Track record

Lease of community building in Plaistow, East London

The Parochial Church Council of St Martin’s

Advising a local church and subsequent letting of their community building

Lease Advisory

Agency

Disposals & Acquisitions

Service

Charities Not for Profit

Industry

Adam Harvey

The project

We were approached by the local church to advise them with regards to the suitability of part of their community centre for letting. This was initially from several prospective parties who had made a direct approach to the parish. None of these progressed to a deal.

We were subsequently asked to put the premises on the open market to find a suitable tenant. It was important to the parish to not only obtain such much needed income but also that the new tenant was compatible with their own use of their adjacent church building.

Our solution

Advised client on likely market rent that might be achievable given the state of the property given the previous tenant had left the premises in a poor condition
Generated plenty of interest in the property from various community groups, most of whom were looking for the property to use as a place of worship
Although there were a number of Christian organisations who made offers the parish thought this might be a conflict of interest and competition to their own use of the adjoining church
We were able to negotiate suitable terms with a Buddhist organisation who would not conflict with the parish and who would be a relatively quiet neighbour
Although the prospective tenant wanted a rent free period to take account of the refurbishment and fit out costs we were able to negotiate a more useful lower rent over the first year of the term
The rent reverted to the market rate from the beginning of the second year of the term.