Office Relocation Costs: A Complete Breakdown for London Businesses

Ask five providers what an office move in London will cost and you will get five different answers, because each one is only quoting their own piece of it. The removal firm quotes the van. The agent quotes the rent. The outgoing landlord’s surveyor raises dilapidations separately, often months later. No single quote covers the whole move, which is why the office relocation cost for most London teams runs higher than the figure they first budgeted against. This guide sets out every cost category a move can trigger, grouped by when and why it lands, and says plainly where a figure cannot be given without a quote specific to your building and your lease.

What you actually pay depends on four things: lease or licence, how much space you are taking, where in London it sits, and which type of operator or landlord you are dealing with. A team leaving a coworking membership for a serviced office faces a short, mostly administrative list. A team exiting a 10-year lease for a new one faces dilapidations, Stamp Duty Land Tax, and a legal bill before the removal van is booked. The sections below separate the two situations rather than blending them into one average.

What actually decides your office relocation cost

Four variables set the shape of the bill, which is why most of the categories below only apply to some teams.

• Lease or licence: A licence, the standard arrangement for coworking, serviced and most flexible private offices, carries no dilapidations liability, no Stamp Duty Land Tax, and a short notice period. A lease, standard for managed offices past a certain size and for traditional space, carries all three, plus the VAT treatment and repair covenants set out in the agreement itself.
• Office size: Fit-out, IT reconfiguration and removals scale with desk count and floor area. A five-desk move and a fifty-desk move are different projects, not the same project at a different multiple.
• Location: Business rates, service charge and legal fees run higher in prime central London postcodes than in outer zones, and prime buildings are likelier to hold out for a full schedule of dilapidations at exit.
• Operator or landlord: A flexible-space operator bundles most of these costs into one licence fee. A traditional landlord itemises almost nothing, so each cost below arrives as its own line.

For a comparison of rent and ongoing occupancy costs, see our guide to the cost of office space in London. The sections below focus on costs created specifically by the move.

Costs before the move

Relocation spending often begins before anything is packed..

Deposit

A flexible-office provider may request a deposit equal to one or more months of fees. A landlord granting a commercial lease may ask for a larger rent deposit, particularly where the tenant has a limited trading history or weaker covenant strength. The amount is negotiated for the individual agreement, so confirm both the deposit and its return conditions.

Legal and professional fees

A straightforward licence generally needs less negotiation than a commercial lease. A lease may require a solicitor to review repairing obligations, service charges, rent review provisions, break conditions and security of tenure. Surveyor fees may also arise when assessing the building, documenting its existing condition or advising on fit-out works.

Ask for a written scope and fee estimate before appointing an adviser. A low initial quote may exclude negotiations, additional document reviews or work required after the first draft.

Schedule of condition

Where the lease contains repairing obligations, a schedule of condition can record the state of the premises at the start of occupation. Its value depends on how the document is incorporated into the lease, so it should be reviewed alongside the repairing and reinstatement clauses rather than treated as a standalone photograph record.

Insurance and administrative changes

Tell your insurer or broker about the new premises before the move so that the address, occupancy and risk profile can be assessed. Also identify every record that needs updating, including suppliers, banking details, client communications and the company website.

If the registered office is changing, moving into the new space does not update Companies House automatically. Our guide to changing a registered office address in London explains the separate filing requirement.

Overlap costs: paying for two premises

Overlap rent arises when the old agreement continues after the new one begins. It is common in lease-based moves because the outgoing break or expiry date may not align with the completion, fit-out and occupation date of the new office.

The overlap is not always avoidable, but it can often be reduced. Before committing to the new premises, compare the old notice or break date with the realistic date on which the new space will be usable. A delayed start date, rent-free period or staged occupation may help, depending on what can be negotiated.

Flexible-office moves usually allow tighter coordination because notice periods and setup requirements tend to be shorter. Even so, a brief planned overlap may be safer than ending the existing agreement before the new office and its connectivity are confirmed. Teams moving from shared space into a private office can use our London moving checklist to sequence the decision and move-in stages.

Removal and moving-day costs

The physical move is the most visible part of the budget, but its cost cannot be estimated reliably from desk count alone. Quotes depend on:

• the volume and type of furniture and equipment;
• packing and crate hire;
• dismantling and reassembly;
• lift, loading-bay and parking access;
• stairs or restricted access at either property;
• travel between the two offices;
• weekday, evening or weekend scheduling; and
• insurance for goods in transit.

Ask two or three commercial movers to quote against the same inventory and access information. If the move involves servers, specialist equipment or valuable stock, confirm that the mover’s insurance and handling procedures cover those items.

Before booking, obtain the new building’s move-in rules. Some properties require a lift reservation, approved contractor documents, floor protection or evidence of insurance. Missing one of these requirements can delay the move after the team and vehicle have already arrived.

IT and connectivity costs

Internet and IT should be planned as a separate workstream rather than left until moving week. Standard business broadband may be available within a few weeks, while a new dedicated leased line can require roughly 60–90 working days. Timelines can extend further where landlord approval, a wayleave, new cabling or civil works are required.

Confirm what connectivity already exists in the building before signing. A serviced office may include a shared business connection, but upgrades, dedicated bandwidth, private networks, additional access points or fixed IP addresses may cost extra.

The relocation budget may also need to cover:

• network design and cabling;
• firewall, switch and access-point installation;
• telephone-number or VoIP migration;
• equipment transport and recommissioning;
• temporary connectivity during the transition; and
• technical support on moving day.

Order any new connection as soon as the occupation date is sufficiently certain. A delayed internet installation can extend overlap costs or leave the team working from a space that is not fully operational.

Lease and licence-related costs

These are the costs attached to the paperwork itself rather than the physical move, and they differ sharply depending on whether you are signing a licence or a lease.

Notice periods and break clauses

Flexible-office licences commonly use rolling terms or notice periods measured in months. A traditional lease is governed by its contractual expiry or break clause. Break rights may be conditional, for example on notice being served correctly and payments being up to date.

Review the outgoing agreement before signing the new one. The notice date, break conditions, handover obligations and new occupation date need to be managed together. If you are reviewing a flexible-office agreement, our serviced office agreement checklist covers the clauses worth checking.

Business rates

Business rates liability transfers to the new address from the day you take occupation, calculated on that property’s own rateable value rather than your old one’s. This matters more than usual for a 2026 move: the 2026 business rates revaluation, based on rental values as at 1 April 2024, took effect on 1 April 2026, so two otherwise similar buildings can now carry noticeably different rates bills. Check the new address’s rateable value before you budget rather than assuming it matches the old one. On a licence, business rates are normally already folded into the all-inclusive fee.

VAT

Rent on commercial property is exempt from VAT by default. Many landlords of larger or newer buildings have “opted to tax” the property, meaning VAT at the standard rate applies to rent and service charge alike. Flexible-office fees are generally quoted with VAT clearly stated; a lease quote often is not, so ask the landlord’s agent directly whether the building has opted to tax before comparing the two.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

A new commercial lease may create an SDLT liability on the lease premium, the net present value of the rent or both. Under current non-residential rental bands, no SDLT is charged on rental NPV up to £150,000. The portion from £150,001 to £5 million is charged at 1%, and the portion above £5 million at 2%.

These thresholds apply to the calculated NPV rather than one year’s headline rent. Ask the solicitor handling the lease to calculate both the liability and filing requirement before completion. A genuine flexible-office licence does not normally create the same leasehold SDLT exposure, but the legal substance of the agreement matters more than its title.

Dilapidations and reinstatement

Dilapidations only apply if you are exiting a lease, not a licence. A lease normally obliges the tenant to hand the space back in the condition it specifies, and to remove alterations made during the term unless the landlord agrees to let them stay. The process is governed by the RICS Dilapidations Guidance Note, which sets recommended practice for surveyors on both sides, and the Dilapidations Protocol, the court-endorsed procedure for raising and evidencing a disputed claim.

We are not going to state a headline dilapidations figure. It depends entirely on the condition of the space when you took it, the schedule of condition attached to your lease if one exists, and what you altered during the term. Get a schedule of dilapidations costed by a surveyor well before your exit date, not after the landlord raises one; a surveyed, negotiated settlement is consistently cheaper than a disputed one. If you hold a licence rather than a lease, this section does not apply to you: reinstatement in a serviced or coworking space is the operator’s cost, not yours.

Downtime and operational disruption

The least visible cost of a move is the one nobody invoices: lost working hours while the team is not fully set up. A well-planned licence-based move costs a day, at most, of reduced productivity. A lease-based move with a fit-out programme can cost weeks if the fit-out overruns, since the team either works from a half-finished space or stays in the old one paying overlap rent. The mitigation is sequencing, not budgeting: get connectivity live before moving day, brief the team on the new address in advance, and treat the first week as reduced-capacity by design rather than an unplanned surprise.

Optional and avoidable costs

Some costs are genuinely optional; the most common overruns come from treating them as fixed.

• Meeting room and access charges. Flexible-office operators generally bill meeting room use separately, by the hour or on a credit system. Compare the allowance with the team’s normal usage.
• New furniture instead of moved furniture. Replacing rather than relocating furniture is a choice, not a requirement, and one of the easiest costs to defer if budget is tight.
• Taking more space than required. Additional capacity can support growth, but unused desks create an ongoing cost. Compare expected hiring with the ability to expand within the building.
• Longer commitments for a lower rate. A discounted monthly price is only valuable if the space remains suitable for the full term.
• Signage and branding. These can matter for client-facing teams but may be unnecessary for businesses that receive few visitors.

How costs differ by office type

The table below shows the typical exposure for each workspace format. Individual agreements can differ, so use it as a comparison framework rather than a substitute for reviewing the contract.

Office type	Common agreement structure	Typical notice	Exit and reinstatement exposure	Fit-out responsibility	SDLT exposure
Coworking (fixed desk)	Licence	30 days–1 month	Usually limited to notice, damage and outstanding charges	Operator provides shared setup	None
Serviced office	Licence	1–3 months	Usually limited to contractual make-good, damage and alterations	Delivered furnished by operator	None
Private office (in a flexible building)	Licence	1–3 months	Depends on alterations and agreement terms	Minimal, operator-led	None
Managed office	Licence or short lease	3–6 months	Moderate – bespoke fit-out you commissioned	Usually operator-delivered and priced into the agreement	Possible on longer terms
Traditional leased office	Lease	Governed by break clause	Repair, reinstatement and formal dilapidations may apply	Fully tenant-funded	Yes, if rent NPV exceeds £150,000

The pattern holds throughout: a licence trades a somewhat higher headline rate for removing dilapidations, Stamp Duty Land Tax, and most of the legal cost of exit. A lease can still work out cheaper in absolute terms for a large, stable team over ten or more years, but only if headcount genuinely holds still. For ongoing running costs by product type, see our serviced office price guide, coworking versus traditional office breakdown, and our guide to what a managed office actually is.

A practical way to budget the move

Do not begin with one unsupported total. Classify each cost according to how confidently it can be budgeted:

Budget category	Typical items	How to calculate it
Fixed or known early	Deposit, agreed professional fees, notice obligations	Use the signed agreement or written fee quote
Estimable once dates are known	Overlap rent, internal downtime, temporary workspace	Apply the actual old and new occupancy dates
Building-specific quote required	Removals, IT installation, cabling and specialist equipment	Obtain comparable quotes against one scope and inventory
Survey or legal assessment required	Dilapidations, reinstatement and SDLT	Use the relevant lease documents and professional assessment
Contingency	Access delays, additional labour, minor replacement items	Add a clearly identified reserve rather than inflating every line

This produces a budget that can be updated as quotes arrive and makes it clear which figures are confirmed and which remain assumptions. Once the likely location, agreement type and team size are clear, you can compare office space across London.

Frequently asked questions