The concept of property focused cost recovery is relatively straight-forward.
To carry out the cost recovery exercise a property specialist will go through an organisation’s property portfolio documents and accounts and identify any historical discrepancies between what should have been paid and what was actually payable.
We do not make judgements as to whether the client has agreed the right amount in the first place – we assess whether the amount being paid accords with the amount that was agreed and that all reliefs, incoming payments and historic savings opportunities are being fully utilised. We will also look to see what future savings can be made.
We will generally look back about five years and examples of the areas that we will look at are:
Rents
- Amounts paid/charged are correct
- No rent free periods have been missed
- No duplicate payments have been made
- The correct concessions have been given
- Any subtenants/licensees have been charged correctly
Service Charges
- Amounts paid are correct
- Lease provisions have been adhered to
- Any caps and/or concessions have been taken into account
- Payment periods and calculations are correct
Non-Domestic Rates
- Rateable value is correct
- Correct relief has been claimed
- Any interest and tax credits have been calculated correctly
- Correct start date applied (taking into account fit out periods, for example)
The key is knowing where to look, what to look for, who to speak to, what to say and how to say it. Almost all of our clients have their own property management teams, are well advised and competently managed. However, time and time again we are able to recover the funds that they did not even know had been lost. This is our business.
Fees
We charge on a contingency results-based fee basis. This means that our client always gets the majority of any funds recovered and also has the reassurance that if no funds are recovered, then no fee is payable.
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