Florist News

Hi all,

At the moment I am trying to look into whether I would be able to afford renting shop premises.

Can anyone tell me what additional costs (e.g legal costs - is this a percentage amount of the annual rate? etc..) I should also factor in?

Many thanks!


Kathleen

You'll need to get an idea of your biz rates, although you should qualify for a 50% reduction if you only have 1 premises. You should be able to look this up through your local council. Also don't forget about insurance too. Good luck

I was lucky, my landlord paid the legal costs when i bought mine, but i dont think a lot will do that. You'll also have to pay your own solicitors fees, to check over the lease etc. You may have to pay a deposit as well, sometimes up to 3 months rent in advance.

You need to think about the following costs when renting premises.

Rent
Rates
Water
Electricity
Gas
Liability Insurance
Phones
PDQ Machine
Waste Removal ( you dont get your rubbish taken free when you are a business, you have to pay seperate from your business rates)
Stock
And last but not least.....wages.....hahahahhahaa, what are they


Ive probably forgotton something, but thats what i can think of, off the top of my head.

Hope that helps

50%???
Not here you don't, you get small business rate relief up to 10k rateable value by the time the ratable value gets to 9K you get about 5% off thats all, once its past 10k you don't get a penny off.

Solicitors you should shop aroundmy costs 6 yearss ago were 1400plus vat, 3 months rent 2 landlord, when i moved shop 18 mnths ago for changeover of lease was 895.00plus vat

Dont want to scare you but I have spanked 25K securing a lease and this has taken nearly a year to complete. This includes a failed sale of a premises and securing and buying the lease on another, plus all the set up costs. In short its a little bit like having a second mortgage!

when I bought my shop, about a year & half ago, it cost me around £13 k. this included solicitors, buying the business, stock, fixtures & fitings, rent, insurance, rates, waste collection, plus silly things that you wouldn't think about like i had to pay £150 security deposit on my BT phone account because i was a new trader!!!???

Be prepared for it to take a lot longer than you expect for it all to go through - i put an offer in at the end of feb & it was the middle of july when i got the keys! this meant i had to dip in to savings to live on, so ended up having to borrow more from the bank.

I now find my break even figure is about £900 p/m to cover all the essentials like utilities, staff wages, loan & card re-payments, rates, accountant & payroll, rent, plus extras such as advertising, web site hosting, c/c machine, tea & coffee, loo roll, cleaning stuff, diesel, stationery printing, etc, etc....the list is never ending!!

This leaves no money left for me at the end of it all i pay myself £20 a week which covers my bare essentials - fortunately i have a very understanding husband-to-be with a half decent wage - so your own personal circumstances will play a huge part in whether you feel able to do this.

Its good though!! (a bit stressy, but good) if you weigh it all up and you can, & still want, to do it - then go for it!!! although i found that after all the advice i got, and all the preparation i did, i still have to wing it!!! no 2 businesses are the same as there are too many factors to consider so you just have to do your best

s
x

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I would like to add,,from my own bitter experience,,if you get yourself a lease,,make sure you have a "get out" clause in it,,usually about half way through its term,,or after a year or 2. I so wish I had been given that tip!!

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live long and prosper

Interesting - thats what it worked out in my area when I looked into the costs of a shop. Thought that was across the board???

Thanks so much everyone for the replies! Obviously theres a lot I hadn't thought of and didn't know! I'm glad I asked!!

Thanks again everyone!


Kathleen