The change in consumer preferences and behaviours, and government regulations, are forcing brands to transform their commercial leasing process as well as the space requirements.

Drawing lessons from the pandemic, some businesses are looking to avoid being tied down by long-term leases that restrict their ability to pivot or adapt to crises and sudden changes in market conditions. Shorter leases offer them maximum level of flexibility to weigh up their options in the transition to hybrid work or change the footprint of leased space. 

There are many commercial leasing brokers in India servicing brands looking to lease a commercial space. In recent times, a number of new technology based ventures have created platforms where one can find the kind of property as per defined parameters. One can then connect with the owner of the listing, either a broker or a property owner. However, there are numerous challenges in the entire process.

But what are the parameters to identify the right commercial leasing platform which can help brands close deals without breaking a sweat.

Verified listings

A challenge generally faced on such platforms is unverified listings posted to generate leads that waste a lot of time and effort of the people involved in the process. A platform that can ensure that each listing is officially verified and real photographs and videos of the property uploaded, will ease the process and reduce the time to conclude a lease deal.

Property match

Brands have very specific requirements that suit their positioning and vision. Brands also look to close leasing decisions in a short time-frame to ensure they can focus on revenue generation. It helps a brand looking to lease a commercial space to get solutions that best fit its requirements and therefore, it will be happy if the algorithm used for shortlisting properties for a requirement uses a process to show up the best matched properties only. This makes the entire search process honest and painless.

Wide choice

A corporate can have divergent requirements, starting from an office premises to a retail space or a warehouse facility. A fair expectation the brands have from a commercial leasing service is to offer different categories of properties across the country. Typically, the number and quality of property listings available in tier-2 and tier-3 towns are abysmal. It forces widely distributed brands to stick to traditional routes of finding the property. The brand requirement of spaces is also transforming as customer expectations are changing. Therefore, the need is for a platform that is constantly adding more of the right kind of space, as the requirements and preferences evolve.

Transparency

A regular complaint from brands leasing commercial spaces in India is the lack of trust on the information made available to them. A leasing platform that can share required information after verification is highly desirable. If there is a process to capture listing owners’ past works, testimonials, and ratings by actual users, it ameliorates the leasing experience. 

Process support

The commercial leasing negotiations between the involved parties could stretch over a few months, depending on the size and type of deal. Brands have individuals involved in multiple roles simultaneously and often lose track of individual negotiations. A platform that can provide a facility to keep important notes after every conversation and helps create future reminders will make the entire process stress-free. It will also avoid missing critical actions and follow-ups, offering an unmatched convenience.  

Negotiation support

By virtue of the number of transactions facilitated by leasing platforms, they have unmatched insights. A platform that can share appurtenant information so collected will enhance the ability to negotiate well. A platform can also intervene by allocating specific individuals as account managers to large brands, who can pave the way for negotiations to conclude fast. 

Confidentiality

Every brand has a unique methodology that could be their competitive advantage. Also, brands need to protect critical information from reaching out to market before they officially announce it. Sometimes, an information reaching out to the market before the brand intends, could result in commercial consequences of extremely large proportions. The platform has to ensure that the details of space and negotiations are kept confidential all the time.

Explain legal and financial terms

A commercial lease transaction involves use of technical terms, especially related to legal and financial aspects. Sometimes, distinct application of these in a situation is incomprehensible. A platform that can help the customer understand the applicability of these terms and clauses in specific context can avoid confusion and mistrust between the lessee and lessor.

Documentation Help

The lease documentation is detailed to take care of interests of the involved parties. However, at times there are hackneyed clauses that have lost relevance but are conventionally added to every agreement. A platform with its knowledge base can help create clean documentation, which could be made available to its customers as templates with explanation of what discrete purpose each of these serve. A well-articulated document can help avoid future disputes. It also helps if copies of final documents can be kept in the profile section for any future reference.

Post lease support

Conventionally, commercial leases are applicable for an extremely long time period. Differences between lessee and lessor may crop up on perfunctory issues, and going legal to resolve these could be prohibitively costly. The platform generally enjoys good long term relations with both parties and can help them overcome such challenges. This facilitates a cordial relation between affected parties and helps a brand focus on its objective without worrying about such disruptions.

Commercial leasing market in India is at a special juncture. While there are a slew of foreign brands increasing their leasing activity, e-commerce brands flush with funds are looking at high-street spaces to improve their visibility offline. IT companies are increasing their headcount like never before and closing large lease deals with developers and property owners in most of the major cities in India. So, when corporates are looking to lease, they need good professional support.

A platform that offers flexibility and useful interactions will be an apt partner to the brands in their quest for selecting appropriate spaces for leasing. This could usher in an era of urbanization of the commercial of commercial leasing process, engaging both the lessor and lessee positively.   

ImpactR is a technology-enabled insight driven platform, ensuring that each property listed on the platform is personally visited and verified by one of the associates to ensure a hassle-free leasing experience. 

ImpactR’s business is structured to support discrete business needs of corporates. Its consultative approach to working with a brand helps traverse this long and winding path smoothly. They offer customized solutions with multiple delivery channels – which includes but is not limited to: brokerage, valuation, lease structuring, property advisory, property consulting, property development, construction, and relocation services. 

ImpactR has a dedicated team of Account managers who will take care of the entire process of finding the property that is a good fit for a given specification. The concept of allocating a dedicated account manager to each brand helps remove the pain from the entire process.