Professional Services

Historic appraisals

We have been successful over the years at appraising the historic value of commercial property for taxation.  At the point of purchase or at 1982 valuation date for those that have owned property for a longer period of time.

We have saved our clients up to £100,000 in capital gains through accurate appraisals of these values, and are very comfortable in defending our figures against the valuation office surveyors, rent reviews and lease renewals.

Due to the high numbers of commercial property sales and lettings that we carry out in North London, we have an extensive database of commercial transactions.  That means we are able to give accurate advice as to what your commercial property is actually worth at rent review or lease renewal date.

Our process starts with a report to the client with a thought out proposal for the revised rent together with a comparable schedule to support our recommendations.  Some clients use this information to negotiate the rent at review themselves others immediately employ PSS to negotiate the new rent with the tenant knowing they are in safe hands.

We negotiate in line with our clients instructions some clients require a settled rent to not reflect the true value of the property to preserve landlord and tenant relations while other clients wish to maximise the full rent achieved at each and every rent review.  We take pride in our skills of negotiation, and settle the majority of reviews by way of negotiation.  Occasionally we do need to refer the matter to an arbitrator or independent expert.

In all but a few cases we have gained very favourable results for our clients.

Planning and Marketing reports

Although over the last few years parts of the planning system have ‘softened’ through ‘Permitted Development’.

Some ‘Change of Use’ applications require evidence that the property has been marketed fully.  With Nicholas Seatons’ planning background we are able to provide clients with a full report of marketing a property for a period of 1 to 2 years.  If we are successful in letting the property, then the client has achieved gaining a commercial tenant.  If we are not successful in finding a tenant and have all the marketing evidence to produce a robust marketing report to assist in gaining planning consent.  We are also able to provide reports on the general state of the market, availability schedules and comparable evidence reports.

Our success rate of applications is almost 100% with the only failed application, the planning officer actually stated that the application was rejected on design not due to the lack of marketing.  To secure planning consent these reports are a valuable tool.

Rent Review

Most commercial leases have a mechanism for reviewing the rent on a single or multiple intervals, most commonly on a 10 or 15 year lease – this would be at five yearly intervals.   The new rent that will be settled at rent review is established by the use of nearby comparable evidence that is by looking at what other similar properties in similar locations have let for

With Paul Simon Seaton being one of the most proactive commercial agents in North London especially within the retail sector our database of compatible evidence is considerable, our knowledge of the local market puts us in a formidable position for negotiating rent reviews on behalf of both Landlord and Tenant although the majority of our work is undertaken on behalf of landlords.

Having a professional acting between Landlord and the Tenant during stressful negotiations can also help to preserve ongoing and established Landlord and Tenant relationship, here at Paul Simon Seaton Commercial we have a simple process for dealing with rent reviews we charge an initial one off fee for reading your lease and associated documents be it memorandums for license to assign etc. visiting the premises, measuring and producing a report to you of the value we feel is correct as of the rent review date, taking into consideration the clauses within the lease as well has the combarable evidence to hand.   Some clients wish to use this report as the main tool in negotiating directly with the Tenant or Landlord while others instruct us immediately to negotiate and settle the rent and prepare a memorandum showing the rent agreed between the parties.

If you’re looking for someone with expert knowledge in this field please do not hesitate in contacting us to discuss our charges and terms and conditions.

Lease Renewals

Many leases have provisions to allow the tenant to renew their lease upon expiry, conditional upon certain criteria.  PSS can assist you in working out if your tenant has fulfilled their obligations and have rights to renew.  We will also be able to appraise the property so as to give you the correct rental figure that any such renewal should take place at.  This is of upmost importance as it sets the principle rent at which could be paid for the entire lease if a) there are no rent review provisions or b) If there is no evidence of open market lettings at review of higher figures.

Our negotiating skills both renewal and review means that we usually get the result that our clients are looking for. 

We act for both Landlords and Tenants but the majority of our work in this field is for Landlords.

Acquisition

If you cannot find what you are looking for on our search page, have multiple requirements or don’t want to spend time looking for property you may consider using our acquisition service.  Using state of the art systems together with our network of agents, surveyors and developers we are able to locate both on and off the market opportunities. We also use all 5 of the main commercial search portals.  Part of the service also includes negotiating the transactions with the owners representative’s , not only covering your interests now but also in the future, at rent review and at lease end, when considerations that are normally overlooked at the start of the lease but can be costly in the long run. The cost of using an agent to represent you may seem expensive initially but normally prove to be inexpensive in long term savings.  Using specialist industry systems such as the Estate Agents Clearing House, we are able to actively market your requirement to all Commercial Agents in the relevant area, so as soon as a matching property is available, you will receive particulars for your consideration.

Land Development

As well as advising Clients on feasibility of developing sites, we also have a selection of sites available for development or re-development both with and without planning consents; we are always looking for sites and often we have retained clients ready and waiting for opportunities, so a sale through Paul Simon Seaton could in fact be commission free.

Planning Consultancy

Our in house planning expert Nicholas J Seaton BSc (Hons) Dip TP (Bartlett School Of Planning UCL) is always available for advice on planning issues. Paul Simon Seaton Commercial also work alongside some of the UK’s leading planning and architect practices, so we can direct you to the best person for the project.