Business owners are being urged to get clued up on what could be driving their office rent through the roof so they can avoid having to pay sky-high rates unnecessarily.
The commercial property experts at LondonOffices.com have revealed the six key factors – besides size and location – that contribute to an office’s rental value in a bid to help businesses avoid paying unnecessary rates.
Generally speaking, the size and location of a commercial property are usually the first things to consider when setting a budget or negotiating rent.
But whilst these factors no doubt play a key role in an office’s value, there are many other factors – such as IT infrastructure and top of the range facilities – to consider as, if they aren’t on your ‘must have’ list, they could be driving up your rent unnecessarily.
Alex Williamson, Corporate Account Director at LondonOffices.com, said:
“Many business people come to us with a very loose brief when it comes to finding a new home for their business. “They know that the size and location of a property will play a significant role in deciding its rental value, but many fail to realise that even an office’s position in the building will be a huge deciding factor too.
“This information will hopefully give business owners a heads up, so they know what to expect and what to budget for when it comes to relocating or moving into serviced offices for the first time.”
- Your office’s position in the building
If you’re lucky enough to work on one of the top floors in a high storey building – one which boasts panoramic views of your surroundings – you could be paying a considerable amount more than if you took an office on the lower floors.
An office at the front of a building that has access to lots of natural light will also carry a much higher premium than a rear facing office, especially compared to internal offices with no windows.
- Facilities
If your office is in a building that boasts access to lots of high-quality breakout space, meeting rooms or even a luxury roof terrace, you’ll obviously be paying more than one without. If you’re trying to reign in your finances a little, you should perhaps consider whether these added extras are really necessary to the functionality of your business.
- IT infrastructure
It’s something that a lot of business owners don’t think about unless they operate within the IT supply industries, but office buildings with top notch IT infrastructure will demand a premium. Some buildings will even have 10 gig lines, backup lines and backups to the backups! These will be more expensive than a building with basic spec IT.
- Quality of the space
Simply the quality of the space will also have a big impact on rental value. A newly refurbished building with the best fit out and new aircon will always be a step up in price compared to a neighbouring 1970’s building that is starting to become dated.
- Length of contract
If you are in a position to be able to commit to a 12 or 24-month contract, this would typically place you in a much stronger position to negotiate lower rents than if you were looking for a shorter term, or a rolling contract.
- Occupancy of the building
New buildings with lower occupancy levels will typically have more scope for negotiation than a building that is at a higher occupancy.