If you want to understand why the second half of your commission is sitting frozen, look at the build-out. Tenant improvement work is the single most common reason the occupancy half of a leasing commission gets delayed, because the tenant cannot occupy until the space is built, and your second payment waits on occupancy. This guide explains what a TI allowance is and, more importantly, exactly how it pushes your commission timing out.
A tenant improvement allowance is money the landlord agrees to contribute toward building out the space for the tenant, demising it, adding offices or fixtures, electrical and finishes, whatever the tenant needs to use it. It is a standard part of commercial leasing, often expressed as a dollar amount per square foot. For the deal, it is a negotiating tool. For your commission, it is a signal that a build-out is coming, and a build-out means time.
Here is the chain, step by step. Your commission splits between execution and occupancy. The occupancy half cannot pay until the tenant takes occupancy. The tenant cannot take occupancy until the space is built out. The build-out is the TI work. So the size and complexity of the TI work directly sets how long your occupancy half sits frozen. More TI work, more time, longer wait for your money.
Build-outs slip for predictable reasons. Permitting takes longer than planned. Long-lead materials and equipment arrive late. Change orders add scope mid-project. Inspections create dependencies. A build-out quoted at ninety days routinely becomes four or five months once reality intervenes. None of that is unusual, and all of it lands on your commission timing, because every week the build-out runs is a week your occupancy half stays frozen.
The heavier the fit-out, the bigger the timing impact. A simple space with light TI occupies faster, so the second half is not frozen long. A complex, permit-heavy fit-out, common in medical office, for example, can push occupancy well out. That is why brokers in build-out-heavy asset classes feel the commission delay most acutely. The asset-class differences are covered in the asset class guide.
You cannot speed up someone else's build-out, but you can plan around it and, if needed, get around it.
The full picture of using an advance is in the guide on commission advances, and the broader list of delay causes beyond TI is in the guide on why your commission is delayed.
Indirectly, yes. The TI allowance funds a build-out, and the build-out delays occupancy, which is what triggers the second half of your commission. The more TI work involved, the longer your occupancy half typically waits.
Because it is tied to tenant occupancy, and the tenant cannot occupy until the build-out is finished. The build-out timeline effectively becomes your payment timeline for the second half.
Not from the payor, whose trigger is occupancy. But a commission advance lets you convert that earned second half into cash before occupancy, which is the most direct way around a long build-out.
This guide is general information for commercial real estate brokers and is not financial, tax, or legal advice. Build-out and occupancy timing vary by deal. Confirm specifics with your brokerage.
