A tenant rep broker represents the company that needs space and is paid to get that company the best possible deal. An agency rep broker, also called a landlord rep, represents the owner of a building and is paid to keep it leased on the best possible terms. Both are commercial leasing brokers, both are usually paid out of the landlord’s commission, and they sit on opposite sides of the same table.
What a tenant rep broker actually does
A tenant rep broker works for the occupier. A law firm outgrowing its floor, a manufacturer that needs a bigger warehouse, a startup that just raised and has to house forty new people: the tenant rep is who they call.
The work starts long before a tour. The broker builds a requirement, which is the plain statement of what the company needs: square footage, submarket, timing, budget, parking, power, loading. Then he surveys the market for every space that fits, which means knowing what is available, what is quietly available, and what will be available by the time the deal closes.
From there it is a space survey sent to the client, a tour of the short list, and a negotiation that runs on comparable leases. The tenant rep’s leverage is knowing what other tenants in that building and that submarket actually paid, because an asking rent is an opening position, not a price.
What an agency rep broker actually does
An agency rep broker works for the building. The owner hands him a listing, sometimes a whole portfolio, and he is responsible for filling the vacancy and keeping it filled.
That means marketing the availability, but the marketing is the visible part of a mostly invisible job. The real work is knowing which companies in the market are about to need space, and reaching them before anyone else does. A lease expiring in eighteen months, a funding round, a hiring surge, a headquarters relocation: each is a reason a company will be in the market, and each is a reason to make a call.
The agency rep also has to know his own asset cold. Which suites are available, what the stacking plan looks like floor by floor, what the last three deals in the building traded at, and what concession package the owner will actually approve.
Who pays, and why that matters less than it sounds
In most commercial leasing markets the landlord pays both sides. The commission is negotiated as part of the deal and split between the agency rep and the tenant rep, which surprises people who expect the tenant to pay for tenant representation.
This does not make tenant representation compromised, because a tenant rep’s reputation and repeat business depend entirely on the outcomes he gets for occupiers. But it does explain why the two roles are usually kept in separate hands. A broker who represents both the building and the company taking space in it has an obvious conflict, and most owners and most tenants will not accept it.
The daily work is genuinely different
A tenant rep’s pipeline is a list of companies with a requirement and a date. His research problem is inventory: what exists, what is really available, and what it will cost.
An agency rep’s pipeline is a list of buildings and a list of prospects. His research problem is demand: which company in this market is about to move, who inside it decides, and how to be the first broker who calls.
Both jobs live or die on being early. The tenant rep who knows a floor is coming back before it is listed wins the space. The agency rep who knows a company’s lease expires next year wins the meeting. The difference is only which side of that information you are standing on.
Common questions
- Is agency rep the same as landlord rep?
- Yes. Agency representation and landlord representation are the same role under two names: the broker represents the building owner and is responsible for leasing the space. Some firms and some markets prefer one term over the other, and both appear on the same job description.
- Can one broker do both tenant rep and agency rep?
- A broker can hold both kinds of assignment, and many do across different deals. What a broker cannot credibly do is represent the landlord and the tenant in the same transaction, because the two clients want opposite outcomes on rent and concessions. Most owners and most occupiers refuse it, and where it is permitted it usually requires written disclosure and consent from both parties.
- Who pays a tenant rep broker?
- In most commercial leasing markets the landlord pays the commission and it is split between the agency rep and the tenant rep, so the tenant usually pays nothing directly. The commission is still part of the deal economics, so a tenant paying no fee is not in a market without fees.