Sixty-two units, at rents from £6.52 to £39.00 a square foot — a six-fold spread inside a single category. Very little of that gap is location. Most of it is what you are actually taking: a lease, or a licence in a business centre, and what ‘all-inclusive’ turns out to include. And after the April 2026 revaluation, a good many small occupiers have just lost the rates relief they were counting on.
A £35 per square foot business centre rate and an £8 per square foot estate unit are not comparable. We give you the all-in monthly figure, because on units this size the non-rent items routinely exceed the rent.
A business centre agreement is usually a licence. That means no security of tenure and no protection under the 1954 Act — fine if you want flexibility, expensive if you are fitting out.
Full relief applies at a rateable value of £12,000 or below, tapering to nil at £15,000. The revaluation pushed many small units above the threshold, and transitional support limits the rise without restoring the relief.
Our fee is paid by the landlord. No fee to you, and no charge for telling you a unit is worse value than it looks.
Size, what you do in it, how long you want, and whether you are fitting anything out. A twelve-month licence and a five-year lease point at completely different buildings.
Lease or licence, notice period, what an inclusive rate covers listed line by line, the current rateable value, power, access hours and loading — before you view.
Business centre terms look like standard forms and are not. Rent free, notice periods, deposits and break rights all move, particularly on a longer commitment.
The units on this page run from about £6.52 a square foot on an estate in Hitchin to £39.00 at a Southwark workspace. Location explains part of that. What explains more is what is included.
A business centre rate at the top of that range typically bundles service charge, utilities, business rates, reception, cleaning, broadband, meeting rooms and often furniture. An estate unit at the bottom bundles none of it. Compared on the headline rate the estate unit looks five times cheaper; compared on the total monthly cost of occupation the gap is frequently a fraction of that, and occasionally it reverses.
A business centre agreement is usually a licence rather than a lease. It gives you no security of tenure, no protection under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, and often a short notice period running in both directions. That is exactly right if what you want is flexibility, and exactly wrong if you are fitting out, installing plant you cannot move, or building a customer base tied to that address.
A lease of a small estate unit will frequently be contracted out of the 1954 Act as well, which produces the same outcome by a different route. Ask the question early and price the answer. If you are spending money on a fit-out with no right to renew, you are improving somebody else’s asset on your own account.
Small Business Rate Relief gives 100 per cent relief where the rateable value is £12,000 or below, tapering to nil as it rises to £15,000. It applies where you occupy a single property, or where any additional properties are each below £2,900 rateable value with a combined total below £28,000.
The April 2026 revaluation pushed a great many small properties above those thresholds. Where relief was lost as a direct result, the Supporting Small Business scheme limits how sharply the bill can rise — but it does not restore the relief and it does not change the underlying rateable value.
So check the current rateable value on the 2026 list before you commit, not the figure the last occupier was paying. On a unit of this size, moving from full relief to a full bill can be the single largest change in your cost of occupation, and it will not appear in the particulars.
Business centre agreements are presented as standard forms and are treated as immovable by most occupiers. They are not. Rent-free periods, notice periods, deposits, break rights and the scope of the inclusive rate all move — particularly on a longer commitment, and particularly where the centre has vacancy.
Two specific asks are worth making every time. First, get the inclusive rate itemised in writing, because ‘all-inclusive’ is not a defined term and the exclusions are where the surprises live. Second, on any lease of an estate unit, agree a schedule of condition at heads of terms, photographed and appended. It costs very little and it caps a dilapidations claim you would otherwise argue about years later.
Mostly because they are not measuring the same thing. The high end is business centre space with service charge, utilities, rates, reception, cleaning and broadband bundled in. The low end is a bare estate unit where all of those are additional. Location matters, but inclusion matters more. Ask for the all-in monthly figure on both and the gap usually shrinks dramatically.
Usually not — it is a licence. That means no security of tenure, no protection under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, and typically a short notice period in both directions. For a business that wants flexibility that is a feature. For a business fitting out, installing plant, or building trade tied to the address, it is a risk that should be reflected in what you spend on the space.
It depends on the rateable value and on how many properties you occupy. Full relief applies at £12,000 or below and tapers to nil at £15,000, and it generally requires you to occupy only one property. The April 2026 revaluation moved a lot of small units above those thresholds, so check the current entry on the 2026 list rather than assuming the previous position carried over.
Rent, plus service charge, plus business rates, plus utilities, plus insurance — and on units this size those four additions frequently exceed the rent. We will give you the total monthly figure for each option you are considering so you are comparing like with like, which is not what the marketing does.
No. Our fee comes from the landlord. What it buys you is somebody putting two very differently-quoted units on the same basis, and telling you when the cheap one is not cheaper.
