Building Survey
Determining a building's condition and its future liabilities.
The cost of a landlord's work in connection with repairs to the building is normally charged to the tenants in the form of a service charge. The tenant is normally liable for a share of these costs, which are calculated pro rata on the floor area of the building that he occupies.
Even if a capped service charge exists, it is sensible to instruct a surveyor to inspect and survey the property to establish if the service charge is set at a realistic level.
Repairing covenants by their nature impose obligations on a lessee which, on the termination of the lease, can be financially onerous. A surveyor will be able to advise in respect of future liabilities under schedules of condition and dilapidations which may be imposed or served by the landlord.
In the case of a provision in the lease that a tenant need not keep or leave the property in better condition than at the beginning of the lease, a schedule of condition should be agreed between the parties. Facts should be recorded in a logical, clear and concise fashion. Plans and photographs may be used to supplement the schedule.
The schedule of dilapidations sets out the state of disrepair in a property where there is a legal liability on the tenant for the condition of disrepair. The tenants liability to maintain and repair certain parts of the property will be defined in the lease.
The Building Survey Report will establish the property's repairing liabilities actual and potential. It will also determine whether there are any major defects which would indicate that the potential occupier should decide against taking the property on at all.
Before entering into a lease on or buying a commercial property it is essential to be fully aware of future liabilities.
A chartered building surveyor will carry out a survey which will determine the condition of a building, analyse the full extent of any defects and provide budget costs to rectify them. The findings of the survey will help the tenant to decide whether it is wise to take on the lease - or not.
Service installations will normally form a separate part of the report. This will deal with the statutory services to the property, the condition of equipment and its likely future life.
The following will be included: electrical service, hot and cold water systems, air conditioning facilities, lifts (a mechanical and electrical engineer will advise in relation to these services) drainage, security and fire alarm systems.
Generally these services are expensive to install and to maintain. Their condition will form a substantial part of the investigation into the overall suitability of the property for a purchaser.
If the occupier is to take a lease, the surveyor will need to see a copy of the existing or proposed lease so that he may report on the repairing covenants to determine the liability for any repairs recommended in the report.
There are two basic types of lease:
In a full repairing and insuring lease the lessee is responsible for all repairs to the property. This type of lease is usual when the tenant occupies all of the building.
An internal repairing and insuring lease provides for the tenant to be responsible for all the repairs to the internal fabric - and the landlord for the external repairs, plant and machinery (for example boilers and lifts). Leases of this kind are usual in multi-tenanted buildings.
The London Office Guide is useful to help tenants find London office space to rent, London offices to let, central London offices to rent and both serviced offices and commercial property space. In addition to helping find London offices to rent and central London office space to let, it is useful for finding London serviced office space and business centres, London agent surveyors and information on the London office markets. Finding office space to let in London can be daunting. The right office space to rent in London is critical for many companies and if they don't find the right London office space to let their business and staff may be affected. Office space in London and London office property to rent can be expensive so companies need to shop around as much as possible. Overall, the London Office Guide is the most useful website and publication to help tenants find London office properties to let and central London commercial space. Especially office space in central London which includes City office space, Midtown offices and West End office space.
Included in the City of London are the postcodes EC1, EC2, EC3, and EC4. On the City fringe are London E1, London N1, London SE1, the southeastern part of London E2 and the southern part of London N7. London E14 includes office space to let in Canary Wharf and offices to rent in London Docklands. It is a separate office market but it competes for many of the same type of tenants the City does. Office space to let in London EC1 includes the areas of Clerkenwell, Smithfield and Farringdon which are east of Farringdon Road. Many media and hi-tech companies find these areas appealing. Offices to let in London EC2 include the areas around the Bank of England and Stock Exchange. Banks and financial companies of course prefer London office space in this postcode. Offices to rent in London EC3 include the area around Fenchurch Street and Eastcheap. Traditional home of insurance companies. Office space to let in London EC4 east of New Bridge Street include the areas around St. Paul's, Cannon Street and Blackfriars stations. London office space to rent is less expensive in the fringe postcodes. However, there is high quality London office space to let in London E1 around Spitalfields, Shoreditch and St. Katharine's. There is also new high quality offices to rent in London SE1 along the southbank and new office space to let in London N1 around King's Cross. There is also a range of inexpensive offices to rent around Angel and Old Street in London N1. Offices to let in London Docklands are mostly modern and the Canary Wharf office space to let is some of the best in all of Europe.
London Midtown is the area between the City and the West End. It is all of London WC1 and London WC2. It also contains London EC1 west of Farringdon Road and London EC4 west of New Bridge Street. Office space to let in London WC1 include offices to rent around Holborn and office space to let in Bloomsbury and also king's Cross. Offices to rent in London WC2 include Covent Garden office space to let and offices to rent around Leicester Square and the Strand. The Midtown office market is divided by Kingsway. Midtown office space to let east of Kingsway competes more with the City. Midtown offices to rent west of Kingsway tend to compete with the West End. Covent Garden offices to rent compete mostly with Soho office space while Bloomsbury offices for rent compete with office space in the West End north of Oxford Street.
The central or core West End of London office market comprises mainly London W1 office space to let. It also contains St James's offices to rent which is London SW1. London W1 offices to rent are in three geographical parts of the postcode. Mayfair, Soho and north of Oxford Street. Mayfair is the south west part of the London W1. Mayfair office space to let is some of the most expensive in the world. Soho is the south east part of London W1. Soho offices to rent have traditionally appealed to advertising and media companies. London W1 north of Oxford Street is divided into several office markets. There is office space to let in Noho which is immediately north of Soho. Soho office space to let is more expensive though. North of Noho are offices to rent in Fitzrovia which is the north east part of London W1. London W1 west of Portland Place is the remaining office market north of Oxford Street. It comprises mostly period office properties converted from residential.
The Greater West End of London includes offices to let in all of London NW1 and part of London NW8 to the north. To the south it includes almost all of London SW1, part of London SW8 and part of London SE11. To the south west all of London SW5, London SW6, London SW7, London SW10 and parts of London SW11, London SW15 and London SW18. To the west all of London W2, London W6, London W8, London W9, London W10, London W11, London W12 and London W14. Office space to let in London NW1 and London NW8 are offices to rent in Camden, Euston and Marylebone. Office space to let in London SW1 includes offices to rent in London Victoria, Belgravia, Millbank, Westminster, and Whitehall. In London SW8 and London SE11 are offices to let in Battersea and office space to rent in Vauxhall. In the south west there is office space to let in Chelsea, Fulham, Earls Court, Knightsbridge, South Kensington, Putney and Wandsworth. The office space to let in London SW11 also includes parts of Battersea. The Knightsbridge office space to let is expensive. Knightsbridge offices to rent compete with Mayfair. To the west there is office space to let in Paddington, Hammersmith, Bayswater, Kensington and West Kensington. There is Hammersmith office space to let in London W6 and Hammersmith offices to rent in London W12. London W14 office space to rent comprises mostly West Kensington.
In some cases serviced offices in central London or business centres in London might be more appropriate for some companies. London serviced office space is ideal for smaller companies. Serviced offices in London are usually available month to month and include furniture and services as well as the space. There is a range of London serviced office space available. From expensive prestige buildings to basic economical space. Before trying to find office space in London and especially central London office property to rent, tenants should refer to the London Office Guide.
