Considering sub letting a unit, Pros & Cons?

[Denise Goodfellow]

Hi Cheryl

You need to know what your bills are going to be ( goes without sayiing)

But if it.s shared, I`d be caerful of things like, what percentage the bills will be split. Will the other person be using more electric than you, then if so, they must pay a bigger share.

And of course you`ll have to work around the other person, soI`d question them about their activity in the unit. Nothing worse than just about to fit a van and being asked to move it so somone can get out etc.

And becareful of being left holding the baby ( or their old debt etc)

[David Hammond]

Cheryl I used to work in a shop with shared access, and shared storage space, so here’s a few reasons why I moved to my own place:

1) The news agent next door regularly used to help themselves to my tools, ladders, paper, calculator, tape, etc. OK my uncle (also landlord) thought I was being petty, but when someones sticking an a4 piece of paper to a door with your rather expensive VHB tape, I got a little annoyed.

2) The alarm system was the newsagents but covered our shop, which meant when the newsagent left, so did we… no calling in to work to pick something up, no working late to get the job done.

3) When work started on the building development we had electricians, builders, plumbers in and out, dust everywhere, even climbing and walking over the work on the bench.

When you go to view, make sure your ‘area’ is secure, or isolated so that you can control who comes into it.

Electricity, water, gas, phone, rates, who’s responsible for the bills, how will it work.

Maintenance and repairs, suppose the roof leaks, or some undesirable tries to break in, who’s responsible for the repairs and ensuring they’re at an acceptable standard?

When I moved to the unit, I got dedicated property lawyer on the case, who really understood the lease, and though in my best interest.

[Cheryl Smith]

really good points there, especially about locking up at night..and being what could happen if they decided to move out..and having to move a half wrapped van…..
just finding out at the moment that units are like gold dust around here…wonder if it would be wise to get some sort of mortgage and buy…
really is a huge leap for anyone in business to make…..
I could take over our front room at home, but It could be the right time to move business from home life entirely and ‘go’ to work and leave it behind at night…

a dedicated property lawyer …wonder if id be able to get advice from one….where would you find one of those? lol

[David Hammond]

Cheryl I will PM the contact number of who I used, they’re based in Bury, but cover the NW as they don’t actually need to see the property, they will review your lease, and explain what to watch out for, I got a 3page report on my lease putting it all in simple terms.

There’s no doubt that it’s a big jump, but I personally knew I needed to move to allow the business to grow.

[Hugh Potter]

I agree Cheryl, a huge and daunting leap to make!

I’ve tried once – got gazumped by landlords signmaking buddy after saying too much about how great it’d be!

some momnths ago I looked at a showroom / unit that was up for £60k, sadly I didn’t see it’s potential, other than the location, it’s now been done and looks amazing – bang head on wall about now!

I wish you luck with it whatever you do.

Hugh

[Cheryl Smith]

quote Hugh Potter:

some momnths ago I looked at a showroom / unit that was up for £60k,

gold dust mate…very expensive in these parts 😕

[Denise Goodfellow]

We too are looking at moving into a larger unit.

But the size we want is £20K per year, bills on top of that.

MHO, if you can afford £20K a year, you might be better off buying ( I know you would have to find at least 30% for the deposiit)