One major overhead when conducting business is generally the lease of the property where there business is based. This can be an office, factory or shop, and unless you are fortunate to own the property, more often than not you will be leasing it. As leases are usually long term agreements, the lessee is generally the party that will develop the property, and it will also fall on them to maintain it. We will look at some useful tips to follow when considering leasing a property for a business.
Be sure of what your business needs
Often businesses will focus too much on the short term or the long term. There have been many instances where office spaces have been rented out but the rapid expansion of a business has led them to require bigger spaces. On the other hand, many too have overestimated how much space they need and end up with large swathes of empty floor spaces. Obviously, evaluating what exactly your business needs will help you choose the right place, but if you do find yourself with not enough or excess space, consider implementing technology such as room booking systems to improve the building’s efficiency. Often the solution would be to find ways to maximise the use of what you have, rather than the expensive option of bailing out.
Do your research
This is important in literally any aspect of business, but for some reason it is constantly overlooked – so here is another reminder. Research the surrounding area and gauge the prices for similar buildings. Don’t be afraid to get it valued in order to give you more bargaining power with the landlord.
The property itself should be researched thoroughly – you are, after all, potentially going to sign a legal document agreeing to take responsibility and shoulder the costs for a long period of time. Depending on the purpose of the building does it have what your business requires? Is there a lot of foot traffic, local amenities, car park spaces, and what are the other neighbouring tenants like? The more research you do at the beginning, the less surprises you will encounter further down the line.
Use a lawyer
Any contractual agreements should be checked over by a lawyer to make sure everything is in order, and you are protected. Just as important is to use a lawyer who is familiar with commercial leasing, which can get quite complex.
Read, review and negotiate terms and conditions
Do all of this before signing the contract. Read all the terms thoroughly before signing anything, and going back to the previous tip, have a lawyer look over it. Find out under what terms can the lease be reviewed, as this is important if you at any point need to break the lease.
Also, when your lease is up what happens to everything you have invested into the building. Will you be reimbursed? These are all very important questions to ask right from the start.
