Retrofitting commercial buildings by adopting energy efficiency measures in tenant and common spaces can significantly lower a building’s energy consumption and utility bills. However, due to traditional leases that currently obligate landlords to provide energy even when it is not needed, commercial buildings are not as efficient as they could be. Performance-based leases introduce provisions intended to promote deep energy retrofits and other energy efficiency measures by balancing costs and benefits between landlords and tenants. This document provides a high-level look at key provisions in IMT’s model performance-based lease template, which was produced by IMT with assistance from Stuart Kaplan at Blank Rome and Jeff Gracer and Margaret Holden at Sive Paget & Riesel via the NYC Climate Action Alliance. It is part of a performance-based leasing toolkit, the whole of which can be accessed at imt.org/performance-based leasing.
