Where UK businesses actually look for premises
Businesses looking for space in the UK start online, and most of them start on a commercial property portal - the commercial equivalents of the sites people use to find a house. A smaller share come through Google searches for a town and a property type ("industrial unit to let Derby"), through social media and local business networks, and through good old-fashioned boards and word of mouth.
That tells you where to be. Your unit needs to be on at least one portal that businesses search, and it needs to be findable by Google for the kind of search a tenant types. A listing on Boxpod does both: the listing itself appears in tenant searches on the site, and every listing page is built to rank for "type to let in town" searches, which is where a large part of our tenant traffic comes from. Which portals let landlords list directly, and what each costs, is covered in where to list commercial property online in the UK.
Do not ignore the offline channels either. A board on the unit still works for local trades and anyone who drives past, and telling neighbouring businesses the unit is available costs nothing - expanding next door is the easiest move a tenant can make.
Presenting the unit so it gets enquiries
Tenants skim. A listing wins or loses in the first few seconds, on five things:
- Photos. Six or more, taken in daylight with the unit empty and tidy: the frontage, the main space from the door, the roller shutter or entrance, any office or mezzanine, the yard or parking, and the access road. Phone photos are fine; dark or cluttered ones are not.
- A stated rent. Listings with "price on application" get fewer enquiries and attract the wrong ones. Quote the rent per year (and per square foot if that is how your market talks), and say whether VAT applies.
- The size, in square feet and square metres. Tenants filter by it. Measure it properly - tenants will.
- What it can be used for. Planning use class, power supply, eaves height, loading access, parking, whether the unit has a roller shutter, WC, office, heating. The practical details a business needs to know before it bothers to ask.
- Lease basics. How long, whether you will consider a shorter term or a break clause, and anything included (service charge, insurance, business rates if known).
Write the description the way you would describe the unit to someone on the phone - plainly. Our checklist of what to have ready before you list covers the documents side.
Handling enquiries and viewings
Once the listing is live the job becomes answering the phone and the inbox - and speed matters. Businesses usually enquire on several units at once, and the landlord who replies the same day is the one who gets the viewing. Aim to respond within 24 hours, even if only to offer viewing times.
Pre-qualify gently on the first contact: what the business does, when they need to move, roughly how much space they need, and whether the use fits the unit. That saves everyone a wasted viewing. At the viewing itself, let the unit do the talking, answer questions honestly, and have the key facts to hand - rent, size, lease length, what is included, when it is available.
On Boxpod, enquiries come straight to you by email or phone from the listing - there is no intermediary, and you keep the whole conversation. Keep a simple note of who enquired and when; a business that was not ready this month is often ready next quarter.
Agreeing terms without an agent
When a tenant wants to proceed, agree the main terms in writing before anyone involves solicitors - a one-page heads of terms: the parties, the unit, the rent and when it is paid, the lease length, any break clause, the rent deposit, who repairs and insures (most small commercial leases are "full repairing and insuring"), any rent-free period, and whether the lease is inside or outside the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 security-of-tenure provisions (most small-unit lettings are contracted out, which needs a formal notice and declaration before signing).
Do your checks: ask for the business's details, a couple of trade or landlord references, and consider a credit check or a rent deposit for a new business. Then instruct a solicitor to draw up the lease - you would do this with an agent too, since agents do not prepare leases. A straightforward lease on a small unit is a modest one-off legal cost, and it is the document that protects you for the next several years, so it is not the place to save money.
That is genuinely the whole process. The step-by-step guide to letting without an agent walks it in order, and what agents charge shows what you have saved by doing it yourself.