Do Commissions Create Conflicts for Tenant Representative Brokers?

Traditional real estate commissions, based on a percentage of rental income or sale value of a transaction, work very well when brokers represent landlords, sublandlords, and sellers.  In those instances, their objectives and those of their brokers, are completely aligned.  The higher the price, the higher the commission.  See…that works perfectly!

But, what about the tenant representative broker and the corporate advisor, whose job is to protect the interests of the tenant or buyer?  In this case, the primary objective of the tenant representative broker is very often to reduce occupancy costs.  In most cases, tenant representative brokers are paid commissions based on the same percentage of rent standard as  brokers representing landlords and sellers…the higher the price, the higher the commission!