Business Occupier's Handbook: A practical guide to acquiring, occupying and disposing of business premises

293 Pages·1996·2.57 MB·English

by  Clifford Chance

The Business Occupier’s Handbook

The Business Occupier’s
Handbook
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO
ACQUIRING, OCCUPYING AND
DISPOSING OF BUSINESS PREMISES
Vicky Rubin
in association with
CLIFFORD CHANCE
Published by E & FN Spon, an imprint of Chapman & Hall,
2–6 Boundary Row, London SE1 8HN, UK
Chapman & Hall, 2–6 Boundary Row, London SE1 8HN, UK
Chapman & Hall GmbH, Pappelallee 3, 69469 Weinheim, Germany
Chapman & Hall USA, 115 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, USA
Chapman & Hall Japan, ITP-Japan, Kyowa Building, 3F, 2–2-1 Hirakawacho,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102, Japan
Chapman & Hall Australia, 102 Dodds Street, South Melbourne, Victoria 3205,
Australia
Chapman & Hall India, R. Seshadri, 32 Second Main Road, CIT East, Madras
600 035, India
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
First edition 1997
© 1997 Victoria Rubin
ISBN 0-203-98888-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0 419 21010 5 (Print Edition)
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or criticism or review, as permitted under the UK Copyright Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, this publication may not be reproduced, stored, or
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issued by the appropriate Reproduction Rights Organization outside the UK.
Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the terms stated here should be
sent to the publishers at the London address printed on this page.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard
to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot
accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions
that may be made.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Contents
Foreword viii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction x
1 Strategic and background issues 1
Key points 1
1.1 Property strategy 1
1.2 Decision making 14
1.3 Advisers and agents 21
1.4 Property valuation 27
1.5 Property accounting 51
1.6 Property taxation 58
Further Reading 76
2 Acquisition 78
Key points 78
2.1 Planning the acquisition 80
2.2 Site selection 94
2.3 Negotiations 104
2.4 Fit out 117
Further Reading 129
3 Transaction structure and terms 130
Key points 130
3.1 Ownership structure 131
vi
3.2 General guidance on negotiating terms 135
3.3 Purchase terms 138
3.4 Lease terms 140
3.5 Structure of documentation 170
Further Reading 171
4 Managing costs and occupation 173
Key points 173
4.1 Rent 175
4.2 Rent review 177
4.3 Service charge 183
4.4 Insurance 187
4.5 Repairs and maintenance 197
4.6 Alterations and improvements 199
4.7 Operational services 203
4.8 Use 205
4.9 Planning 205
4.10 Building and health and safety regulations 218
4.11 Environmental issues 220
4.12 Neighbouring owners 222
4.13 Enforcing covenants 223
4.14 Managing costs of surplus properties 231
Further Reading 232
5 Exit and lease renewal 234
Key points 234
5.1 Surplus space strategies 234
5.2 Lease expiry 251
5.3 Dilapidations and reinstatement 261
5.4 Compulsory purchase 263
vii
Further Reading 265
Appendices
A Measurement for valuations 266
B Lease summary checklist 267
C Addresses and information sources 270
Index 274
Foreword
This book is designed to fulfil the need of every business occupier for a comprehensive but
approachable source of information about the numerous issues which need to be
understood in order to play an effective role in acquiring, managing, improving and
disposing of business property.
It brings together expertise from a wide range of disciplines—surveyors, accountants,
valuers, construction cost and project managers and lawyers—set down in a practical and
non-legalistic style by a chartered surveyor with direct experience of property
management. Its aim is to deal with each topic in sufficient detail for the purposes of the
business reader, concentrating at each step on the commercial as well as the technical
considerations.
Ready access to this level of information will help the business occupier in dealings with
professional advisers, agents, property managers, contractors and others, and contribute
posititvely to the decision-making process. We believe that the advisers, managers,
contractors and agents will also find much of use in the handbook.
We are very pleased to have been able to support and contribute to this project and we
hope that the handbook will come to be seen as a handy and indispensable ready reference
by everyone who owns and uses it.
Clifford Chance
August 1996
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all those at Clifford Chance who gave their support. From the
beginning the firm embraced the project with enthusiasm and willingly devoted to it the
resources needed. In particular, those who have devoted considerable time are: Julian
Boswall, Teddy Bourne, Tony Briam, Richard Coleman, Steven Dale, Alexandra Davies,
Alan Elias, Trevor Garrood, Graham Henderson, Clive Jones, Vincent Maguire, Richard
Margree, Shelagh O’Brien, Tim O’Hara, John Pickston, Michael Redman and Jeremy
Sandelson.
Special thanks are due to the following who contributed text and provided vital
technical support:
(cid:127) Andy Simmonds of Deloitte and Touche (chartered accountants);
(cid:127) Nigel Laing of Nigel Laing and Co (specialist valuation surveyors);
(cid:127) Beverley Stewart of Allen Stewart Partnership (construction cost and project
managers).
I would also like to give special thanks to Simon Brooke, Jonathan Edwards and Michael
Evans of Jonathan Edwards Limited, who provided crucial inspiration and education while
the book was in gestation and assistance in preparing the text.
I am indebted to several others who gave invaluable help: Sandy Apgar of Apgar and
Company, Simon Barnes of Plowman Craven, Michael Bloom of Business Automation,
Edward Clack of Edward Clack Associates, Malcolm Hull of Drivers Jonas, Stuart Johnson
of Watts and Partners, Adrian Leaman, Rebekah Lowe of the RICS, Trevor Rushton of
Watts and Partners, Katherine Ryan of Jonathan Edwards Limited, Nick Schroeder of
Rank Xerox, Steven Sheppard of Segal Quince Wicksteed, Martin Trundle of Jonathan
Edwards Limited, Howard Tucker of Allen Stewart Partnership, Chander Vasdev of Rank
Xerox and Mary Williams of KPMG.
Finally, I would like to thank John Penny for his inspired illustrations.