Hi everyone,

Well I have been enjoying my Rangerover Sport now for a couple of months and all I can say is what a beast of a car! I love it!

Just after some advice with regards to a new property lease I am looking to take out and if there is anything I should be asking or aware of when doing a lease agreement.

I am 24 years old and have my own car sales business, which I have been running for 1 year now. I started off trading from home and I have now sold over 70 cars, but the business is growing I am looking for a forecourt to expand onto.

I have found a forecourt available to let in Maidstone and it looks to fit the bill perfectly for the business.

However I have never rented or leased any properties and was after some advice as to if there is anything I should look out for in the contracts or anything from personal experience with leasing.

The lease term is for 3 years, the building and forecourt need about £3000 spending on it to get it back upto scratch. The landlord has offered 3 months rental free but I carry out all the repairs to the property ( New security fences, double glazing, new doors e.t.c. ) and after the lease is up he if we want to renew then the rent will be reviewed upwards only on a yearly basis from them. Is this reasonable?

Should I carry all the costs of the repair or should the landlord contribute?

Any advice or comments would be great!

Many Thanks

First of all get your lawyer to handle this, it should cost you no more than £4/500 , I only have experience of letting out office space in my work place, and generally we do it on 3 year cycles, internal repair only, once the old tenant moves out they are obliged to repaint the rooms. We look after the maintaince on the outside. If you feel it is the right place to be I would commit to 5 or even ten years so that he cant chuck you out after 1 year and renovating the property for him!
If it is needing work done then I dare say it must be at the cheaper end of the rent scale, if you get him to do it then obviously he will want to recover his costs
Hope this helps
Dave MY10 TDV6 SE (debadged ), Santorini Black, Flappy paddles, Privacy Glass, 20" Stormers, Mudflaps!

Gone: a comprehensive list of imprezas and a Merc ML AMG

its a renters market, the landlordvwill be glad i uspectbthat the rates are being paid by someone else, have you seen the rates ???

Hi smotah.
Who priced up the works?? £3000.00 sounds cheap for double glazing, doors and security fencing. If it was the landlord get your own quotes and if more ask for longer rent free period, or contribution from them(ha ha).
Can you trade in premises while works being done does it affect your insurance??
See if there are hidden service charges, or insurances that you have to have.
Make sure he is liable for any external repairs eg. roof, walls forecourts etc.( you dont want concrete breaking up because you're parking cars on it and he says it's your fault).
You might be liable for internal works/repairs, ensure electrics/ plumbing is up to scratch and certificated (gas especially).
These are just a few things off the top of my head.
Hope it helps
Panda

Would be happy to price security (steel doors, fencing ) 

Supporting the London Air Ambulance with my Brothers

watch for delapidation. you could leave in 3 years and have reroof the joint for example.

Many thanks for the excellect advice!

The business rates are £3,900 payable which for the size of the property is excellent as I was looking at a smaller site with £11,000 payable in business rates. It is a rental of £1,200 per month + VAT, but I am VAT registered anyway.

I was thinking of going in with £1,000 rent for the first two years, which will increase to £1,200 on the 3rd year. We would want a 4 month rent free period and we will undertake all repair work but would want a contribution towards gates & windows. Is this reasonable?

Thanks for the advice codfather on the external repair as we will ask this too.

Panda - the estate agent said thats what it would roughly cost. If you could quote us for security fencing that would be brilliant. The width is 19m and in the centre of the 19m we would need a sliding access gates comfortably big enough to fit a car through. Please pm me with any more details that you need e.t.c

The insurance would not be affected by any work going on, we have checked already. The sales office has CAT3 electricity although the estate agent said only 1 is currently in use ( I have no idea what he was on about! ), but there is no gas.

There are no service charges which is good.

Can not thank you guys enough this advice is invaluable

Your probably entitled to some relief on the rates depending on your circumstances, can be up to 50%. Not sure why there was a huge difference between the two, just check the rating is correct for the usage, eg retail is a boat load more than storage !

Thanks firstinretail.

How do I go about checking the business rates relief?

I turned from a sole trader to a limited company in November last year so I am still in my first year of trading so hopefully that will get me a reduction.

The business rates quoted are the rates for correct motor sales usage.

It has been a nightmare trying to find somewhere where the council will change the usage to motor trade so I am glad I have found a place with this usage already!

Agree with Panda, if you get all that done for £3k I'll eat my hat.

Also you should be looking at 6 year lease with 3 yearly cost reviews not annually

I bet you are the only person looking at this site so you really are in the driving seat, negotiate hard, it's dead money to the owner at the minute.

A lease is definitely something for a lawyer to sort out, not yourself.

Also are you responsible for all repairs during term? This is normal.