Tenant rep software is a small, specialised corner of CRE tech: tools for the broker or advisor who represents the occupier - the tenant - rather than the landlord. Because a tenant-rep engagement runs backwards compared with a listing (you start from a requirement, not a property), generic CRMs fit it badly, and a handful of purpose-built tools have grown up around the workflow. This guide walks that workflow end to end, compares the main tools honestly, and explains where REPM fits.
What tenant-rep software actually has to do
Strip away the branding and every serious engagement runs the same seven steps. A real tool needs a first-class record for each of them, not a folder of PDFs:
- Requirement capture - the brief: area range, headcount, budget, timing, current lease expiry, must-haves. This record anchors everything that follows.
- Market survey - a curated shortlist of candidate spaces, versioned as the market moves, shared with the client for feedback.
- Tours - an itinerary across shortlisted options, with the client's score and comments captured per stop, not remembered afterwards.
- Proposal comparison - competing offers normalised on base rent, service charge, TI allowance, free rent, escalations and term, so decisions ride on net effective rent rather than the prettiest headline rate.
- Negotiation to LOI - rounds tracked against each option, best-and-final compared like-for-like.
- Commission - typically landlord-paid, split with a co-broker and the house, and collected in tranches on execution and occupancy.
- Handover to lease administration - the signed deal becomes a lease with critical dates, or it starts life again in someone else's spreadsheet.
The main tools, compared
| Tool | Built for | Strength | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AscendixRE | Brokerage teams on Salesforce or Dynamics | Deep CRE data model on an enterprise CRM; commission splits; document generation; stacking plans | Platform licensing adds cost; survey/tour flows lean on shared lists and templates rather than first-class records |
| Occupier | In-house occupier teams (30+ leases) | Transaction management plus lease administration plus ASC 842 / IFRS 16 accounting in one | Occupier-side only; brokers join as guests; US-centric lease vocabulary |
| LeaseUp | Tenant-rep brokers | Fast, branded client-facing market surveys and tour books | Point solution: little lease admin after signature; the deal ends at the deliverable |
| RealNex | Generalist CRE brokers | Broad suite: CRM, marketing, financial analysis, lease-expiration tracking | Breadth over depth; ageing UX in parts of the suite |
| AnthemIQ | Tenant-rep brokers and their clients | Visual transaction flow, digital tour itineraries, negotiation history | Deal-flow focus; the resulting lease lives elsewhere |
| Gravitate | Brokers fighting the market-survey mess | Customizable data fields and clean client-tailored property presentations | Narrow scope by design; not a system of record |
| REPM | Tenant-rep advisors and occupiers in the DACH market | Requirement, survey, option comparison (net effective rent), commission and the resulting lease on one bilingual EN/DE platform, in your own Microsoft tenant | Lease accounting (ASC 842 / IFRS 16) deliberately not included yet; client survey portal on the roadmap |
The pattern in that table: the US point tools (LeaseUp, AnthemIQ, Gravitate) are excellent at the client-facing deliverable and stop at the signature. Occupier goes deepest after the signature but serves the in-house team, not the broker. AscendixRE and RealNex serve the brokerage broadly, with tenant rep as one mode among several.
Where REPM fits
REPM models the seven steps as records on one platform: a space requirement with its own demand-side pipeline (brief, survey, touring, RFP, negotiation, LOI, execution), market surveys with versions and client feedback per option, space options that normalise the economics and carry net effective rent, tour stops with sequence and client scores, and a commission record with co-broke and house splits and execution/occupancy tranches.
Two things make it structurally different from the US field. First, the handover problem disappears: the winning option carries its economics straight into an occupier lease - term, breaks, free rent, TI, rent commencement - so lease administration and critical-date alerts start on day one. Second, it is bilingual and DACH-native: Kaltmiete, Nebenkosten, Staffel- and Indexmiete and Kuendigungsfristen are first-class fields in English and German, not translations bolted onto a US lease model. And because the same platform runs the landlord side, a firm doing both does not buy two systems.
To be equally honest about limits: REPM does not do ASC 842 / IFRS 16 lease accounting today (a deliberate deferral - Occupier is the tool if that is your first requirement), and the loginless client-facing survey portal is on the roadmap rather than in the product.
How to choose
- Solo tenant-rep broker, deliverable-first: LeaseUp or Gravitate will make your surveys look great fastest.
- In-house occupier team with lease accounting as the driver: Occupier.
- Large brokerage standardising on Salesforce/Dynamics: AscendixRE.
- Advisor or occupier in the German-speaking market, or a firm running both sides: REPM - one bilingual record from requirement to lease.