They deal directly with the landlord’s agent, assume the process is straightforward, and move in. What they don’t realise is that this single decision can cost them tens — sometimes hundreds — of thousands of pounds over the life of a lease. The question of how much tenants overpay is one that rarely gets asked until the damage is done.
This isn’t speculation. A University of Leeds study found that when property agencies act for both landlord and tenant, conflicts of interest are “more likely to be resolved against the party who has the least value to the firm.” That party is almost always the tenant — and almost always an SME. The researchers found that information barriers between departments were “prone to being breached.” It was damning enough that RICS banned dual agency for its UK members from January 2018.
Yet the practice hasn’t disappeared. It has simply shape-shifted. Many commercial agents still represent landlords on one deal and tenants on the next, creating a structural incentive to keep rents high and keep landlords happy. Nearly 20% of Central London office lettings still involve agents representing both sides of the same transaction. Just 28% of people trust estate agents to tell them the truth. (source levelworkspace.com) Only politicians and advertising executives score worse on the Ipsos Veracity Index.
Commercial rent overpayment starts with headline rent — and compounds from there
To understand office lease costs properly, you need to know the market. Prime office rents in London’s West End now sit around £160 per sq ft per year, with trophy buildings in Mayfair exceeding £200. The City of London averages closer to £100 per sq ft. Outside London, the regional “Big Nine” cities average around £40.72 per sq ft — Manchester at £45.50, Birmingham at £46, Bristol at £42.50 to £50.
Those are headline figures. What most tenants don’t factor in is that service charges and business rates typically add 30–40% on top of rent. A £50 per sq ft office actually costs £65–70 per sq ft once you include everything. In Central London, business rates alone can account for half of total occupancy costs. Across the UK, average office service charges run to £7.20 per sq ft, rising to £12–15 per sq ft in Central London.
This is where tenant representation savings become tangible. A tenant negotiating alone rarely challenges the service charge budget. They don’t ask whether costs are apportioned fairly, or whether the landlord is passing through management fees that benefit no one but themselves. Over two-thirds of service charge disputes that are formally challenged are fully or partially upheld. That tells you something about how often tenants are quietly overcharged.
Rent-free periods are there for the taking — if you know to ask
Here’s a stat that should make every business owner wince: only around one in five commercial leases include any rent-free period at all. Yet in the City of London, where vacancy rates exceed 9%, tenants on five-year leases can negotiate up to 12 months rent-free. Even in the tighter West End market, one month per year of term is standard — if you ask.
Landlords actually prefer giving rent-free periods over cutting headline rent. The reason is simple: headline rent drives property valuations. A landlord will happily give you six months free rather than reduce the per-square-foot figure that underpins their asset value. Savvy tenants — or rather, their brokers — know this and use it. Those without representation don’t even know the conversation is available.
On a 5,000 sq ft office at £50 per sq ft, a missed six-month rent-free period is £125,000 left on the table. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a hire. Or a product launch. Or a full year’s marketing budget for most SMEs.
The exit costs nobody warns you about
Dilapidations — the cost of returning a property to its original condition at lease end — are the nasty surprise that catches unrepresented tenants cold. The average office dilapidations settlement runs to £26.94 per sq ft. On a modest 5,000 sq ft office, that’s nearly £135,000. Bills of a full year’s rent are common, and without proper advice, you may be obligated to return the space in better condition than you found it.
The fix is straightforward: agree a schedule of condition before signing. This photographs and documents the property’s state at the start, capping your liability to the condition you inherited. An office real estate agent representing only tenants in the office search will insist on this as standard. Most landlord-side agents won’t mention it.
Break clauses are another minefield. Research shows that 68% of break notice failures stem from technical non-compliance — a wrong date, a missed condition, a letter served one day late. In one documented case, a tenant served their break notice a single day past the deadline and was locked into the lease for a further seven years at £85,000 per year. That’s £595,000 because of a missed date.
What tenant-only brokers actually save in practice
The numbers from firms that work exclusively for tenants tell a clear story. LEVEL Workspace’s case studies show Robiquity saving £307,476 — comprising £227,760 in rent savings and £79,716 in dilapidations avoided — on a single 5,694 sq ft office in Manchester. Dovetail & Slate saved over £250,000 securing their Bristol headquarters.
These aren’t outliers. They’re what happens when someone competent negotiates on your behalf rather than against you. The commission a tenant’s broker earns is already built into the deal — landlords budget for it regardless. When a tenant goes unrepresented, the landlord’s agent simply pockets a larger fee. The savings do not flow back to you.
There’s also the growing question of sustainability. BREEAM excellent buildings deliver roughly 30% lower energy costs and measurable productivity gains of 8–11%. A tenant-only broker can steer you toward buildings where the premium pays for itself through lower running costs — rather than toward whichever building the landlord is paying the highest commission to fill. You can read more about what to look for in a broker and how the process works before committing to any office search.
The arithmetic is hard to ignore
Add it up across a typical ten-year lease on a 5,000 sq ft office: inflated rent, a missed rent-free period, unchallenged service charges, a dilapidations bill no one warned you about, and a break clause you couldn’t exercise. The total commercial rent overpayment easily reaches six figures. For many SMEs, it reaches the mid-hundreds of thousands.
The commercial property market was built to serve landlords. The agents, the incentive structures, the default lease terms — all of it tilts one way. The only real question is whether you walk into that market alone or with someone whose only job is to look after your interests.