Following on from our FindaLondonOffice article on business rates, our recommended ratings adviser Peter Barber approached us regarding the big hikes in office rental rates that will take place on April 1st 2010.

April 1st 2010. The day the new Rating Valuation List will come into play.

Many London office occupiers will see a large hike in their rates bills, particularly in the West End. Early notice of the new Rateable Values is being sent to rate payers, so plan your budgets well in advance, because even if you appeal the new figure you will still be liable to pay in full until the appeal is settled and this can take a couple of years to achieve.

What should you do to minimise your payments?
Appoint a Rating Surveyor pronto. They can advise you on the new figure and make the appeal for you. Like FindaLondonOffice, our recommended advisor’s fees are based on success, any costs can be paid out of the refund if the appeal succeeds.

Don’t waste time fretting about that notice from the Government, get yourself a specialist adviser as soon as possible.

I have already recieved my new Rateable Value on my Office space. Only small print told me that this doesn’t apply until 1 April 2010. I am amazed at the uplift.

Apparently the new figures apply to all commercial properties in the Country, but West End Offices have been hit by the largest rises.

With such substantial increases on the horizon, finding an experienced Rating Adviser is your best bet. With a success based fee, you have nothing to lose in doing so.

Look for ways to maximise value in your London office space

Throughout the course of the blog, we have covered many ways that can save you money when searching for office space in London. You will see by the end of this post that it’s not all about minimising your outlay (though this plays a part), it’s also about maximising the value of your decision and thinking ahead when possible.

It was high time to put together some of our most important tips, so here they are:

1. Negotiate

There are a a variety of negotiable costs when dealing with London office space. We have talked before about the current economic climate spelling opportunity for tennants to negotiate. While we’d recommend using experts (ahem!) to do this for you, this article will provide you some key insights into what can be negotiated.

2. Communicate

Due to the sheer volume of process that goes into finding and securing a London office, it’s easy for a breakdown in communication to occur between landlord and tennant, agent and landlord or tennant and agent. While we can attest to good communication being a foremost priority with FindaLondonOffice, it still happens all the time. It is an essential part of negotation and being thorough can save an awful lot of time, which as you know, equates to money.

3. Reconsider Your Actual Office Requirements

Have you considered opting for office space that has already had a fitout? Depending on what you need, you could stand to save a lot of money by finding an office that has already been fitted out to your requirements, or perhaps broadening your criteria. The money saved could also cover alterations that you require.

4. Maximise Use of Your Space

If cramming something into every cubic metre is what you think I mean by this, you couldn’t be further off the mark!

Remember that your number one asset as a business is your people. Ensuring they have a properly designed office environment can dramatically increase productivity. This might influence your decision towards choosing a larger office space, however if it means staff can work more efficiently it will very likely be a worthwhile move. Of course it also means vast savings if you have plans to expand. Thinking office ergonomics through properly can not only improve productivity, it also reduces the likelihood to your staff developing health issues.

5. Think Carefully About Your Location

I have to highlight the fact that for many seeking London office space, their chosen London office location is not based on much more than a personal preference. This is all well and good, but as you can see from our rental guide, the cost per varies substantially. If your premises is not client facing, you have considerably fewer reasons to shell out on premium ground level office space in the most prestigious area you can think of. If you can attract business based on your location, it may in fact be worth doing, in which case doing so could pay for itself many times over.

The Value of Thinking Ahead!

So as you can see, our guide to saving money isn’t necessarily to take the most frugal approach possible, it’s more to do with maximising the value of whatever office space move you intend to make and making the most of what you get.

We would be happy to advise you further should you wish to contact us.

The London office market will decide…

August is one of my favourite months. People come to the office in less formal attire, and holidays are on the horizon.

There’s space for quality time, some lateral thinking and perhaps a spot of networking. In the property world restaurants like Shampers in Kingly St, have seemed fuller than you would expect for August.

The low level of activity in the 2009 Central London office market led my wife to Google ”M” for Manchester rather than Mauritius in her quest to find our holiday destination for this year.

Mrs K then suggested a compromise – the shores of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. This seemed hopelessly extravegant after months of negotiating longer rent free periods and observing London office rents tumble from their pre credit crunch heights.

I was reminded however, that fees charged by FindaLondonOffice are linked to savings we successfully negotiate in the first year of a lease, so I chose not to put up too much of a fight…

The problem with summer holidays though is that after a few days sunbathing by the pool, the mind starts to wander back to Old Blighty.

One starts to wonder how the market is doing and whether come Christmas we will be Googling “B” for Bognor or “B” for Barbados…”

Business Rates

Thanks to Peter Barber for writing this post.

Rumours have been flying around about what is going to happen to Business rates. The next revaluation for Business Rates is going to take place on the 1st April 2010.  The new assessments will be based upon rental Value at April 2008.

The Government has just announced its preliminary analysis of the impact of the new Rateable Values.  Their view is that 60% of Rate payers will see a reduction in their bills but some will pay more.

The forecast is that the uplift will be greatest in London Offices, where April 2008 rental levels were almost at their peak.  Office occupiers will therefore almost certainly see a substantial uplift in their bills.

It appears that the Government will continue with a scheme to cap increases, (Transition) and is consulting with relevant parties to discuss details.

Appeals will of course be permitted against the new assessments and rating advisors can undertake this work on behalf of occupiers.

The draft figures will be released towards the end of 2009 in good time to be prepared for April 2010.