It’s amazing how quickly those five years of your office lease term can pass by, it feels like suddenly, (maybe nine months out), the decision has to be made as to whether you stay where you are, typically on an increased rental level, or bite the bullet and see what opportunities await you in the bright new world of the commercial property market.
Now is a good time to take stock of your tenancy situation and weigh up the pro’s and con’s of staying or going, both options having different financial impacts on your on-going business operations.
The Stay Option
Pro’s
as a sitting tenant you may be able to negotiate deal sweeteners such as new carpet, re-painting, base building services upgrade or a contribution for any tenancy refurbishment works you may have planned
you are happy with your location, transport, suppliers, clients, social activities are known to your staff and clients
it is much less expensive to stay put than to relocate
you may be able to negotiate with your landlord so you can ‘right-size’, i.e., take up more space or give back space to suit your current and foreseeable space needs, this will require building alteration works
little disruption if only minor refurbishment works are proposed
Con’s
disruption caused by building works around staff, impact on operations
still sitting in the same place, no physical change to support any proposed changes to work methods
The Go Option
Pro’s
you have the opportunity to re-invent your workplace and introduce new ways of working supported by a new physical environment
usually an incentive is offered by the landlord to offset fitout/relocation or face rents
the opportunity to relocate to a location to better support your business and your staff
a turn-key relocation can have the move take place over a weekend, no downtime to operations
Con’s
costs associated with leases, fitout and relocation
make good costs for the existing fitout
Ultimately the decision to move or not comes down to a cost/value decision based on costs, cashflow, and the benefits of creating an energised, organised, fit for purpose workplace as the base for your business.