Incidences of retailer errors when reporting sales to landlords have skyrocketed during the pandemic. Louisiana-based financial management consulting firm The Lamy Group says that recent auditing during the pandemic has found that two out of three retailers have underreported sales to landlords.

Online sales are the biggest culprit in misrepresentations. Many retailers don't include online transactions, even when the sale is serviced and fulfilled by a brick-and-mortar location. This includes both goods that are ordered online and picked up in store or orders that are placed online and delivered directly to the customer. Although these are online orders, if the physical store is involved in the transaction, the sales must be reported to the landlord in accordance with the lease agreement, according to the Lamy Group.

Retailers have also mistakenly failed to report online purchases made in the store by customers. For example, when a particular style or size of an item is out of stock, the store will place an online order on behalf of the customer to either be picked up in the store or delivered to the customer's home. Because these purchases are made in the store, the sale should be reported to the landlord; however, six in 10 retailers failed to correctly report these transactions.