Seven common challenges office owners and occupiers face

The questions we are often asked about office properties

Office owners and occupiers face seven recurring challenges, ranging from leases that no longer fit to advice arriving from too many directions. Each one is easier to manage when you have the right evidence and support early. Our guide sets out what each challenge means and how we help.

1. How do I exit or reshape an office lease that no longer fits?

Lease length, size, and layout can fall out of step with how your teams work. You then pay for space you do not use, and your options narrow as the lease runs on.

Start by checking your break dates, your obligations at expiry and how much space you actually use. Those three facts shape every option. The routes are usually a break, a renewal, an assignment or a surrender.

Our lease advisory team advises on all four. We also help you rethink the space itself through space planning and office search, so your next move fits how you work.

2. Why are my office running costs rising?

Service charges, insurance, and energy bills can rise without clear justification, which makes budgeting difficult for owners and occupiers alike.

Ask for a breakdown of each charge and compare it with your lease terms. Service charge benchmarking then shows how your costs compare. Our guide to commercial service charges explains how they work and what you can query.

We also provide insurance broking and practical energy-saving advice, so you can bring each cost under control.

3. How do I avoid a large dilapidations bill?

The bill often arrives at lease end as a surprise, and it is often disputed. By then, your room to manage it is limited.

The best time to manage dilapidations is at the start of the lease. A schedule of condition records the state of the building before you move in. That settles many arguments before they begin and supports landlords as well as tenants.

We prepare schedules of condition at lease start and give dilapidations advice to landlords and tenants. Our guide on how to avoid disputes about dilapidations sets out the steps that help.

4. Why is my office hard to let?

Buildings that miss occupier expectations struggle to let or to keep tenants. Secondary stock suffers most.

Specification, layout, amenities, and energy performance all shape how an office is judged. Start by asking what a target occupier would expect and how your building compares. Our property agency team can then test that against the market.

Where the building needs work, refurbishment and fit-out can reposition it. We also give asset management strategy advice, so any investment fits a clear plan for the building.

5. Will my building meet energy efficiency standards?

Buildings that fall short of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) risk becoming unlettable. Uncertainty over the timetable makes capital planning harder, because you cannot be sure when to invest or how much.

An energy audit is the best starting point. It shows where the building stands and what would change its rating. A phased plan then lets you spread the cost and respond as the timetable becomes clearer.

Our decarbonisation team provides energy audits, low-carbon upgrades, and funding advice. Plus, our insight on the new EPC regulations sets out how the rules are changing.

6. Should I refurbish, repurpose, or sell?

The decision rests on valuation, feasibility, and cost together. You need that evidence before you commit, because each route changes what the building is worth and what it costs you.

Compare each route on the same basis. Ask what the building is worth now, what it could be worth after works and what those works would cost.

We provide commercial property valuations, planning and feasibility work and cost consultancy, so you can weigh the routes side by side. If a sale is the right answer, property auctions are also available as an exit route.

7. How do I stop my advisers working to different briefs?

Separate agents, valuers, surveyors, and managers can lead to decisions made on partial information. Each adviser holds only part of the picture, so their conclusions can conflict. You then spend your time reconciling opinions instead of making the decision.

We have one team across agency, valuation, commercial property management and building consultancy, all working from the same brief. That connected approach comes from our changemaker mentality. We do not accept that advice has to arrive in separate pieces, so we bring it together around your objectives.

Talk to us about your office property challenges

We are a real estate advisory firm, and we help office owners and occupiers with each of these challenges. If you are facing one now, or want to plan ahead, complete the form below.

You can also explore our approach to office property and read our case studies to see how we have supported other clients with their commercial properties.