You will have often heard, how tricky it can be to secure certain types of property. The industrial market remains very competitive at the moment, with high demand and limited supply.
I want to share with you some information on how to avoid compromising your lease negotiations before they have even started.
If you are trying to find industrial property then expect a long period of searching. When you eventually come across something that suits, be very careful not to compromise your negotiating position. On three occasions, recently, business owners have contacted me asking if we can provide advice on lease negotiations. All three are desperate to expand their businesses and have been struggling to find the right property. This lack of property is significantly holding back their businesses.
Each had found a property that suited and were keen not to miss the opportunity. So they arranged to have a look round with the agents and all three fell in to the same trap. In their excitement to secure the property, they each told the agent that they have got to have the property and will pay the quoting rent and in one of the cases would pay more.
I fully appreciate, the difficulty for you. Your business desperately needs to move, you have business ready to be done, you just need the space. After months and months of searching (which takes time away from your business), you find the right property. You can now realise your ambitions and move your business forward. It’s a very competitive market, you may have missed out on a couple of properties previously and you want the agent to know this to avoid missing out again.
I get this and in certain situations this is definitely the right approach. By displaying this level of need to the agent so early on, you will compromise the negotiations and end up in a significantly weaker position and one the landlord can take advantage of.
There is a very fine balance, so if you need advice on how you can better protect yourself in lease negotiations then please get in contact.
