The business of being a landlord has not changed much in decades. It is a trade of space in exchange for rent payments. The remit of a landlord is to provide functioning electricity, gas and water – the basics needed to run a business.
However, just as a business needs tea to function, it also now needs internet access… except this is not provided by landlords as standard.
Connectivity is the fourth utility and is as important as its other utility counterparts. Landlords need to bring their spaces up to speed with quality high-speed connectivity infrastructure to support this, so that tenants can plug in and go with ease.
Learning from the build-to-rent sector, tenants need to be able to move in and connect to the communal internet immediately, as opposed to waiting for installation, which can take upwards of 12 weeks.
Having these facilities in place and integrating them into the offer speeds up move-in times, which reduces void periods. It offers an ace card for landlords, too – regardless of whether it is grade-A office space or warehouses – as it makes the space as marketable as it can truly be and responsive and flexible to market demands.
Many landlords are embracing the flexible workspace market, which is currently buoyant post-Covid as companies explore using a serviced office or co-working space to adapt to changing demands from employees.
Flexible space operators – either those entering into a management agreement or those taking a ‘traditional’ tenancy – need to get their spaces up and operational as quick as possible. One of the challenges for the flexible market is access to connectivity, which would be solved if landlords installed this.
Over the past few years, we have learnt the importance of good bandwidth with the shift to video conferencing; but installation of high-speed internet also requires more invasive installation, thus an increased wait in operational time.
The fourth utility is not a luxury but a necessity that landlords need to support and get right if they are to avoid the void.
Jon Seal is managing director of technologywithin
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