Small commercial property

[purplepolarbear]

I'd like to have some more space for a) an office and b) somewhere to mess around making things, and my garden isn't big enough to put up a large enough shed.

I was thinking of renting / buying a small industrial unit (ideally about 25ft x 25ft), but I've no idea how the commercial property market works.

Where would I start looking for such a building, and what would I be allowed to do with it (would I have to do any real commercial "industry"), and what would I need to think about when working out the total cost (e.g. business rates etc.). If anyone knows a good online guide can you point me at it please as I haven't found anything in google.

If this is possible how much roughly would it be likely to cost me (Hertford / Welwyn Garden City / Harlow / Stevenage / Hatfield area)?

Thanks

[singlecoil]

If you go commercial you will almost certainly need to sign a lease. I suggest you get round your local farms and ask if they have what you need, maybe take it on a licence instead. £3 per sq ft per annum would be a good target to aim for on a farm.

[Chrisgr31]

In my experience farms have always charged extortionate rents, mainly because they tend to work on the basis of £x per week. As its a weekly figure £x sounds cheap, and the occupier doesn't do the sums to convert it it into a £x per sq ft. Had they done so they could have realised they were paying more than for a brand new unit on an industrial estate. So ensure that you do convert the rate to a per sq ft basis so you can compare.

You can look up the Rateable Value on www.voa.gov.uk and then multiply by the rate in the pound to arrive at the business rates, however on that size unit you'll probably get "small business relief" which could be upto to 50% and for a year from October 2010 100%. If its a unit on a farm and its not on the list budget for some rates. The VO can backdate entries in the Rating List.

As regards use depends what you are planning to do with it. Its an industrial unit so general storage and light engineering works will be fine in the vast majority of cases. You are unlikely to be allowed to retail out of it. But if it is basically a replacement garden workshop you should be fine with no planning issues.