Private Leased Offices in London: How to Plan Space, Costs and Fit-Out

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A private lease can give you control of your own suite or floor in London. Before committing, establish which costs and compliance duties come with that control. If you treat the space and fit-out as one cost decision, the move from serviced space can pay off.

What a private lease actually buys you

You rent a defined area directly from the landlord and hold it under a lease. The term, break options and rent-review arrangements depend on the specific property and negotiation, so your solicitor should verify each point before you commit. Within those terms, you can lay out and brand the space to suit how your people work.

When comparing a serviced licence, ask what the monthly fee includes: fitted desks, shared meeting rooms, cleaning and reception may be bundled together. Check the agreed terms for any flexibility to scale up or leave at short notice.

For a lease, establish how much responsibility and control you would take on. Ask who funds the fit-out and arranges cleaning, IT, furniture and day-to-day upkeep. Include rent, service charge, business rates and insurance in that discussion, and confirm how each would be billed under the proposed terms.

You may also be responsible for repairs and reinstatement at the end of the term. Ask your surveyor to explain any potential dilapidations bill against the lease wording and the condition in which you expect to leave the space. Take professional advice on tenure, repairs, break terms and costs before signing, as lease wording varies widely.

Control has a price, but it also gives you room to make the workplace your own.

Talk to peers who have already made the jump. They can tell you what the brochure leaves out and which decisions caused problems later.

Size the floorplate before you look at listings

Don’t start with listings. Begin with headcount and a clear view of how your teams work.

List the desks you need now and the hires you expect over the lease term. Add enclosed rooms for calls, one-to-ones, confidential work and focused tasks, as well as larger rooms for team sessions and client meetings. Then allow for breakout and kitchen space that people will genuinely use each day.

Convert that schedule into a net area requirement, then allow for circulation and the difference between usable and lettable area. Two floors with the same lettable figure can feel very different once you account for cores, columns, window zones and awkward corners. A test fit on actual plans will show what fits without crowding people in.

Density is where office design budgets can succeed or fail. Put in too many desks and the layout may struggle with noise and room demand. Leave too much slack and you may pay for capacity that is rarely used. Plan for a headcount range rather than one fixed number, then test plausible growth and contraction scenarios chosen from the company’s own forecast.

Ask for floor plans with dimensions and column grids before you view. You may rule out much of the shortlist on paper and avoid weeks of wasted viewings. Don’t commit to a size until you’ve seen desks, rooms, circulation routes and storage drawn accurately to scale.

Draw the week, not only the floor. This will reveal attendance peaks that a static desk count can easily hide.

Separate the Cat A shell from your Cat B budget

A London floor may be offered as a Cat A shell, but the exact specification should be checked by your surveyor for the property in question. It may include raised floors, suspended ceilings, lighting and comfort cooling, together with base-build toilets and lobbies. The rent may cover that shell, but it won’t necessarily provide a finished workplace.

Your Cat B works turn the available shell into somewhere your people can do their jobs. The scope can cover partitions and doors, meeting rooms, the kitchen, breakout joinery and storage, together with power, data, lighting changes and branding. This is where many of the design choices sit, and the cost consultant should confirm what belongs in the project budget.

Set a Cat B budget per sq ft and per desk before you discuss rent. Work out what you can spend in cash terms, then test it against property-specific quotes for a comparable scope rather than relying on headline averages. You’ll negotiate more clearly when you understand your own number.

Use the rent-free period as a potential lever for that spend. A longer rent-free period does not reduce the stated rent, but it can offset some early occupancy costs and protect cash while builders are on site. A rent-free period matched to the build helps you align the incentive with the programme rather than relying on guesswork.

Don’t start design without understanding how that timing and incentive will work.

Some landlords may offer a capital contribution instead of additional rent-free time. Compare both routes on a cash basis with your solicitor and cost consultant, using the terms proposed for the particular property.

Hold a contingency for hidden services and late changes. Your contractor and cost consultant can advise on an appropriate allowance once they understand the building and scope.

Compare total cost per desk, not headline rent

Headline rent tells you little on its own in London. Two suites at the same rent can carry very different service charges, power use, tax bills and cleaning costs. You need one comparable figure that puts each cost on the same basis.

Build a per desk per month model that runs across the full lease term. Include rent, service charge, business rates and insurance in the first pass. Then add power, cleaning, IT and annualised fit-out spending so finance can see the wider occupancy cost.

Spread the net Cat B cost, after any agreed incentive, over the months you expect to stay. If you may exercise a break, run the figures to the break date as well as the full term. That shows whether three years of occupation would leave you carrying fit-out costs you had expected to spread over five.

You can then judge a serviced all-in rate more fairly. Serviced space may look expensive per desk until the lease model includes management time, voids, repairs and downtime. A company that wants greater control over layout and brand may therefore choose private leased offices over a serviced licence, even when the headline rent initially looks higher.

Keep the comparison in per desk per month terms so finance can read it easily. Show base costs and running costs separately, then identify management time and capital spending. You’ll soon see whether the additional control justifies the management involved.

Negotiate the lease around the fit-out programme

Tie the lease dates to the build rather than forcing the build around fixed dates. Ask whether a fit-out period with no rent can apply before the term starts, followed by a rent-free period reflecting the Cat B scope you have priced. Your solicitor should verify how rent commencement and practical completion interact so you understand what will be payable while trades remain on site.

Plan for a tenant-only break if it supports your business strategy, even when you expect to stay. Ask your solicitor whether the proposed break would let you exit if headcount or direction changes, and exactly which conditions you would need to meet. Don’t rely on an informal promise that you can sublet or walk away, since consent requirements and market conditions may prevent that.

Get the licence to alter agreed before you fix the programme. Ask your solicitor to confirm what the landlord consent permits you to change and what review fees may apply. A design-and-build contractor can provide single-point delivery, while a separate solicitor checks consents and costs so approvals are less likely to stall the start on site.

Lease terms differ from building to building. Have your solicitor review alienation, repair, break and hand-back conditions, and don’t sign until the fit-out dates and rent commencement provisions form one clear, consistent sequence.

Allow weeks rather than days for approvals and procurement, with the contractor confirming a realistic programme for the chosen property. Landlord review and long-lead items can push back a start date even when drawings appear ready.

Build some slack into the move date. A late handover will hurt less if the old licence continues to cover you during the transition.

Get compliance and building checks done early

Check the energy rating before spending heavily on design. A floor may require landlord works that clash with your Cat B programme, and you don’t want to discover that after paying for detailed drawings. Ask for the certificate and the landlord’s plan for work during your term, then have your solicitor and surveyor verify the position for that building.

Line up building approvals alongside landlord consent. Structural changes, new air conditioning, kitchen extracts and altered layouts may require formal sign-off, depending on the proposed works. Your contractor should manage that timetable, while your solicitor confirms responsibility for costs and delays if consent arrives late.

In older stock, survey early for restrictions that may shape the design. Check asbestos records and riser space for new cables, along with floor-loading for safes or dense storage and the available power supply for kitchens and server areas. Any one of these issues can force a rethink if found late.

Prioritise functional performance before statement finishes. Test acoustic separation, furniture, task lighting, temperature controls and meeting-room technology against the team’s work patterns. Include commissioning and a pre-handover room test in the programme so faults can be recorded and corrected before occupation.

Use the remaining design budget deliberately. A calm palette, clear signage, planting and graphics can create identity without relying entirely on bespoke joinery. Compare each element for durability, adaptability and likely hand-back work, then keep the features that provide enough value to justify their full life-cycle cost.

Plan the exit before you sign

Photograph and record the suite on day one. Ask your solicitor about agreeing a schedule of condition with the landlord and attaching it to the lease. Confirm how that record would affect your repair obligations rather than assuming photographs alone settle responsibility.

Fix the hand-back wording while you still have leverage. Clarify whether partitions, flooring, kitchens and cabling stay or go, and establish who pays for removal. Clear duties at the start make the likely end bill easier to plan for.

Choose reversible Cat B elements where practical. Ask how much making good demountable partitions would need, and compare furniture fixings before choosing them. Check whether installation or removal would leave holes or marks that you would need to repair. Keep service penetrations tidy and documented so reinstatement becomes a defined task rather than an open argument.

Keep as-built drawings, approvals, product data and warranties in one file. You’ll need them when pricing dilapidations and preparing a clean handover. Keeping those records as you go gives you something to refer to when reconstructing decisions and resolving questions at exit.

Review break dates and hand-back duties once a year. This gives you time to spot conflicts and adjust either the space or the occupancy strategy before deadlines become difficult to manage.

Photograph plant areas and risers as well. Those images can help settle end-of-term questions about condition, access and responsibility.

A lease rewards companies that do the maths early. Size the space honestly, budget Cat B before chasing rent-free incentives and model the full cost per desk. Put dates, compliance duties, exit terms and records in writing so the floor supports the way you work rather than working against it. Test layouts on paper and keep records from day one.