elevator running afterhours), heaven forbid, don't forget the heating and a/c system (it uses electricity too) operates to maintain a certain temperature throughout the building. Even the power consumed in stand-by mode of all the other copiers and personal computing monitors will amount to some expense.
New,modern buildings will quite possibly have floor by floor electric metering, otherwise it is most likely that your building is metered in its entirety by one meter for all the above ground level office space. (It is unlikely that it includes retail spaces).
Note also that something called "time of use" pricing may come into play if the landlord is trying to be fair about the consumption, but it may be that he simply has established a after hours rate and tenants are simply required to pay the fee stated.
I have assumed that you know that there is electrical power available afterhours for your firm to use the lights and outlets in the same manner as you do during the work day hours. Air conditioning is the cause of you having to pay extra for afterhours power usually.
A major portion of the afterhours consumption comes from the landlord having to run the air conditioning equipment to cool your floor (even more if your building cannot limit cooling to just your floor and the entire building must be cooled!) If you are only using your offices for a few staff to work late for a week on a project, there is probably no need to ask for afterhours power unless it is very hot or cold (hot is what generates the expense) outside and the heating and a/c system will need to work very hard to maintain the office temperature at a comfortable level. If it not excessively hot outside and the standard operating hours for the building end at 7:00 p.m. in the evening, it will likely be 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. before you start to notice is is getting hot - if at all.
Send me a follow-up note about the reason why you need the power and/or the age, size and operations of the building, and I may be able to help you further in this regard.
