What drives value here
- Gross internal area, eaves height and clear internal height
- Yard depth, service area, site cover and HGV manoeuvrability
- Dock and level access door provision, floor loading and sprinklers
- Office content as a percentage of the unit and how it is devalued
- Power supply capacity, EV and refrigeration requirements
- Estate quality, access to strategic road network and labour catchment
Comparables that are not comparable
A modern unit with 12m eaves, a 50m yard and full dock provision is not evidence for a 1980s shed with 6m eaves and shared loading, however close it sits. Adjusting for specification honestly — and pricing the difference — is where reviews are won.
Reviews and lease events
With rents rising, landlords push hard at review and the machinery matters: notice requirements, deeming provisions and third-party appointment. Diarising the dates and responding on time is basic risk management with real money attached.
Repairs, racking and yards
Industrial dilapidations claims focus on floor slabs, roof coverings, cladding, yard surfacing and racking removal. Many items are betterment rather than repair, and the diminution cap frequently bites where the landlord intends to refurbish or redevelop.
Common questions
How is warehouse rent analysed?
Normally as an overall rate per square foot on gross internal area, adjusted for eaves height, yard provision and office content. Higher specification and better yards command a premium that must be reflected when comparing to older stock.
My rent review has jumped 40%. Is that possible?
In several industrial markets, yes — rents have moved sharply over typical five-year review cycles. That makes it more important, not less, to test the landlord's evidence for specification differences and incentives rather than accepting the increase.
Do I have to remove racking and mezzanines at the end?
If the lease requires reinstatement and the landlord suffers a loss. Where a replacement occupier would want the mezzanine, or the landlord is refurbishing, the claim is often heavily reduced by the Section 18(1) cap.
Guides for industrial and logistics
- Commercial Rent Review SurveyorChartered surveyor acting for tenants at commercial rent review — evidence, negotiation, arbitration and expert determination across the UK and Ireland.
- Lease Renewal SurveyorTenant-side lease renewal surveyor: 1954 Act renewals, notices, terms and rent negotiated and, where needed, contested through the courts.
- Schedule of DilapidationsWhat a schedule of dilapidations is, interim vs terminal schedules, the Dilapidations Protocol, and how tenants cut an inflated claim down to its real cost.
- Section 18 ValuationSection 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 caps dilapidations damages at the diminution in the value of the reversion. How the valuation works.
- Rent Review Independent ExpertHow independent expert determination differs from arbitration at rent review — evidence, own knowledge, costs, liability and which favours the tenant.
Talk it through