The market is busier than ever at the moment, with agents and tenants alike trying to complete their transactions before Christmas arrives. The final four weeks of play this year will see the final push from agents to get their ducks in a line and as many clients under offer as possible before the break. 

The government recently introduced a change to planning laws so that the conversion of office B1 use to residential C3 no longer requires planning permission. As said by Christina Weguelin, one of the acquisition surveyors at Morgan Pryce, “Since the floodgates have opened to lessen planning laws to allow the conversion of office use to residential use, there have been major redevelopments across all of central London to bring back the once lived in mansions of areas such as Mayfair, Soho and Fitzrovia especially.”

Serviced office provider and property consultancy Ventia Ltd announced its year-end figures this week. In just three years of trading Ventia has managed to take advantage of the resilient London serviced office market, despite the general downturn, and achieved a turnover of £4,256,290 and a net profit of £793,617.

Offices in the City vacancy rates over the past 18 months have been the highest since the Lehman Brothers went bust, but the last 2 quarters have seen more office take-ups in the City than the West End. As a result the vacancy rates have dropped below 9%. Over the last couple of years, acquisition agents dream of large City requirements, in this strong tenant market tenants were able to dictate more flexible lease terms, better rents and improved rent frees.

The trend of the serviced office looks set to continue as an ever greater proportion of the commercial property market is taken up by this rental model.  Demonstrating this upwards-only surge in popularity is the serviced office provider Regus. The company has revised its figures for planned new centres in 2014 from 350 to 420–440 worldwide. 

The landlord of West London’s 160,000 sq ft building has announced that it has secured its first major letting. It has let 75,000 sq ft to Betchel Corporation, who are a leading engineering and construction firm. Betchel have taken a straight 10 year lease term, the rental rate is £28.50 per sq ft. Betchel are currently located in Hammersmith and plan to take occupation in the office in Park Royal as of June 2014. 

The leasing market in Midtown in 2013 Q3 figures returned to a more average quarterly take up in particular. At just under 450,000 sq ft of take up, which is an underlying number excluding pre-lets, it has to be said it was a very good quarter in the Midtown leasing market. 

Morgan Pryce understands that Google have recently gone back to the drawing board regarding the recent fit out designs for their new office space in King’s Cross. The web giants are currently in the process of putting together designs for their new 750,000 sq ft London Headquarters where they aim to continue to push the boundaries of the office design yet further.

When acquiring office space, most tenant’s solicitors feel a lot more comfortable if a Schedule of Condition has been carried out. A schedule of condition is a photographic report which outlines in detail the state of the office space being acquired and is referred to when the tenant is reinstating the office at the end of the lease back in to the condition that they took it in.

It was perhaps only a matter of time until the government was forced to defend its legislation, brought in earlier this year, permitting office space to be converted to residential without the need for planning permission.  The form of attack is coming from London boroughs Islington, Camden, Richmond upon Thames and Lambeth, who have commenced a High Court challenge against the government’s changes, introduced in the form of a GPDO (General Permitted Development Order).