Tenant Relations and Lease Negotiation Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Lease Administrators, Property Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-RE-024

Before you join: Participants should have working experience with commercial property, lease records, tenant correspondence, property finance or facilities operations.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Lease administration failures can create missed break dates, incorrect rent charges, unenforceable notices, unresolved tenant complaints and avoidable vacancy costs. Property teams must maintain accurate lease records while balancing commercial income, tenant retention, service obligations and legal risk. This requires disciplined controls as well as productive working relationships with occupiers, managing agents, finance teams, legal advisers and asset managers.

This course develops the practical skills needed to administer leases and manage tenant relationships throughout the lease lifecycle. Participants interpret principal lease clauses, build lease abstracts, control critical dates, reconcile rent and service charge information, manage amendments and document tenant communications. They also prepare for renewals, rent reviews, concessions, break options, disputes and exit processes. Negotiation sessions use BATNA, ZOPA, interest-based negotiation and concession planning to help participants prepare commercially sound proposals within delegated authority.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with property cases, lease-document reviews, group analysis, negotiation simulations and individual application planning. Cases reflect office, retail, industrial and mixed-use properties, with attention to the different pressures facing landlords, corporate occupiers and managing agents. Participants leave with a reusable lease administration and tenant relationship action pack containing templates, registers, checklists and negotiation planning materials. The course is delivered over five days in a classroom in 50+ cities or live online, and participants receive a certificate of completion.

The programme is suited to professionals who already work with leases, tenants, occupiers or property records and need a more reliable method for controlling obligations, commercial events and tenant-facing issues. It is particularly relevant where portfolios contain multiple leases, complex charge structures, approaching expiries or service-performance concerns.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret key lease clauses affecting rent, repair, assignment, breaks and renewal decisions
  • Produce accurate lease abstracts, obligation registers and critical-date calendars
  • Reconcile rent, service charge and arrears records against lease terms
  • Apply tenant segmentation and relationship plans to manage service and retention risks
  • Prepare negotiation mandates using BATNA, ZOPA, concessions and approval limits
  • Assess renewal, break and reletting options using commercial and contractual evidence
  • Manage tenant requests, complaints, alterations and disputes through documented procedures
  • Create a 90-day lease administration improvement plan for a live portfolio

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence interpreting lease obligations before responding to tenants or managers
  • A repeatable method for preventing missed notice, review and expiry dates
  • Stronger preparation for renewal, concession and dispute negotiations
  • Clearer evidence trails for tenant commitments, approvals and unresolved issues
  • Practical materials for improving lease files and portfolio reporting immediately

For your organisation

  • Fewer missed lease events and avoidable losses from unmanaged critical dates
  • Improved rent, service charge and arrears accuracy through disciplined reconciliations
  • Better tenant retention decisions supported by documented relationship and renewal plans
  • Reduced dispute exposure through clearer records, approvals and escalation routes
  • More consistent property management reporting for asset, finance and leadership teams

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can map lease administration responsibilities, documents and controls across the lease lifecycle.

  • Lease lifecycle mapped from heads of terms to expiry and reinstatement
  • Landlord, tenant, managing agent and facilities roles under delegated authority
  • Commercial, retail, industrial and office lease structures compared
  • Lease abstract fields linked to obligations, dates, notices and payments
  • Document hierarchy: lease, side letter, licence, deed and correspondence
  • Source documents checked for executed versions, variations and missing schedules
  • Administration controls assigned through RACI matrices and escalation routes

Participants can identify operational and commercial obligations within core lease clauses.

  • Essential lease clauses interpreted: demise, term, rent, repair, assignment and use
  • Break clauses tested against conditions, notice form and service requirements
  • Alienation provisions assessed for assignment, subletting, sharing and guarantors
  • Repairing covenants distinguished between FRI, internal repairing and service charge terms
  • Rent review mechanisms compared: open market, index-linked, stepped and turnover rent
  • Statutory context identified with jurisdiction-specific legal advice boundaries
  • Written notices controlled using critical-date diaries and proof-of-service records

Participants can establish accurate lease records and date-control procedures.

  • Lease abstraction template captures parties, premises, financial terms and key dates
  • Critical-date calendars configure alerts for reviews, breaks, expiries and renewals
  • Data quality checks reconcile abstracts against signed leases and amendments
  • Document repositories apply naming conventions, version control and access permissions
  • Rent rolls reconciled to lease records, invoices and receivables ledgers
  • Obligation registers assign owners, evidence requirements and escalation dates
  • Monthly administration dashboards report exceptions, expiries and outstanding actions

Participants can verify lease-related charges and investigate common financial exceptions.

  • Base rent, turnover rent and indexation calculations verified from lease clauses
  • Service charge budgets tested against caps, exclusions, apportionments and recoverability
  • Rent review evidence assembled from comparables, valuation assumptions and review dates
  • Arrears ageing analysed with payment plans, interest clauses and escalation triggers
  • IFRS 16 lessee data requirements distinguished from landlord administration records
  • Reconciliations investigate credits, adjustments, disputed invoices and unapplied cash
  • Financial approval limits applied to concessions, write-offs and settlement proposals

Participants can manage tenant communications, issues and service expectations through structured relationship plans.

  • Tenant segmentation combines lease value, strategic importance, risk and service needs
  • Relationship plans set contact cadence, issue ownership and escalation protocols
  • Service requests triaged using severity, business impact and contractual responsibility
  • Meeting agendas separate operational concerns, commercial discussions and documented actions
  • Complaint handling follows acknowledgement, investigation, response and closure standards
  • Communication logs preserve commitments, approvals, disputes and follow-up dates
  • Tenant satisfaction signals translated into retention risks and improvement actions

Participants can prepare and conduct lease negotiations within commercial and approval boundaries.

  • Interest-based negotiation separates stated positions from underlying commercial interests
  • BATNA and ZOPA define alternatives, bargaining range and walk-away limits
  • Negotiation mandates specify authority, concessions, approvals and red lines
  • Rent-free periods modelled against term length, fit-out contributions and break rights
  • Package trades evaluate rent, incentives, repair obligations and flexibility together
  • Anchoring, framing and conditional proposals used without misrepresenting authority
  • Term-sheet records distinguish agreed principles, open points and legal drafting items

Participants can assess tenant retention, exit and reletting choices using structured evidence.

  • Renewal strategy aligns retention objectives, market evidence, costs and tenant plans
  • Option dates and statutory deadlines diarised before notice windows open
  • Break-option compliance checked against vacant possession, payments and notice conditions
  • Reletting scenarios compare void costs, incentives, dilapidations and marketing periods
  • Lease renewal discussions address term, rent, indexation, repair and alterations
  • Exit interviews capture departure reasons, unresolved issues and handover commitments
  • Renewal decision papers present options, assumptions, approvals and recommended actions

Participants can administer property condition issues and escalate disputes with appropriate records.

  • Dilapidations claims scoped through schedules, evidence, costings and response deadlines
  • Condition surveys distinguish landlord repair, tenant repair and improvement works
  • Alteration requests assessed against consent clauses, reinstatement and building standards
  • Insurance responsibilities checked for insured risks, excesses, claims and reinstatement
  • Health and safety obligations allocated between occupier, landlord and contractors
  • Access, signage and fit-out requests documented through licences and approvals
  • Disputes escalated using issue logs, without-prejudice boundaries and settlement authority

Participants can report lease performance and identify priority portfolio risks.

  • Tenant retention rate calculated by income, area and lease-event cohort
  • Occupancy, arrears, expiries and service metrics presented in management reports
  • Exception reporting highlights missed notices, unapproved concessions and data defects
  • Portfolio risk registers score concentration, expiries, covenant strength and disputes
  • Root-cause analysis identifies recurring billing, service and communication failures
  • Monthly reviews assign corrective actions, owners, deadlines and evidence of closure
  • Management information distinguishes operational measures from strategic asset decisions

Participants can prioritise practical improvements for their own lease and tenant responsibilities.

  • Current lease portfolio assessed against data, date-control and relationship management criteria
  • Priority tenant issues ranked using impact, urgency, contractual exposure and dependencies
  • Negotiation preparation sheets completed for an imminent renewal, dispute or concession
  • 90-day action plan assigns improvements, owners, milestones and review measures
  • Personal escalation map clarifies approval routes, legal input and stakeholder communications
  • Peer review tests assumptions, documentation quality and negotiation rationale
  • Implementation risks logged with mitigations, triggers and accountable owners

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Lease abstraction template
  2. Critical-date control register
  3. Tenant relationship plan
  4. Lease negotiation preparation sheet
  5. Renewal and break decision model
  6. 90-day administration improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Lease Administrators — need reliable controls for lease data, notices and financial obligations
  • Property Managers — manage tenant issues, occupancy risks and operational lease commitments
  • Asset Managers — require better evidence for retention, renewal and income decisions
  • Commercial Property Officers — administer landlord and tenant obligations across property portfolios
  • Corporate Real Estate Managers — oversee occupier leases, costs, renewals and service relationships
  • Facilities Managers — coordinate occupier requests, access, alterations and service responsibilities

Skills and tools covered

Lease administrationTenant relationship managementCommercial lease negotiationCritical-date controlRent and service chargesPortfolio performance reporting

Tools and standards

RACI matrix, BATNA and ZOPA, IFRS 16, RICS Code for Leasing Business Premises

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short briefings to establish lease administration methods, followed by document-based case work, group analysis and guided discussion. Participants review lease clauses, construct abstracts, identify critical dates, reconcile financial information and prepare tenant communications. Negotiation simulations examine renewals, rent-free requests, break options and service disputes. Property scenarios are adapted to the cohort's landlord, occupier or managing-agent perspective. Individual application planning converts course materials into actions for participants' own lease portfolios and tenant relationships.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working experience with commercial property, lease records, tenant correspondence, property finance or facilities operations. They should be familiar with common lease terms such as rent, term, service charge, expiry and repair, even if they do not yet administer leases independently. Experience with a property management system, rent roll or document repository is useful but not essential. The course does not require legal qualifications, valuation credentials, advanced financial modelling skills or prior formal negotiation training. Jurisdiction-specific legal advice is not provided.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have some exposure to commercial property, tenant correspondence, lease records, property finance or facilities operations. They do not need to be lawyers, surveyors or experienced negotiators, but basic familiarity with lease terminology is expected.

Participants may bring redacted lease abstracts, rent rolls, tenant issue logs or examples of upcoming renewals. They should not bring confidential leases or commercially sensitive documents unless their employer permits this and all identifying information has been removed.

It is intended for lease administrators, property managers, asset managers, corporate real estate staff, commercial property officers and facilities managers. It suits both landlord-side and occupier-side professionals who handle lease obligations and tenant-facing matters.

This course focuses on the daily administration, relationship management and commercial decision-making required after a lease is signed. It addresses legal and financial clauses as working controls, rather than providing legal advice or advanced valuation instruction.

Participants can use the templates to improve lease abstracts, critical-date diaries, tenant communication logs and negotiation preparation. The final application plan identifies priority actions for their own portfolio, including owners, milestones and review measures.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days progress from lease interpretation and administration controls to financial management, tenant relations, negotiation, portfolio reporting and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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