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Lease Expense Management for shopping centres and out of town retail.
- The challenge
Retail occupiers continue to face difficult trading conditions with both inflation and increases to National Minimum Wage and National Insurance influencing costs. This is impacting on all service charge headings; labour costs can be half of all expenditure, so site management, cleaning, security, M&E and fabric repairs are all increasing more than inflation. Major works continue to feature as a significant cost concern, particularly in retail parks.
Shopping Centre Service Charge budgets are on average increasing by 5.9% in 2025. As a result, it’s never been more important to identify opportunities for cost saving, particularly in service charge and other lease expenses.
The UK retail market is highly competitive, footfall to physical stores has declined and consumer behaviour is changing. Retailers must balance customers sustainability requirements with investment in both the physical and digital shopping experience, all at a time when their own costs are rising.
By identifying areas of cost reduction across your portfolio and realising quick savings opportunities, more cash will be available for investment back into the business.
- Solution
Assure Consulting is at the forefront of lease expense management for shopping centres and out of town retail. Retailers work with Assure Consulting’s team of experts to gain control and value for money from recurring financial liabilities including service charges and insurance recharges.
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Assure Index - UK Retail /shopping Parks
Out of town Retail Parks service charges are increasing at a rate of 7% (Q4 2025), this upward pressure covers many cost categories. Soft Services and Fabric Repairs & Maintenance both increased significantly. However, Major Works experienced the most substantial increases in some locations surging by up to 100%. Read our latest Index.
- Assure Index - uk Shopping Centres
Shopping Centre service charge budgets are now increasing at a rate of 5.9% (Q4 2025). This continued upward pressure is primarily due to increased Staff Costs related to Cleaning, Security, M & E and Major Works. The impact remains greatest for high-specification and high-value Schemes. Read our latest Index.
Individual surveyors were taking an inconsistent approach to service charge management. This ranged from spending little time and authorising payments without question, to spending too much time on low value issues.
We now have control over our service charge spend and the comfort that each payment is being correctly and consistently challenged, with the additional benefit that our surveyors can focus their time on high-value, business critical issues.
The costs/return equation shows a clear benefit without even taking the reduced management time into account.