First step of moving to renting a unit help
Discussion
I'm new to this but I think the time has come to move into a small unit as we may have sold our house (Early days) so will probably go to a rental house until we find something.
Bit of background-
Soletrader sign maker
Worked from home for nearly 6 years in a double garage.
Equipment - computer, printer (3m wide) workbench 10ft x 4ft
Storage for materials/tools
I may have found somewhere in an ideal location that could work. The landlord is just swapping his worries to a letting agent which I met on Thursday.
It was one big unit but the letting agent plan to split into 3 smaller sections.
I'm interested in the smaller section which is joined but a completely separate room
it's only small at 300sqft but suits me size wise.
I've been told the monthly price which I guess is worked out by the sqft and this seems reasonable.
I think the letting company will need to do some work electrical checks etc to meet requirements.
The cost is just for the unit so things I need to factor in?
Heating/electric - would a letting agent usually set up a meter for each separate unit?
Insurance for machine/material - yet to get quotes
Internet - BT fibre available £27 24 month contract, Sky the same but 18 month contract
General building maintenance I guess would be letting company?
Concerns - I have no idea how much the heating and electric will cost, I've read
Usually a letting company would give an estimate on cost but with it being split I guess they have no idea. It scares me the thought of heating and electric costing more than the actual rent.
The letting company mentioned it's a 3 year contract, I think that's a little tough on a new company moving in, understandable but I would rather agree a year and pay all of rent up front etc.
I've looked and most others seem to be min 6 months.
A shame as I could have probably struck a deal with the landlord before the letting company are taking over but I think he's been messed around in the past so get the point.
I'm meeting the landlord tomorrow at the premises to take another look.
Its all new to me so I'm worried about things.
Any feedback on things I should ask or need to think about would be appreciated from people
Who know a lot more than me.
Bit of background-
Soletrader sign maker
Worked from home for nearly 6 years in a double garage.
Equipment - computer, printer (3m wide) workbench 10ft x 4ft
Storage for materials/tools
I may have found somewhere in an ideal location that could work. The landlord is just swapping his worries to a letting agent which I met on Thursday.
It was one big unit but the letting agent plan to split into 3 smaller sections.
I'm interested in the smaller section which is joined but a completely separate room
it's only small at 300sqft but suits me size wise.
I've been told the monthly price which I guess is worked out by the sqft and this seems reasonable.
I think the letting company will need to do some work electrical checks etc to meet requirements.
The cost is just for the unit so things I need to factor in?
Heating/electric - would a letting agent usually set up a meter for each separate unit?
Insurance for machine/material - yet to get quotes
Internet - BT fibre available £27 24 month contract, Sky the same but 18 month contract
General building maintenance I guess would be letting company?
Concerns - I have no idea how much the heating and electric will cost, I've read
Usually a letting company would give an estimate on cost but with it being split I guess they have no idea. It scares me the thought of heating and electric costing more than the actual rent.
The letting company mentioned it's a 3 year contract, I think that's a little tough on a new company moving in, understandable but I would rather agree a year and pay all of rent up front etc.
I've looked and most others seem to be min 6 months.
A shame as I could have probably struck a deal with the landlord before the letting company are taking over but I think he's been messed around in the past so get the point.
I'm meeting the landlord tomorrow at the premises to take another look.
Its all new to me so I'm worried about things.
Any feedback on things I should ask or need to think about would be appreciated from people
Who know a lot more than me.
General rule would be the tenant being paying for repairs and property insurance, the former may be through a service charge, and the landlord will normally arrange the latter and recharge to the tenant. Business rates you will need to think about, however on the size of the property you may be under the limit to actually pay.
Birkin1932 said:
Have you thought of buying a house with an outbuilding? or with land were could can erect one.?
Sure this is the future plan.We moved into our current house (split level bungalow) 2 years back and realised bungalow life is t for us. We accepted on offer over asking on the basis we move out before Christmas.
We are happy to go into rented to helps us be in a good position for the Ideal house to come up.
I went to look at the building again this morning with the landlord. It has 2 x radiators In the small part I would like, and the bill will be split equally I guess between size of each of the 3.
Water is taps outside and communal toilets.
Works for me, it’s more of a workshop/office style needed.
I asked about the 3 year lease being a worry without knowing rough bill costs. Most offices around here are 6 months.
I’d happily commit with paying a years lease up front, do you think this is worth a shot?
There’s another interested party.
Edited by BertyFish on Sunday 18th October 13:40
In a similar situation (3-bed house that was taken over by my business), I bought a freehold unit (£100k 9 years ago) when I moved in with the Other Half.
There are so many variables in renting part of a shared space. Noise/fire/access/etc. I'm not sure I'd take that path as I'm risk-averse. I do know people who have done it, though, and it works fine for them, so perhaps I'm worrying about nothing.
There are so many variables in renting part of a shared space. Noise/fire/access/etc. I'm not sure I'd take that path as I'm risk-averse. I do know people who have done it, though, and it works fine for them, so perhaps I'm worrying about nothing.
BertyFish said:
I went to look at the building again this morning with the landlord. It has 2 x radiators In the small part I would like, and the bill will be split equally I guess between size of each of the 3.
Water is taps outside and communal toilets.
Works for me, it’s more of a workshop/office style needed.
How will water bills be split? when the remaining units are occupied they could use 3,4 or 5x the amount of water you do,are you happy to pay a 1/3rd?Water is taps outside and communal toilets.
Works for me, it’s more of a workshop/office style needed.
Who will be responsible for cleaning communal toilets?
Some people have no consideration for others that have to share toilets and leave them in a right mess,are you happy with that happening a lot?
Good points... things I need to ask.
I believe the water is free as it runs through the
complete industrial estate (tap outside) would be for this small unit which is fine for me filling the kettle etc.
Luckily I don’t really get many customers visiting so If the toilet does the job I’m happy.
I believe the water is free as it runs through the
complete industrial estate (tap outside) would be for this small unit which is fine for me filling the kettle etc.
Luckily I don’t really get many customers visiting so If the toilet does the job I’m happy.
When I moved to my new unit a year ago I looked into broadband options. There's no landline but a couple of wireless or cable options. The published prices looked good so I rang up but as soon as they realised it was for a business I was invited to bend over and there was no mention of any lubricant.
Fortunately the EE signal there is very good, I bought a new phone and took out an EE contract. The monthly price is now down to £25, free calls and text and unlimited internet. My laptop is hot-spotted to my phone and I have YouTube on all day while I work.
Those rip-off broadband services can eat my s
t.
So I suggest you see if any of the mobile providers have a good signal in your area.
Fortunately the EE signal there is very good, I bought a new phone and took out an EE contract. The monthly price is now down to £25, free calls and text and unlimited internet. My laptop is hot-spotted to my phone and I have YouTube on all day while I work.
Those rip-off broadband services can eat my s
t.So I suggest you see if any of the mobile providers have a good signal in your area.
We changed to wifi broadband initially with three and now with Smarty, £20 month for unlimited data, rolling monthly contract. The sim goes into a wifi router and gives access to anyone with the password, we have had 6 - 8 people on line at the same time with no issues.
The phone we do through ereceptionist where you can have a local number that redirects through a virtual PBX to either just you or multiple separate numbers, (dial 1 for sales, 2 for accounts etc) we redirect to Tesco mobiles at £10 month with more than enough calls per person.
Lease, ask for a break clause at every 12 months, this allows you the option to either close or expand to bigger premises.
Water - dont go there with me, a bunch of sharks! the same with the rest of the utilities, its like dealing with oracle but sometimes you can get a reasonable deal but its a lot of hassle!
Heating - we are up norf so just put our thick coat on if it snows! Actually electric is best as you dont have to have a gas contract and that will be high for that size of premises.
Security - Not easy, a good alarm will do nothing as the old bill will ignore it and if you have one the insurance might insist on red care or equivalent which means fixed phone lines and more costs, we rely on big thick steel gates and a very loud internal cheap alarm, dont have signs advertising expensive stuff, that will attract them.
Overheads - Just keep everything as low as you can in the 1st few years, you won't get more work because you have flashy offices and matching office furniture, spend the money on the best plotter. Buy as much stuff at low cost through facebook marketplace and ebay to start with, get plenty of racking and use the height, its free up there so use it!
Hope some of this helps, been there and done that a few times now!
The phone we do through ereceptionist where you can have a local number that redirects through a virtual PBX to either just you or multiple separate numbers, (dial 1 for sales, 2 for accounts etc) we redirect to Tesco mobiles at £10 month with more than enough calls per person.
Lease, ask for a break clause at every 12 months, this allows you the option to either close or expand to bigger premises.
Water - dont go there with me, a bunch of sharks! the same with the rest of the utilities, its like dealing with oracle but sometimes you can get a reasonable deal but its a lot of hassle!
Heating - we are up norf so just put our thick coat on if it snows! Actually electric is best as you dont have to have a gas contract and that will be high for that size of premises.
Security - Not easy, a good alarm will do nothing as the old bill will ignore it and if you have one the insurance might insist on red care or equivalent which means fixed phone lines and more costs, we rely on big thick steel gates and a very loud internal cheap alarm, dont have signs advertising expensive stuff, that will attract them.
Overheads - Just keep everything as low as you can in the 1st few years, you won't get more work because you have flashy offices and matching office furniture, spend the money on the best plotter. Buy as much stuff at low cost through facebook marketplace and ebay to start with, get plenty of racking and use the height, its free up there so use it!
Hope some of this helps, been there and done that a few times now!
Any reason you wouldn't rent somewhere with a workshop/garage/outbuilding? Lots of 'live/work' spaces in cities that sound like the type of thing that might suit.
seems illogical to me to pay double for heating, insurance, rent and rates if you could do it from home, whatever format that takes.
unless you need to host clients/cusomers, in which case I can see why this might be invalid.
seems illogical to me to pay double for heating, insurance, rent and rates if you could do it from home, whatever format that takes.
unless you need to host clients/cusomers, in which case I can see why this might be invalid.
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