Its not uncommon in my professional career to practice this method, so I adopt this in my real estate business. 

This scenario is uncommon enough that I can't think of the potential possibilities.

Its not uncommon to see 2/1s in avondale on a 3 flat at $1100 each and you go in do cosmetic updates and bump each unit to $1900-2000.

Paying in advance this much takes a lot of landlords by surprise but it's not that uncommon.

The lease allows for pets and its not uncommon to have verbal changes--not saying its best practice, but it is common.

It looks uncommon and I'd rather not try to reinvent the wheel.  

@Nathan Ramirez This is not uncommon particularly with smaller mom and pop operators.

The thing is, it's not uncommon for there to be some cracks or roots, etc., in old ceramic pipes and that doesn't necessarily mean they need to be completely replaced.I don't know if you're dealing with a PM, but there could be a major scam there. 

On most second or third generation stuff I see in my market, a small tenant improvement allowance, say $5 - $10/SF per square foot to spruce up a space is not uncommon for commercial tenants.

Also it is not uncommon for a person to know a deployment is coming up but have to live some where.