Seamus300

Anyone here rent an office?
Due to a few plans on the horizon I have finally decided to rent an office instead of using my house. I have started to look into this and have found a perfect small office 2 miles from my house, however I am unsure about the following:
a) The contract with the owner states I pay his legal fees, any idea what these are likely to be and what they're for? Is this normal practice?
b) The office is brand new and as yet has no "rateable value". This suggests I have to pay rates, what're these likely to be for 150sqft?
I'm only after ball park numbers if anyone has any similar experience.
The office will only be in the region of 3-4K pa to rent if that has any relevance to my questions.

Thanks for any info,
Sean

MattN

the local council will tell you what the rates are. Something to do with % in the pund or somthing I.E 30% or 30pence in the pound so if it's 4k pa to rent rates will be 30p*4000 = £1200

something along those lines, can't remember, last time I did it was 8 years ago!!

could be wrong!!!!!!

Harry_Boy

Hi Mate,

If you're leasing office space, it's the usual practice for the tenant to pay the landlord's legal costs. Just make sure that it says reasonable in both the lease and the agreement for lease (contract). And get an estimate/quotation beforehand.

Cheers, Harry.

heckler

What Harry said is correct but remember that everything is leases can be negotiated.

I have succesfully completed many leasing deals by taking the landlords intial offering as a starting point in the negotiations.

Of course it depends how desirable the premises are, but for example if they have been vacant for some time you may be able to negotiate reduced rental, rent free period, longer lease, landlords contribution to fit out, rates or legal costs or a combination of all these. Don't be afraid to get prices from other properties in the area, you can always say that Joe Bloggs from down the road is offering me a better deal.

Never sign a lease unless you are comfortable with it and if in any doubt seek legal advice. Remember that the lease has been drawn up by the landlords solicitors and will obviously favour the landlord.

Of course my experiance is based in Australia but the same principles will apply for you.

Seamus300

Cheers for the info guys. Spoke to the landlord and have made a private deal with him, no legal fees or binding contract! Result. Also the rates are roughly a third of the rent so thats not too bad.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply on a dull subject!

Sean.

davyboy

Need some staff?

Seamus300

Ask me that again in about 6 months!

Dream Weaver

Sean

Nice one - I will get to work on our project today

DW
www.kreature.co.uk