I would like to take a lease of a shop – besides rent,
what will my other outgoings be?
In addition to the rent, you will probably have to pay your own
utilities, refuse collection and refund the landlord the cost (or a
proportion of the cost) of insuring the building, Tax on Real
Property (TRP) and Parish Rates. These are costs that arise from
the first day of the lease.
If the shop is part of a larger building, you may be required to
pay a service charge by which landlords recover the costs
associated with the upkeep and running of the building. In
principle, the more services the landlord provides to the building,
the higher the service charge will be.
On occasion, particularly in short term leases, landlords may be
willing to agree that the service charge is capped or fixed for the
period of the lease (or a shorter period), subject to any yearly
increases (usually linked to any increase in the retail price index
in Guernsey). A capped service charge means
