In retail leasing, the Heads of Agreement is often one of the most underutilised and underrated documents in the retail leasing transaction.

Many leasing decisions are judged through familiar metrics such as occupancy, rental growth, WALE and tenant retention. While those indicators matter, they are not the objective. The real question is what ownership is trying to achieve. The same leasing recommendation can be commercially right for one owner and wrong for another, depending on whether the mandate is income stability, repositioning, total return or long-term asset performance.