1. If our company appoint Xolaris Company Limited (“Xolaris”) to negotiate for commercial lease and sales transaction, are we require to pay Xolaris a commision for a successful transaction?
A: For lease transactions, we do not charge the tenant for a commision, because we look towards the landlord for renumeration. With the exceptions, in the circumstances that we were not able to obtain a fee from the landlord, then we would require the tenant to pay a commission. However, the tenant will be informed in advance, prior to the inspection of the building. For sales transactions, we would required both the purchaser and landlord to pay a commission fee.
2. Why is there only a few commercial buildings showcasing in some streets within the Portfolio section?
A: Take Queen’s Road Central as an example, we have only included those office buildings which are relatively closed to Sheung Wan. For office buildings in Central, we are currently constructing a website which specialized in commercial office buildings for lease & sales in the Central district. We would inform you as soon as the website is completed
3. Nowadays in Hong Kong, we hear a lot about the term “co-working” in the media, what is the difference between co-working and business centre?
A: You can think of co-working as a subset of business centre in Hong Kong. The former offers hot desk services and the latter offers fixed rooms for companies and both offers short term lease. In the past, Business Centre has always offered hot desk service as part of their services. Ever since the term “co-working” has been coined and becomes trendy, there are now operators offering mainly hot desks services and rebrand their services as “co-working”. Co-working spaces are more suitable to new start-up and self-employed entrepreneur, whereas more established companies would prefer business centre because the office units would provide more privacy.
4. Should our company consider leasing office premises at an office building or at a business centre ?
A: New startup companies or foreign companies freshly arriving in Hong Kong would find business centre more flexible to their requirements. However, after three to six months or as their staff counts grow, companies would find that leasing office premises at a proper office building might suit their requirement better. Lease flexibility offers by Business Centre ususally comes at a price, in a rising market, your company might find rental terms revising upwards every few months. Whereas, leasing an office for a fixed terms of 3 years, means your rental price would be fixed for 3 years
5. Our company’s lease will be expiring soon and we are currently considering Commercial Offices in both Kowloon and Hong Kong. How do I find out information of office premises on other districts in Kowloon & Hong Kong? Does Xolaris deals with office lease / sales in other districts of Hong Kong?
A: We deal with Commercial office lease & sales for all distircts in the whole of Hong Kong (including Kowloon & NT), please contact us and let us know your office requirement. We will arrange to meet with you at your office and provide you with a comprehensive office listings in your preferred district.
6. Does Xolaris provide services such as Office Lease Restructure or Lease Renewal Negotiation?
A: Xolaris’ staffs have ample of experience in assisting multinationals in Lease Restructure and Renewal Negotiations. To list a few such as Swiss Re. Some of these transactions were completed prior to Xolaris’ staff joining our company.
7. Why are some rental quoted in “psf G” whilst others are quoted in “psf L” or “psf N”?
A: In Hong Kong, major landlords quote area in Gross, Lettable and Net respectively. Gross area usually have efficiency 60% to 75%. Lettable area is usually 75% to 85% efficient, whilst Net area is 100% efficent. psf is the short form for “per square foot”
8. What is the term of lease (no. of years) when signing for a lease contract with a landlord?
A: In Hong Kong, majar landlords would require fixed lease term of three years. In cases whereby a multinational takes up substantial office space, (say, over 40,000 sq ft G), they might opt for signing up for six (6) year lease. However, for office buildings of small floor-plate (under 2,000 sq ft G), sometimes landlords might accept fixed lease term of two years.
9. After signing up for a three year or six year lease, could our company break lease and surrender the office premises back to the landlord half way through our contract terms?
A: In Hong Kong, when a company sign up a fixed lease of 3 to 6 years. The tenant could not break lease in the middle of the contract terms, unless all rental liabilities of the remain terms have been paid to the landlord. However, Xolaris offer a service of “Office Lease Surrender Negotiation” for tenants, whereby Xolaris will assist the outgoing tenant to find a replacement tenant to take up the remaining lease of the premises. However, this is subject to the landlord’s approval and the landlord have the right to reject such proposal.
10. Our company are considering lease renewal vs relocation scenario in our upcoming lease expiry, could Xolaris advise us on this matter as to which are our best options?
A: You could consider appointing Xolaris as your company’s sole agent to negotiate the forthcoming lease renewal and relocation negotiations. Please contact us and our staff will arrange to meet with you at your office to discuss this matter in further details
11. Our company is a multinational, we are considering appointing a property consultant company as sole agent to take care of real estate matters. Will Xolaris be able to handle our real estate leasing requirements?
A: Of course! Xolaris and it’s staff have ample of experience in assisting multinational companies. In 2009, Xolaris have assisted TOTAL Lubricatants Ltd to lease whole floor (6,677 sq ft L) at Cambridge House, Taikoo Place, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. TOTAL is a Fortune 500 company and was ranked no.5 in 2009
12. After I clicked the button on the various streets in the Portfolio section, I do not see any results.
A: After you have clicked the button on the various streets, if you do not see results, please scroll down the page a bit, then the image of various buildings will appear