Festival Studios wrote:
Thanks Marc,

I've been in touch with a few local guys. Had 1 positive response so far in terms of a syndication. Sadly the south east of England is relatively expensive in tems of rental and council rates, its hardly suprising when costs keep spiralling against the Governments austerity plans....... many shops are empty and businesses are folding.... being just outside London doesn't help with the costs. We'll still be paying for the Olympics for next 400 years but hopefully we'll be able to meet our overseas aid to India (has a space programme)Pakistan and Malawi.....etc

Sorry going off on one now....

Chris

I feel your pain, rent and utilities are are outrageous here also... I've tried going in with other photographers and it always seems to fizzle out...

MrTim wrote:
The moves from the landlord often seem to defy all logic too; a mate had to move his studio after the landlord said the rent was going up by almost 50%, and the building has now been sat empty with a "To Let" sign out front for two and a half years since he vacated it. Not quite sure how that was a good business move by the owner!

I'm not sure what your tax laws are there but here in the US sometimes it's better to have an empty space and write it off on your taxes as a loss then to rent. I'm sure in the new year it's going to get even worse. I've dealt with landlords who wouldn't budge and it's their over inflated price or nothing.

MrTim wrote:
The moves from the landlord often seem to defy all logic too; a mate had to move his studio after the landlord said the rent was going up by almost 50%, and the building has now been sat empty with a "To Let" sign out front for two and a half years since he vacated it. Not quite sure how that was a good business move by the owner!

I had the same thing happen with my first studio. Tiny space I was paying $600 a month for. I put a bunch of my own money into fixing up the space, and two years later at the start of the recession, the landlord wanted to raise the rent to $650. I had been after her trying to get her to fix the bathroom I shared with another tenant with no luck and I was outgrowing the space so the rent increase was enough motivation to move.

Another building that had larger spaces had just been renovated so I moved my studio there. It wasn't a Main St. location but that was fine with me. It was about double the space for the same $600 rent. Two years later, my old space finally got rented out, so the owner lost about $15,000 if she was able to re-rent it at the $650 she was asking. It will take her 25 years of the increased rent to make up what she lost. I was a good tenant too, always paid rent on time, unlike some of the other businesses in the building.

Festival Studios wrote:
Yes seems like madness. Have checked on other buildings some that have stood vacant or over a year and have offered what on the face of it seems like a reasonable offer...... Still a no straight off the bat. Just a crazy situation to be in.

I'm sorry to hear your circumstances.

I just found a space in one of the long-empty storefronts along the main street in our town for just $350/mo and I've moved my main business to it and also have room for the studio. It's small, but it will work for most of what I do.

The landlord was apparently sick of the place being empty and so we'll see how it goes!

Joe

ACPhotography wrote:

I'm not sure what your tax laws are there but here in the US sometimes it's better to have an empty space and write it off on your taxes as a loss then to rent. I'm sure in the new year it's going to get even worse. I've dealt with landlords who wouldn't budge and it's their over inflated price or nothing.

I think it is the same here otherwise there wouldn't be so many empty properties