Offices
Lease Expense Management for Office Occupiers.
- The challenge
As we move into 2025 we are seeing the rate of increase in service charges easing, but still running just ahead of inflation at an of average of 3.6%.
The benefit arising from easing of Utilities Costs has been blunted by upward pressure on Staff Costs due to increases in the Living Wage and employer’s National Insurance contributions.
Almost 63% of the cost for a typical London office arises from ‘people’ based cost categories, Site Management, Security, Cleaning and M&E Services.
The focus on service charges as a significant proportion of overall property occupancy costs remains as important as ever.
- Solution
VeriviTM is our own proprietary software platform. It provides visibility and control of service charges, insurance, rent data and more, across your property portfolio. Comprehensive data collection and detailed reporting functions mean that we can ensure ongoing lease liabilities across all expenditure headings are challenged, managed and controlled.
- UK Offices Index
After a period of rapid growth, Office service charges have now moderated but are still increasing at a more moderate rate of 3.6% (Q4 2025). The impact of reductions arising from reduced utility costs has been blunted by increases in ‘people’ based cost categories such as Cleaning and Security. Find out what is around the corner and what you need to do to prepare. Read our latest Index.
“IWG has worked with Assure since October 2018, initially undertaking a trial of twenty sites before being instructed to represent us across our whole UK property portfolio in 2019. Assure’s support has resulted in substantial improvements in the management of our service charge liabilities across our portfolio. Budgets and reconciliations are received in a more timely manner and Assure is able to utilise its substantial pool of service charge data to provide us with detailed benchmarking information, which assists us greatly with management of our property costs. I would recommend Assure’s services to any occupier of leased property who is keen to proactively manage their lease expense costs and ensure that they are receiving value for money from their landlords.”