Practical guides, lease and purchase advice, and market insight — written for business owners, landlords and agents.
Showing 19 articles in Business Owners Guide · View all
Whether you are searching for your first business premises, renewing an existing lease, or wondering whether you are getting a fair deal, this FAQ gives you plain-English answers to the questions business owners have.
Read article →A chartered surveyor acting for you as the occupier is one of the most underused professional resources in commercial property. Their fee is typically paid by the landlord, their market knowledge is considerable, and their negotiating impact is real. This guide explains what a commercial surveyor does for a tenant and when it is worth using one.
Technically, you can sign a commercial lease without a solicitor. In practice, doing so is one of the riskiest decisions a business owner can make. This guide explains what a commercial property solicitor does, what they cost, and — more importantly — what it costs when you don't use one.
Starting your commercial property search too late is one of the most expensive mistakes a growing business makes. This guide sets out the lead times you should be working to — by property type and requirement size — and explains the consequences of leaving it too late.
Whether to use a commercial property agent — and which type — is one of the first decisions a business faces when looking for new premises. This guide explains the difference between a tenant's agent and a landlord's agent, when professional help adds genuine value, and when it is unnecessary overhead.
If you have spent weeks scrolling commercial property portals and found nothing that works, you are not searching in the wrong places — you are searching in the wrong way. A significant proportion of the UK's available commercial space is never publicly advertised. This guide explains why, and what to do about it.
Ask an agent how long it takes to find commercial property and the answer is usually optimistic. This guide gives you the honest timeline — by property type, size band, and market — based on what businesses actually experience, and explains why starting earlier than you think necessary is almost always the right call.
A schedule of condition is one of the most straightforward and most overlooked protections available to commercial tenants. Agreed and appended to the lease at the start, it limits your repair liability at lease end to any deterioration from the condition the property was in when you took it — potentially saving thousands in dilapidations claims.
A rent-free period is one of the most valuable incentives available to commercial tenants — but many businesses don't know how to ask for one, what length is realistic, or what strings are attached. This guide explains how rent-free periods work, what landlords expect in return, and how to negotiate one effectively.
Most businesses sign commercial leases without negotiating the terms that matter most. This guide covers the twelve points where negotiation makes the biggest difference — from rent-free periods and break clauses to service charge caps and reinstatement obligations — with practical guidance on what to ask for and what a reasonable outcome looks like.
Heads of terms are the most important document most business owners have never heard of. Agreed before solicitors draft the lease itself, they set out the commercial deal — rent, length, break clauses, incentives, and repair obligations. Get them right and the legal process is faster and cheaper. Get them wrong and you negotiate against yourself for months.
Commercial property comes with its own vocabulary — and misunderstanding a clause can be an expensive mistake. This plain-English glossary defines 60 of the most commonly used terms in UK commercial leases, investment, and property transactions.
Finding suitable commercial premises is harder than most business owners expect. From limited availability and slow agents to opaque pricing and inflexible lease terms, this article sets out the real obstacles businesses face — and practical ways to navigate them.
A commercial lease expiry is not a single event — it is a process that begins 18 months or more before the end date. Miss a deadline and you could lose the right to leave, face an unwanted lease renewal, or be exposed to a dilapidations claim you were not prepared for. This guide sets out the full timeline.
Renting office space is one of the largest costs a business faces. This guide explains how to calculate the right amount of space, compare lease types, understand service charges and EPC ratings, and what to watch for before putting pen to paper.
Finding the right industrial unit requires more than checking the size. This guide explains the key specifications to evaluate — eaves height, floor loading, yard depth, and power supply — alongside location factors and lease terms that matter most to industrial occupiers.
A commercial relocation touches every part of a business — legal, financial, operational, and logistical. This checklist sets out everything that needs to happen before you sign a new lease, during the transition, and once you are in your new premises.
Finding the right commercial property is one of the most important decisions a business can make. This guide explains how to define your requirements, search listings effectively, understand lease terms, and negotiate successfully — in plain English.
Whether driven by growth, cost pressure, lease expiry, or a change in how the business operates, commercial relocation is one of the most significant decisions a business makes. This article explores the most common reasons businesses move premises — and what to consider before you decide.
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