Serviced space is usually sold on a monthly figure and compared against a rent, and those two numbers are not comparable. One is all-in — rates, service charge, utilities, cleaning, reception, furniture and often meeting rooms. The other is the rent alone, before a fit-out you also have to fund. The real question is not which is cheaper per square foot. It is how confidently you can forecast headcount, because that is what you are actually paying the premium for.
Not £/sq ft, which is not what you are buying. We establish what the monthly figure actually includes — rates, service charge, utilities, cleaning, reception, internet, furniture — and what is billed on top. Meeting room credits, printing and after-hours access are the three that most often sit outside the headline.
Serviced space is almost always a licence rather than a lease. No security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, no right to renew, and the operator can usually move you within the building. That is the trade for flexibility, and it is fine — as long as you know it before you build a business around the address.
The notice period each way, whether the rate escalates on renewal, whether you can expand within the building and on what terms, and what happens if you need to leave early. Operators differ widely on all four, and the differences only surface when you need them.
Our fee is paid by the operator. No fee to you and no retainer — and no reason for us to steer you to a building because the commission is better on our side.
Desks now, your realistic range in twelve and twenty-four months, how often the team is in, whether you need a private suite or can share, meeting room usage, and the areas your people can commute to. Certainty of headcount matters more than budget — it is the variable that decides whether flexible space is the right product at all.
All-in cost per desk per month, what is included and what is billed on top, the term and notice period, escalation on renewal, expansion rights within the building, deposit required, and the operator's position on early exit — before you view.
Where a conventional lease would be cheaper over your likely horizon, we will say so and show the working, including fit-out capital amortised and the rates and service charge you would carry. We are paid by the operator, so this is the point at which we are telling you something against our own interest.
Serviced and managed space is nearly always granted by licence rather than lease. The practical consequences are real. You have no security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, so no statutory right to renew when the term ends. You generally do not have exclusive possession in the strict legal sense, which is part of what makes it a licence at all. And most operator agreements reserve the right to relocate you within the building to comparable space.
None of that is a reason to avoid serviced space. It is the mechanism that makes the flexibility possible, and for a business that genuinely cannot forecast its headcount, the flexibility is worth paying for. But it does mean you should not build anything around permanence — a heavily branded reception, a bespoke lab or studio fit-out, or a marketing position tied to a specific address — without understanding that you may have to give it up at the end of a notice period measured in months.
Read the agreement for three things specifically: the notice period each way, because operators frequently reserve a shorter notice for themselves than they grant you; what happens on renewal, since many agreements renew automatically at a rate the operator sets; and the deposit and its return conditions.
The single most common error is comparing a serviced monthly figure against a conventional rent. They measure different things. The serviced figure typically bundles business rates, service charge, utilities, cleaning, buildings insurance, reception staffing, internet, furniture and some meeting room usage. The rent bundles none of those.
Then check what sits outside the headline. Meeting room credits and overage rates, printing, after-hours access and air conditioning, additional IT or bandwidth, mail handling, and charges for visitors or additional members are the usual extras. On a small suite these can add a meaningful percentage to the monthly cost, and they are rarely volunteered.
Between serviced space and a conventional lease sits managed space: a self-contained floor or suite, fitted and run by an operator or the landlord, taken on a single all-inclusive monthly figure but with a space that is genuinely yours. It suits teams of roughly fifteen to a hundred who want their own identity and their own front door without taking a five or ten year lease and funding a fit-out.
The terms are usually two to five years rather than monthly, so it is less flexible than serviced space, but the cost per person is normally lower and you avoid the capital outlay and the reinstatement liability of a conventional lease. If you are being shown only serviced suites and only conventional leases, ask about managed space explicitly — it is frequently the better answer and it is less often marketed.
Visit at the time of day your team will actually be there, not when the operator suggests. Sound carries in open-plan serviced buildings, and a suite that is calm at ten in the morning may not be at three. Test the internet rather than reading the specification; ask whether the connection is contended and what the service level is, because for most businesses this is the one utility whose failure stops work entirely.
Ask who else is in the building. Shared space means shared meeting rooms and shared reception, and a single large occupier can absorb the bookable resources you are counting on. Finally, establish the expansion position in writing. Growing businesses take serviced space precisely because they expect to grow, and discovering that the building is full when you need three more desks is the most common reason people move twice in two years — which costs more than the lease they were avoiding.
Per square foot, almost always. Per person over a realistic horizon, frequently not. The serviced figure bundles rates, service charge, utilities, cleaning, reception, furniture and some meeting room use; a rent bundles none of it, and you fund the fit-out as well. Compare all-in cost per person per month over the same period with the fit-out amortised. Flexible tends to win under three years and lose beyond five, but the crossover moves with the fit-out cost.
Generally not. Serviced space is granted by licence rather than lease, so there is no security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and no statutory right to renew. Most agreements also allow the operator to relocate you within the building. That is the mechanism that makes the flexibility possible, so it is not a defect — but it does mean you should not anchor branding, a specialist fit-out or a long customer relationship to the specific address without understanding it.
Meeting room usage beyond any included credits, printing, after-hours access and air conditioning, additional bandwidth or dedicated IT, mail handling, and sometimes charges for visitors or additional members. On a small suite these can add a meaningful percentage to the real monthly cost. Ask for the full tariff rather than the headline, and ask specifically what happens when you exceed the meeting room allowance, since that is the one most teams exceed.
Yes, and it is often the better answer. Managed space is a self-contained fitted floor or suite, run by an operator or landlord on a single all-inclusive monthly figure, usually on a two to five year term. You get your own front door and identity without funding a fit-out or carrying a reinstatement liability. It typically suits teams of roughly fifteen to a hundred, and it is less widely marketed than serviced space — so if nobody has mentioned it, ask.
Establish the expansion position in writing before you commit, because this is the most common reason businesses end up moving twice in two years — which costs more than the lease they were trying to avoid. Ask whether additional desks are available in the building, at what rate, with what notice, and whether the operator will reserve capacity. A building that is already near full cannot support growth however flexible the agreement says it is.
