Moscow is a city of expensive rent. Even premises leased for business, cheap by Moscow standards, are becoming one of the most expensive items of expenditure and very often the reason for the closure of an enterprise. Nevertheless, there is an opportunity to find relatively inexpensive and quite decent premises in the capital. One way is to rent from the city.
As part of the small business support program, Moscow offers premises for rent at a price of 4,500 rubles per year. Frankly speaking, there are very few objects offered to small businesses under this program. In 2018, it is planned to lease out 300 premises in this way. For such a huge city, it is negligible, but, nevertheless, there is a chance to get premises at a cost several times lower than the market value.
Important conditions of the program:
- The final rent is determined at the auction. According to the official data of the Moscow Government, in 2017 the average excess of the rental price during the auction was 114%. In other words, the average final rental price was 9,630 rubles per year per square meter. A room with an area of 50 square meters at such a rate would cost the tenant 40,125 rubles a month, which is noticeably lower than the market cost of renting non-residential premises in Moscow.
- Only individual entrepreneurs and legal entities related to small or medium-sized businesses can participate in the auction for the premises exposed under the program. Individuals and large companies cannot participate in the auction. Those companies that doubt their belonging to small and medium-sized businesses can check this on the website of the Federal Tax Service:
- There are no restrictions on the place of registration of an enterprise or individual entrepreneur. The fact that you are registered and conduct your business in another region of the Russian Federation cannot be a reason for refusing admission to trading.
- As a rule, a ten-year lease agreement is concluded based on the results of the auction. During this period, the city undertakes not to raise rent more than the indexation coefficient. This ratio is expected to be in line with inflation. In other words, for 10 years your rent will remain below market as much as it was originally.
- Premises rented under the Small Business Support Program are not allowed to be subleased. This condition is spelled out in the tender documentation.
- By law, the tenant has the priority right to purchase the premises after three years of lease. At the same time, the tenant can receive an interest-free installment plan from the state for the purchase of premises.
- Trades take place on an electronic trading platform. The bidding procedure is structured in such a way that it is impossible to determine the winner by dishonest means.
- To participate in the auction, you must have an electronic digital signature (done in one to three working days, costs from 3,000 rubles) and pay a deposit (usually 25% of the annual rental cost at the starting price). Bidders who did not win the auction are refunded the deposit. For the winner, the deposit is counted towards the payment of the first three months of the lease.
- The winner must pay the rent at the final rate for the first and last three months. Accordingly, the next lease payment is due in three months.
Finding a suitable room
You can search for a suitable premises put up for auction by the city on the Moscow City Investment Portal in the Moscow City Bidding section.
In order to find premises offered under the program for supporting small and medium-sized businesses, you need to open the "More filters" section (at the bottom of the block with filters, above the photographs of objects). In this section, you need to scroll through the filter block to the end and select the "For SMP" item in the "Audience" column, and then click the "Apply" button.
So, as of July 17, 2018 (on another day, the result may be different), 112 objects are shown in the search results after applying the filter "for NSR".
Examining information about a room
As an example, we took the object "CAO, Moscow city, Leningradskoe shosse, building 34, building 2 1st floor, pom. 4, room. 1, 1a, 2-8 ":
- In the first section "Information about the object" the area is indicated. In this case - 99.4 sq.m.
- In the same section there is an item "Purpose". In this case: Non-Residential / Free
- The nearest metro station: Baltiyskaya. The distance to the metro is 0, 57 km (that is, 6 minutes on foot. You can see the location of the object on the map and get directions. Yandex shows that it is 9 minutes walk from the Baltiyskaya MCC station to the object on foot.
- Photos are placed to the right of the table with the characteristics of the object. The premises in the photographs look quite suitable for use (which is not always the case).
- At the bottom of the page, in the section "Bidding Information", the lease term is indicated - 10 years.
- In the same section: the size of the deposit: 111,825 rubles.
- At the very bottom of the page, an archive with lot documentation is available for download. In it you can find an extract from the technical passport of the BTI, which contains a plan of the premises and an explication (a table with descriptions of the premises, including their purpose).
- Initial rental price. In this case - 447,300 rubles per year. If you recalculate the monthly rent: 37,275 rubles / month for a room with an area of 99 square meters.
- The deadline for accepting applications is in the "Procedure Details" section. In this case, the acceptance of applications ends on July 20, 2018.
Questions about premises and procedure
If the premises, the terms of the auction or the terms of the lease are not suitable, then the search continues. To date, 112 objects have been put up for auction. In total, this year it is planned to put up 300 premises for rent for small businesses. This means that there will also be new objects. On the website of the Investment Portal, you can subscribe to messages about trading updates. In this case, the e-mail will receive messages about new objects that meet the selected criteria.
If you decide to participate in the auction, or about possible participation, then the most correct thing is to return to the top of the object page, find the item "Contacts of managers" and call. The manager at this number can answer simple questions about the bidding procedure and organize a free viewing of the premises. The person who will show the room, most likely, will not be able to answer any questions.
Questions about the intricacies of the lease agreement, repair, connection of utilities (if necessary) should be asked to the owner. Who is the owner? - City. Who exactly, to whom to ask questions? - You can find out from the manager of the auction, and if it does not work out - in the Department of City Property.
