Commercial Landlords See Benefit Of Renting Out Property And Parking Spaces Separately

May 19, 2009 - PRLog -- The commercial rental market may be taking a dip, but judicious landlords are turning to one niche sector that's motoring ahead despite the downturn. Park Let, the UK’s largest parking space letting agent has identified a marked increase (up by 85%) in the number of property developers and investors contacting the company to discuss the opportunities afforded by letting out parking spaces separately from mainstream commercial premises.  Whilst Park Let admits that most parking spaces can’t compete with prime commercial property on a price per square foot basis, the company believes that where vacancy rates are dropping, many landlords can earn additional revenues by considering their parking spaces as a completely separate entity from the property.

Although just under a fifth (18%) of Park Let’s clients are currently commercial landlords, they drive nearly a third (32%) of the company’s revenue owing to the fact that their parking spaces are usually in prime locations and so can drive premium rates.  As with any other leases, supply and demand is crucial in determining the contract value and so landlords in busy commercial districts such as town and city centres tend to see the most benefit.  Other factors such as proximity to facilities, congestion zones, and security measures such as key-pad entry, patrols, CCTV and electronic gates also affect the valuation of a parking space.

Average rental valuations across the UK
Within London the average rental value of a parking space is £1,848 per annum rising to nearly £7,000 in particular postcodes.  Outside of London, the average price is £1,019 with Liverpool (£1,476), Nottingham (£1,380) and Manchester (£1,308) all driving the highest rents behind the capital.

Luke Kelly, managing director, Park Let said:  “We prefer to deal in the monthly rental market as our landlords favour seeing the longer-term value that we can add. We act as any other property agent would: we agree the terms and conditions, draw up the contract, market the spaces and collect the monthly rent, leaving the landlord to focus on their core business.”

Not just a recession-proofing measure
Park Let believes that evaluating the potential in parking spaces shouldn’t only be a decision taken in a recession. Each potential tenant may use a building for a different purpose so it doesn’t always make sense to have a square footage / parking space ratio - letting out parking spaces independently can be of a longer-term benefit to a commercial landlord too.

Luke Kelly, managing director, Park Let said: “We created the marketplace for the monthly letting of parking spaces back in 2004 and since then our clients have included individual homeowners with a single driveway, national car parks operators and everyone in between.  However the substantial increase in the number of large and smaller commercial landlords contacting us to enquire about letting parking spaces is quite a recent phenomenon.”

For an estimate of how much a parking space is worth visit Park Let’s new parking space pricing tool at www.parklet.co.uk/parking-rental-price-guide.aspx.  The tool is free to use and is based on both current contracts and over 17,000 advertised spaces.

For further information, visit www.parklet.co.uk or call 0870 162 4977.

Ends


Media contact:
Ali Cort
Browser Media
0207 099 0945
ali.cort@browsermedia.co.uk

About Park Let:
Park Let was established in 2004 to offer an effective marketplace and management service for the letting of parking spaces and garages.

To date the company has arranged over 10,000 rental contracts and today the business has in excess of 17,000 spaces advertised to let. Landlords include residential clients with a single driveway, national car parks operators as well as owners and managing agents of apartment blocks, companies with surplus spaces and individuals or organisations with empty garages or lockups.  All parking spaces and garages are promoted equally.
All parking spaces are available for tenants to use 24 hours a day except in unusual circumstances where specific condition are added to a contact.

Park Let charges landlords 15% (+ VAT) commission of the gross monthly rental fee plus a one off £25 administration fee in the first month. All contracts include a one month cancellation clause which can be invoked at any time.  Remit monies are due on 5, 15 and 25 using BACS after one month from the start of each contract.