UK Commercial Property Lawyer Sarah Heath warns tenants to seek professional advice before they enter into any rental agreement. Many landlords believe a commercial lease gives them the right to do anything they like.
"The drafting of the lease is the critical part of the deal and it's crucial that tenants proceed with care.
Some landlords run up costly maintenance work bills, assuming that their tenants will not have checked the details of their lease, and so will just automatically pay up. But tenants should take care to check the small print of their lease, because although the service charge clause may seem complicated, generally if it doesn't allow for something to be done, it can't be done.?
"Your professional adviser should also be able to help ensure your lease does not include catch-all clauses that will cover the landlord, and that it limits the amount that can be paid to any management company to an agreed percentage."
The landlord can only recover the cost of the services which is set out in the lease, and even then, only if the right procedure has been followed.
"The courts are more frequently taking a closer look at service charge issues relating to business leases ? looking at the work the landlord has carried out, what the costs were, and whether the work was necessary from the tenant's point of view.?
"If you think the price of carrying out the work seems high, ask your landlord for detailed plans and, if your lease gives you the right, a breakdown of the costs."
Whether the costs are reasonable depend on the length and terms of your lease, and whether the landlord has considered all possible methods of repair, rather than just replacing everything.
"Tenants are no longer expected to pay for major refurbishment which they'll see little or no benefit from in the lifetime of their lease, so if you've only got a short time left, consider whether your landlord's request is appropriate. But you must not ignore the service charge issue and hope it will just go away ? ask your landlord for full details, and if it gets very technical, instruct a surveyor to act on your behalf. And if you're going to dispute the service charge, put your concerns in writing. This may help at a later date if you need to apply for compensation."
This article is free to republish provided this resource box remains intact.
Commercial Property To Lease
This question is among the most important when assessing the value of commercially zoned property in a city or county. For some, the reason as to why this question is so important may seem rather obvious. However, there are multiple reasons why investors, developers, builders and business owners want to have large amounts of road frontage on their commercial properties.
For business owners, it is best for them to have their stores located conveniently to their customers. If they are on a main highway or road, they will have great visibility to the traffic going by. This can quite possibly bring customers into their stores that they normally wouldn't see through their normal marketing. Also, a customer new to the location can find the store much more easily when in the line of sight. Visibility on major road frontage is a huge advantage for the business owners and their stores.
Another reason why business owners like to have their stores along major road frontage is because of the ease in which customers can enter and exit the property. If they are forced to drive through large parking lots, wind behind other major stores, and park on a land locked parcel, there is a possibility that the customer would go to a more easily accessible competitor.
Now, this may be pushing it a little, because a business should be able to bring customers in on its own through effective marketing and good business practices. However, it is definitely more pleasant to access a place of business that is right by the road, rather than search your way through parking lots, other businesses, and who knows what else. The easier the access, the more enjoyable the experience is for the customer.
The two main reasons for business owners to have their stores on major road frontage are visibility and ease of access. Let's look at why investors, developers, and builders all want the properties they are involved with to have the greatest amount of road frontage possible.
These three people, investors, developers and builders, are the foundation for commercial real estate. They have the money; they have the vision, and they, ultimately, are responsible for building our communities.
More often than not, these people will choose properties to invest in that have the most amount of road frontage, or create the roads so that the office complexes, retail centers, and strip malls have the visibility and ease of access that business owners look for in a profitable commercial property.
The underlying advantage for these investors to develop and build properties with major road frontage is the fact that these commercial properties, known as out parcels, are far more valuable than the land locked in parcels behind them! The difference between these property values can be quite drastic.
For example, recently I was assessing a 56 acre raw tract of land in Rome, GA. It had over 2,000 feet of road frontage on a major highway! The front of the property was zoned commercial, while the back was zoned multifamily. After speaking with the broker and looking at comps (comparable sales), it was clear that the out parcels would be valued at approximately $600,000 an acre developed. (They could be worth more if we were able to get national brand stores on the property). However, those in parcels, without the road frontage, would only be valued at $225,000 per acre. This is a $375,000 decrease in value simply because those in parcels are a few hundred feet away from the actual highway.
This news greatly cut into my overall profit margin.
Not all cases are this extreme. However, it is always true that an out parcel will be more valuable than an in parcel. That is why investors, developers, and builders all want property with major road frontage. It is simply more valuable!
Business owners and investors alike will gladly choose a property with major road frontage over a land locked parcel, or a parcel with little to no road frontage. Use this important fact when you assess properties and the value that they hold.
Both Christopher Mills & Tony Seruga, Yolanda Seruga And Yolanda Bishop Of Maverick Real Estate Inve are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Christopher Mills has sinced written about articles on various topics from Legal Matters. Sarah Heath is a specialist and heads the Commercial Property Team. Christopher Mills's top article generates over 2400 views. to your Favourites.
Tony Seruga, Yolanda Seruga And Yolanda Bishop Of Maverick Real Estate Inve has sinced written about articles on various topics from Real Estate, Legal Matters and Real Estate. Tony Seruga, Yolanda Seruga and Yolanda Bishop of specialize in commercial and investment real estate. As of May, 2006, they and their partner. Tony Seruga, Yolanda Seruga And Yolanda Bishop Of Maverick Real Estate Inve's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.
A Faster Way To Browse The Web Accelerated debt payoff is a simple and effective method that you can use to improve your financial outlook in the shortest possible amount of time
