BOMA 'greens' lease guidelines

When I attend industry meetings focused on sustainable building, I frequently hear that building owners are the barrier to market transformation.

But it’s often the tenants—because they aren't willing to pay for “green” renovations—that present the barrier. Lack of communication between the building owner/manager and building tenants can impede the process of implementing green operating and management practices.

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International has spent much of the past several years identifying the barriers to a more rapid adoption of energy-efficient technologies and sustainability in the multi-tenant office environment, and working hard to find solutions to overcome them.

Two of the most commonly cited barriers to implementing green and energy-efficient building practices are the split incentives resulting from a typical triple-net lease (where the landlord pays for capital improvements but the tenants, who pay the utility bills, reap the benefits of energy savings) and a lack of tenant demand (fueled by a lack of tenant education).

A team of experts—BOMA members with experience in executing leases and a proven track record of leading the green building movement within the real estate industry—worked to green BOMA's standard lease document, “The Guide to Writing a Commercial Real Estate Lease.” The group walked through a standard lease agreement, clause by clause, looking for opportunities to change language that has been long-accepted common practice.

In doing so, BOMA feels we have created a document that is legally enforceable and is a tool to help building owners/managers maintain green buildings through operations and management practices. More importantly, it serves as a tool for communicating with brokers and prospective tenants about what it means to be a tenant in a high-performance green building, including the responsibilities of all parties in the ongoing efforts to keep it green.