That Retail Property Guy

In this episode, host Gary Marshall shares some anecdotes about managing agents, from the perspective of a retailer as tenant & occupier. A recurring theme is : do these agents actually read the Lease?

He alludes to numerous examples of agents issuing incorrect invoices, using incorrect data, chasing payments that are not yet due, inappropriately threatening debt recovery, and failing to understand basic lease terms. 

Service charge management is a particularly problematic area, with agents mismanaging billing, delaying documentation such as budgets and reconciliations, and misallocating or losing tenant’s funds.  There is also concern about transparency, such as where landlords generate income from shared spaces (like car parks) that should offset tenant costs but are not clearly accounted for.

Errors are often blamed on poor systems or junior staff, but proper management & quality control should prevent such failures. Delays, lack of communication, and “stonewalling” just erodes trust.

Poor handovers often leave tenants with unresolved problems when landlords sell their properties, or even just change agents. 

Marshall concludes that managing agents (as service providers to their client Landlords) should be more accountable and better aligned with both the lease terms and the Landlord’s objectives. Landlords should closely oversee their agents and consider feedback of tenant experiences. 

Current shortfalls in delivery often oblige tenants to bypass the agent, escalating issues directly to landlords, creating distrust with the agent, while highlighting the need for significant improvement in performance and accountability.

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!

In this episode, host Gary Marshall discusses the relationship of managing agent to the tenant, and to the landlord.    A recurring theme is : do these agents actually read the Lease?

He clarifies that the term ‘managing agent’ can include surveyors, accountants, credit controllers, cashiers, client accountants and administrators, all acting as hired-help to a landlord in collecting charges due from tenants, and monitoring adherence to the terms of the lease. 

 He points an accusatory finger at some agents, with anecdotes of incorrect invoices, incorrect data, chasing payments that are not yet due, inappropriate threats of debt recovery, and failing to understand basic lease terms. 

Errors are often blamed on poor systems or junior staff, while delays, lack of communication, and “stonewalling” erode trust.   But proper supervision & quality control should prevent such failures.

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!

Retailers with Leases often forget to claim under their building or contents insurance – they absorb losses and pay for repairs which they already paid to insure against!     Building Insurance might be organized by the Landlord but paid for by the tenant, who might then confuse their repairing obligations with claimable circumstances – and that can mean money down the drain. 

But making a claim can be complex, and not all costs can be recovered.  Excesses apply, process can be slow, which all impacts on trade and profitability. But sometimes, closing up shop while awaiting repair can be the logical answer, avoiding further risk, ensuring competent repairs not a bodge job.

Rent Waivers and Subrogation might apply, apportioning of costs and liability might be unclear. Be smart, know the extent of your various insurance policies, how to claim, when to claim. And when not to.

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!

Retailers with leases need data which spans multiple competencies – estate management, accounts payable, finance control & reporting, maintenance & compliance, utilities management, store performance.  Host Gary Marshall points out that it’s rare to find a single person in any retail business who can cover all those bases – but suggests that well-defined teamwork can make the dreamwork. 

Poor data often stems from fragmented data, data-gaps, formatting issues, disparate sources like spreadsheets.  Poor "data cultures" point to inadequate investment in retained facts which ultimately cost the retail tenant dearly.  

But fixing that often seems daunting – especially to non-experts, or non-nerds, or time-challenged execs who already believe the data is in place – until they realise it isn't. 

Marshall guides the listener to take a challenge, to find out who in their organisation is responsible for the right Estates and Accounts Payable data.  

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!

Host Gary Marshall discusses whether leases on non-profitable retail locations can be handed back to the landlord – or what other options are open to the retailer? 

 He highlights common alienation provisions in commercial leases, with conditions which might allow or restrict an assignment of the whole lease, or a subletting of part, possibly on a different rent or other varied terms. 

He mentions how shuttering a store might be an obvious choice if the losses exceed the occupational costs of rent and business rates, but he also points out how accountancy housekeeping of badly-allocated central costs or poorly managed depreciation might give a poorly performing store another chance.

Should landlords play a part in helping a correction in long-established but unsustainable rental levels, and could a CVA be the only legitimate choice for a retailer locked into leases which it cannot afford?

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!

Free Money? In this episode, host Gary Marshall highlights key areas of PROFIT PROTECTION where Retail Tenants risk leaving money on the landlords table, not on their own bottom line.       Uncollected completion funds, unresolved arrears, poorly investigated account balances – and misplaced faith that landlords and their managing agents’ accounts are correct.     

Extra attention in these property-accounts areas can reward retailers with a cash upside measured in millions, no extra sales required.    Can you afford to ignore it? 

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!

In this discussion on the reach of AI into the retailer’s world of estate management and property accounts payable, host Gary Marshall asks what functions could be helped by AI? 

Will it replace traditional estates / finance databases, or back-office teams? 

Can it drive greater efficiency than its human counterparts? 

Is there anything it couldn’t do – like negotiate a rent review?

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!

Host Gary Marshall discusses aspects of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) as a means of Profit Protection and Compliance.  He highlights the need for well-documented process bibles which explain How to Do the function, but critically also explain WHY each step is necessary. 

He emphasises that the WHY is fundamental, to allow evolution without compromising the basic requirements for other stakeholders, including safety, compliance, financial reporting.

He discusses Knowledge Transfer, the advantage of using established SOPs to train new colleagues or handover to new teams, and the risks of losing established expertise.

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!

Host Gary Marshall discusses extreme wintry weather, and its impact on bricks & mortar retail, through reduced footfall, and additional costs such as heating, or repair, or losses due to storm damage. 

He highlights the challenges of maintaining comfortable working temperatures for store personnel while acknowledging the discomfort for customers transitioning from low external temperatures. 

He also raises awareness for retailers to carefully consider how to deal with costs and losses, to carefully Read The Lease to avoid picking up costs which should fall to the landlord, or be claimed on insurance.

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!

Host Gary Marshall discusses the growing need for estate-management databases by retail tenants with leases, aligning leased-property data with finance function.  

He highlights how recent changes in accounting standards such as IFRS 16 and FRS 102 have driven the need for supportive software to hold relevant lease data, and to handle complex Discount Cash Flow calculations for Balance Sheet reporting. 

He describes the challenges of procuring tenant-friendly software among many landlord-biased applications, and of integrating contractual Property payments such as rent and service charge into a dominant Finance landscape built around Purchase Order numbers and invoices.

In conclusion, he highlights the need for cost-effective applications with ease of integration into established Finance databases, and the need for Subject Matter Expertise in managing consistent  input and output to ensure close control on costs, and optimised profit.

Send us a Comment, a View, a Thanks, Fan Mail and so on!

And never miss an episode! Follow and like That Retail Property Guy on your favourite podcast platform - available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and more.

Find out more and message us on the podcast website

Go to ThatRetailPropertyGuy for more on Gary Marshall, SmarterEstates and the TRPG podcast. You can also check out the TRPG Blog for reading versions of key episodes. 

For our niche 'Accounts Recoverable in Retail Property' business services, visit SmarterEstates

And find Gary and team on LinkedIn for regular updates and community info!