Office leasing, explained
The seven things a tenant has to understand before a lease proposal means anything, what you are actually being quoted, what you will be billed for, and what you owe at the end.
Serviced or traditional: which office should you take?
A serviced office is a licence to occupy a fitted, furnished suite for a monthly fee that bundles rent, outgoings, utilities, internet, cleaning and reception. A tra...
Flex, sublease or your own lease: which one at 5 to 25 people?
A business of five to twenty-five people has three ways to occupy an office in Australia. A flexible or serviced office is a monthly licence for a fitted suite where...
Twelve questions to ask before you sign an office sublease
An office sublease is a lease of part or all of another tenant's premises, granted by that tenant rather than by the landlord, for a term that must end before their...
How much office space do you actually need?
For a conventional office lease the long-standing Australian planning convention is roughly 10 to 15 square metres of lettable area per person, because that figure h...
Car parking in an office lease: how it works
Car parking is almost never included in an office rent. Bays are allocated against the area you lease, commonly expressed as a ratio such as one bay per 200 square m...
Bank guarantees and bonds: what a landlord will ask for
A commercial landlord will require security against the lease, most often a bank guarantee equal to three to six months of gross rent including GST. The bank issues...
GST on office rent and outgoings
Commercial rent in Australia is a taxable supply, so GST of ten per cent applies to office rent, to recoverable outgoings, and to car parking. Quotes are normally gi...
Meeting rooms: what they really cost
Most serviced office operators include a monthly credit of meeting-room hours in the desk rate and charge an hourly rate beyond it. The credit is where operators dif...
What's actually included in a serviced office?
A serviced office is quoted as one monthly figure per desk that bundles the rent, outgoings, utilities, internet, cleaning, furniture, reception and building access...
Serviced offices: minimum terms and deposits
Serviced offices are taken on a licence rather than a lease, which is why the commitment is short: terms of three, six and twelve months are standard, and month-to-m...
Net vs gross lease: what is the difference?
In a gross lease the rent is a single all-inclusive figure and the landlord pays the building outgoings out of it. In a net lease you pay a base rent and then your p...
Outgoings in a commercial lease: what tenants actually pay
Outgoings are the costs of running and owning a building that the landlord recovers from tenants, council and water rates, building insurance, cleaning, security, l...
Make good: what you owe the landlord at the end of the lease
Make good is your obligation to return the premises at the end of the lease in the condition the lease specifies. Depending on the wording that can mean stripping th...
Office lease incentives: how they work
A lease incentive is what a landlord gives back to win your tenancy: a rent-free period, a contribution to your fitout, a rent abatement spread across the term, or a...
Permitted use: the clause that decides what you can do in the space
The permitted use clause states what the premises may be used for, and using them for anything else is a breach of the lease. Wording that is too narrow can stop you...
The Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic): does it cover my office?
The Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) protects tenants of "retail premises", premises used wholly or predominantly for the sale or hire of goods by retail, or for the re...
Typical office lease terms by building grade
Lease terms in Australia follow the building, not the tenant. A serviced office is a short all-inclusive licence with no make good and no bank guarantee; a premium C...
Getting out of an office lease early
A commercial lease has no built-in right to leave early. If the business shrinks, grows, or moves, the tenant is still bound to pay rent until the end of the term un...
Comparing office proposals on the same basis
Two office proposals almost never arrive on the same basis. One quotes net rent, the other gross. One includes GST, the other does not. One carries a rent-free perio...
Looking for numbers rather than definitions? See what office space costs across Australia in the cost guide, or suburb-level rents with sample sizes in the rent benchmarks.
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