Buying a commercial property can often seem like a sound financial decision. Businesses that own their own property have more control over what they do with it, and investing in a property can often make sense from a personal perspective for business owners too.
With taxation on residential property squeezing profits from rental income, some landlords are looking towards commercial property as an alternative.
Here we look at the reasons why a pre-purchase survey by a Chartered Building Surveyor is a good idea when it comes to purchasing commercial buildings.
Identify Serious Defects
Commercial properties are typically constructed differently to residential properties, using different materials and structures. Without knowledge of these methods of construction, it can be tricky to spot potentially costly problems.
A Chartered Building Surveyor will help you identify the problems unique to your commercial property, advising on how serious these are and the costs to rectify them. In some cases, this can avoid making a flawed decision to proceed with the purchase of the property, or may allow for negotiation on the purchase price.
Maintenance Planning
Commercial properties can often fall into a greater state of disrepair than residential properties and there are therefore significant costs to maintaining a commercial building. As any repair bill will eat into the profits a business can make, it’s important to be able to prepare for and manage these costs. A commercial survey will lay out both the incumbent defects and the expected future issues at the property before the point of purchase so any repair bills can be factored into budgets.
Health and Safety
The legislative burden on companies is much greater than it is on individuals and health and safety risks, fire precautions, compliance etc are the responsibility of the company taking occupancy.
The safety of both staff and visitors to your property is a source of potential liability so will need to be considered. A Chartered Building Surveyor can advise you on the aspects of the property that will need further attention and can point you in the direction of how best to address the issue.
Lea Hough assist commercial property buyers with navigating the complex and costly matter of buying a new business premises. For more information or to obtain a quote for our commercial property surveys, please get in touch.
