The costs of renting business premises

Starting a business in your back bedroom may work until you need to grow and have staff working with you. Renting or leasing an office or workspace may be the next step, but what are the extra costs of renting after you pay the rent? Are there any services included?

Rates

Firstly Business rates are the next bill after the rent. These are set by the local council. This year there has been full business rates relief for businesses with less than 250 employees in the Sheffield region.

Utilities

Your heating and lighting costs do need to be factored in. Manufacturing utility costs will obviously make up a larger part of your outgoings than regular office use. Commercial water rates are different from domestic rates. Check that the unit you are looking to rent has running water, and what rate is applied, before signing a contract, if you require water for your business other than for refreshments.

Secretarial services

Having access to secretarial services is a bonus to look for. Though these can often be expensive add-ons to your rental costs. To start with, it is worth checking to outsource might not prove more economical.

Parking

Surprisingly, some business premises do not always include parking in the rental. This is because they may have a parking firm contracted to police the parking. The positive means you will always be able to park. Of course, rogue parkers are fined. You may be charged per allocated space or number of unallocated spaces. If your requirements are for larger commercial vehicles, you will need to look for specialist parking arrangements. This is something that Sheaf Bank Business Park can arrange due to our layout and facilities.

 Storage

Depending on what you wish to store, there can be extra costs. Basic archiving of paperwork is possible at most business centres, for more specialised storage of supplies, fuel, spare parts etc. You will probably need to rent a storage unit on top of your work unit. Luckily at Sheaf Bank, we do have some storage units for rental, so you can keep it all close by.

Included in the costs of renting

Some business parks and office blocks can have some costs included. It is worth investigating as to the values that it would be if paid separately so you can fairly compare. Examples of included bills are the business rates; this is usually where you share a building.  Your utilities may be included; this usually is when there is no separate supply to your unit. As we said to watch the secretarial services as they can be included but can work out more expensive than hiring your own freelance virtual assistant.