In late March/early April, at the height of the COVID-19 restrictions, we started negotiations with our current landlord regarding our lease. This was due to expire on June 30, 2020.
It’s no secret the commercial property market in Burnie is subdued. There are a host of vacancies around the city, both shop fronts and office space. In addition, the COVID-19 situation had left many businesses either shut or in a working from home situation. As you’re aware, this included MFG.
With all this in mind, and with many commercial tenants and landlords actively engaging to pursue mutually beneficial solutions over this period, we expected the negotiations would be a relatively straightforward process. We hoped for no change to our previous rent but understood there may be request for a small increase.
Upon engaging with our Melbourne based landlord, we were shocked and disappointed to be confronted with a 31% increase in our rent from July 1, 2020.
Under the current climate we found the increase completely unreasonable and there was little interest from the landlord in negotiating. Accepting the rental increase would obviously increase our cost base, possibly lead to two outcomes: charging more for our service or sourcing new clients at the expense of service.
As a society we’ve all been inconvenienced and disrupted due to COVID-19. As we were already operating in a disrupted office environment, we decided a further short-term disruption would be worth the long-term rental saving. We subsequently conducted a search and found new business premises.
Our new office will be located at Level 1, 41 Mount Street, Burnie.
We will vacate our current office on June 30, 2020. We will have a brief stint working from home before re-emerging in our new office in early July. As we are still closed to client visits due to COVID-19, nothing will change for you. All our electronic communication methods will remain the same. We will still be contactable by phone and email, and you will be able to schedule a video or phone meeting with your adviser.
There will be no change to our service or staff. This is simply a change of location.
We see this as a positive story. It means no rent increase, a larger space with newer facilities and dedicated client meeting rooms. There is also the added benefit of various ways for clients to access the office, being elevator, escalator, and stairs.
As we make the change, we will provide further updates and full directions on how to find and access the new office.
Finally, we appreciate you being so understanding during the COVID-19 lockdown, so we apologise for any further inconvenience this may cause. We’re looking forward to seeing you in our new office soon, hopefully in a significantly less eventful second half of 2020.
