The first lock down in 2020 brought to the attention of the nation the importance of having a dedicated space in the home for work. If you run a small business, renting an office and having your own premises may not be necessary.
There are many advantages to having your business at home. We all know the cost of keeping our home connected isn’t getting any lower. They seem to rise from year to year. By running your business from home, you will be able to utilise the existing utilities to benefit your company, which will relieve some of the immense pressure placed on your business. You can also currently claim a tax allowance of £125 to help cover the bills.
There are a range of other substantial savings to be made by running your business from home. We have set out a few of the major ones below.:
Rental Costs: At the end of 2020 the average rental costs in the south east was between £18 and £20 per square foot per year. This means a 20m2 (215 square ft) would cost annually £3,870.
Professional Fees: Each time your lease runs out or you would like to make an adaption to the rental agreement you will generally need to instruct a solicitor to write up the legal documents. This can cost anything from a few hundred pounds to a few thousand pounds depending on the size of the unit.
Business Rates: As you will be working from home and there is no rent according to the government, business rates do not apply. Therefore, unless you sell goods or services as an open shop from your garden building you can be safe in the knowledge your rates free!
Insurance: Basing your business from home means you don’t have a separate property that your business has to pay insurance on. Although it is likely that your personal home insurance may rise slightly it will be far less than that of a dedicated insurance policy. You can also reclaim a proportion of the costs from your company.
Service Charges: Your business could be responsible for paying towards the upkeep of communal areas around your premises. One major plus side of having an Optimum Garden Building is that your service charge is free! This means less money to your landlord and more in your pocket!