Renting an office: the rent per square metre tells you half the story
The first thing to ask is how far apart the area you pay for and the area you can actually use are, because most office buildings quote a rent on space that already includes a share of the common areas. Two buildings both quoting 350 baht per square metre are not, in fact, the same price.
An illustration. One building offers 200 square metres, and measured inside the walls it comes to 170. Another offers the same 200 and measures 185. At the same headline rent, the second is about 8 percent cheaper per square metre you can actually put a desk on, while the two quotations look identical on paper.
Ask for the net figure, not just the leasable area
The market term is the efficiency ratio: how much of the space you are paying for is usable. What goes missing is lift lobbies, corridors, shared washrooms and risers, all of which have to exist and none of which is wrong. What is wrong is comparing prices without knowing the number.
The direct approach is to ask for a floor plan with two figures on it, the area used for the rent calculation and the area inside your demised walls, and compare that between buildings. If the agent cannot produce it, take a laser measure to the viewing. It takes under ten minutes and it changes decisions.
Also ask about the shape. A long narrow floor plate with a column in the middle and a clear rectangle of the same area do not seat the same number of people. Sketch a desk layout on the plan before deciding, rather than trusting the square metre figure alone.
Three costs that are not in the rent
The quoted rent is the first line of the bill. The three that follow it usually add up to more than people budget for.
The service charge is quoted per square metre like the rent and billed monthly, covering cleaning, security, common area power and air conditioning during building hours. It varies widely between building grades, and it is what turns a cheaper-looking building into the more expensive one once the whole bill is added up.
The tax point to know: letting immovable property is exempt from VAT, but a separately billed service charge is not. So when comparing buildings, add VAT to the service side, or you are comparing two numbers that are not the same kind of number.
After-hours air conditioning is the cost people forget most often. Office buildings run the chilled water system to a schedule, typically weekdays in office hours and a half day on Saturday. If your team works late or comes in on Sundays, you are billed by the hour per zone. A business running shifts, or a team dealing with another time zone, should ask the rate on day one and multiply it out for a month.
Parking. Most buildings grant bays in proportion to the leased area, one per so many square metres, with anything beyond that rented monthly. Count the people on your team who genuinely drive in, compare against the entitlement, and if there is a big gap, parking becomes a budget line rather than a perk.
Power and services, before you plan the layout
Office buildings are designed to a power allowance per square metre, which is ample for an ordinary office and not necessarily enough for every business. If you will have a server room, a small kitchen, or equipment that draws real current, ask for the allocation to your space in watts per square metre and put it in front of your services designer before signing.
Three things to ask together: whether backup power reaches tenant areas or only common areas; where the riser for data cabling comes up and which internet providers can reach the building; and whether the floor is a raised access floor you can run cable under or whether everything has to go in tray above the ceiling. Those three set both the fit-out budget and how soon you can actually work there.
The internet point deserves expanding, because some buildings have an exclusive arrangement with a single provider. If your business needs a second circuit from a different provider for resilience, ask before signing rather than after moving in.
The two clauses that decide whether the deal is good
An office lease is more negotiable than people assume, and these two are worth the most real money.
The first is the fit-out rent-free period, the time you have possession to build out before rent starts running. Most buildings will grant it, and how many days depends on the size of the space, the length of the term and the state of the market. One month on 300 square metres is a six-figure sum, which makes it a point to negotiate before you settle the rent itself.
The second is reinstatement at the end of the term, which is the large bill nobody budgets for. Most leases require the tenant to strip out everything installed and return the space as it was, meaning partitions, flooring, ceilings and added services come out and the place is repainted. If you spent millions on the fit-out, taking it out is not a small number.
What to do about it is to agree at the start exactly what must come out and what may stay, and to attach photographs of the space as handed over to the lease. The phrase "original condition" without photographs is extremely elastic on the day you are moving out with a deposit still held.
Tax and registration work the same as a warehouse
Three rules carry over from other commercial space. A lease of immovable property longer than three years must be registered with the competent official, or it binds for three years only. Stamp duty is 1 baht per 1,000 baht of the total rent over the term. And a corporate tenant withholds 5 percent from the rent and remits it to the Revenue Department.
All three, with the lease clauses to watch, are set out in more detail in what to check before renting a warehouse, which applies equally to offices. Registering a long lease specifically is covered in registering a long lease and the stamp duty on it.
What differs from a warehouse: if you intend to register a company at this address, you need a landlord's letter of consent to use the premises together with a copy of the title document. Ask for it when you sign, not when you are standing at the registration counter.
Walk the building three times before signing
One viewing is not enough, because the things that turn out to matter rarely show up on the first visit.
Go once on a weekday morning to see how long the lift wait is when everyone arrives. A building with insufficient lifts costs your staff time every day and there is no fixing it. Go again in late afternoon to see where the sun lands. A west-facing floor is hot and the cooling bill shows it. Go a third time in the evening after office hours, to see what the entrance and the car park are like then and whether security is still fully staffed.
On every visit, photograph the condition of the space: floor, walls, ceiling and services, dated. That set becomes the single most important document on the day you hand it back, which is always the day the two sides remember the original condition differently.
If you are looking now, see offices to let and offices to let in Bangkok. For other commercial space see commercial premises to let, and if the business also needs storage, compare against warehouses to let.
Frequently asked questions
How different are leasable and usable area?
It depends on the building's common area proportion, which varies. Ask for both the area used to calculate rent and the area inside your walls, or take a laser measure to the viewing.
Does the service charge carry VAT?
Yes. Letting immovable property is exempt from VAT, but a separately billed service charge is not, so add it before comparing buildings.
How is after-hours air conditioning charged?
Most buildings charge by the hour per zone outside the hours stated in the lease. If your team works late or at weekends, ask the rate at the outset and multiply it out monthly.
Can I ask for a rent-free fit-out period?
Yes, and it is standard. The number of days depends on size, term length and market conditions. It is worth real money and should be negotiated before you settle the rent.
Do I have to strip out the fit-out when I leave?
Most leases require the space returned in original condition, meaning partitions, flooring, ceilings and added services come out. Agree at the start what must go and what may stay, and attach handover photographs.
Does an office lease need registering?
If the term exceeds three years, yes, or it is enforceable for three years only, which is a real risk for a business that has spent money on fit-out.
Can I register a company at a rented office?
Yes, but you need the landlord's consent letter for use of the premises plus a copy of the title document. Ask for it when signing.
How many months' deposit is normal?
Three to six months for office space. More important than the months are the return conditions, the deadline and the deductible items, which should be tied clearly to the reinstatement clause.
In short
- Ask for two area figures, the billed area and the area inside your walls, then compare prices.
- The service charge carries VAT and the rent does not. Match them before comparing.
- Ask the after-hours cooling rate on day one if the team works outside building hours.
- Count the people who actually drive in against the parking entitlement; the excess is a monthly cost.
- Ask for power in watts per square metre, whether backup reaches tenant areas, and which providers reach the building.
- Negotiate the fit-out rent-free period. One month on a decent floor plate is a large sum.
- Settle reinstatement at the start and attach handover photographs to the lease.
- Visit three times: morning for the lifts, late afternoon for the sun, evening for what happens after hours.