Percentage Lease
A percentage lease is a type of lease where the tenant pays a base rent plus a percentage of any revenue earned while doing business on the rental premises. A percentage lease is a type of lease where the tenant pays a base rent plus a percentage of any revenue earned while doing business on the rental premises. A percentage lease has two components — base rent (or minimum rent) and a percentage of the monthly or annual gross sales made on the premises. A percentage lease requires commercial tenants to pay to the landlord a set percentage of gross revenue earned from business conducted at the leased premises. This percentage is added on top of a base rent, but the base will be set lower than it would be on a standard lease, making it attractive to tenants.
What Is a Percentage Lease?
A percentage lease is a type of lease where the tenant pays a base rent plus a percentage of any revenue earned while doing business on the rental premises. It is a term used in commercial real estate. A percentage lease agreement generally decreases the base rate for lessees and offers the lessor additional upside potential.
Percentage Leases Explained
A percentage lease has two components — base rent (or minimum rent) and a percentage of the monthly or annual gross sales made on the premises. The lessee could find this arrangement attractive, as it lowers this fixed cost, which normally accounts for a large proportion of operating costs, and the lessor obtains some upside potential beyond what a standard lease (i.e., no percentage of sales component) could yield. Additionally, the percentage lease aligns the interests of lessee and lessor.
By providing a desired location and upkeep services to the tenant, the lessor enhances the presence of the retailer to capture more foot traffic and hence, the possibility of greater sales, part of which would go to the lessor under the percentage lease agreement.
Negotiating a Percentage Lease Contract
The landlord and tenant negotiate a "breakpoint," the level of sales where percentage lease payments kick in, in conjunction with the base rent. If a landlord agrees to a lower base rent, it would want a lower breakpoint as well. The lessee is interested in a low base rent and high breakpoint. After back and forth and settling on those two figures, the two parties must determine exclusions to the sales figure (sales to employees of the store, for example), operating hours of the store, rights to amend the breakpoint, and procedures for auditing store sales, among other details.
Accounting for Percentage Leases
Let's take a look at the financial statements of Tapestry, Inc., owner of Coach and Kate Spade brands, which calls their percentage portion of its overall lease payments "contingent rentals." The company recognizes contingent rentals on its income statement when "the achievement of target (i.e., sale levels) ... is considered probable and estimable." In its fiscal year 2019, Tapestry paid approximately 30% of its total rent in the form of contingent rent (i.e. through a percentage lease). Contrast that with Signet Jewelers Limited, whose percentage lease payments were less than 2% of the total rent for the same year.
Related terms:
Acquisition Fee
An acquisition fee is charged by a lessor to cover the expenses, usually of the administrative variety, that they incur in arranging a lease. read more
Breakpoint
A breakpoint is the dollar amount for the purchase of a load mutual fund's shares that qualifies the investor for a reduced sales charge. read more
Commercial Real Estate (CRE)
Commercial real estate (CRE) is property, used solely for business purposes and often leased to tenants for that purpose. read more
Fiscal Year (FY)
A fiscal year is a one-year period of time that a company or government uses for accounting purposes and preparation of its financial statements. read more
Foot Traffic
Foot traffic is the presence and movement of people walking around in a particular space. It is important to many types of businesses, particularly retail establishments, as higher foot traffic can lead to higher sales. read more
Gross Lease
A gross lease is a commercial lease where the tenant pays a flat fee that encompasses rent and all costs associated with ownership. read more
Gross Sales
Gross sales is a metric for the overall sales of a company, unadjusted for costs incurred in generating those sales, as well as things like discounts or returns from customers. It's calculated with a simple equation, where all sales invoices or related invoices are totaled. read more
Income Statement : Uses & Examples
An income statement is one of the three major financial statements that reports a company's financial performance over a specific accounting period. read more