What a retained acquisition is
The seller has an agent. This is yours.
A commercial property buying agent, sometimes called an acquisition agent or property finder, is retained by the buyer to find and secure the right property. Every selling agent in the market works for the vendor. Until you appoint someone, nobody in the transaction works for you.
Our retained acquisition service does that job with a difference: the person running your search is a chartered surveyor. We do not just forward listings. We inspect, appraise the building, the lease and the price ourselves, and tell you which properties to walk away from before you have spent anything on solicitors.
It suits first purchases as much as portfolio buys. A business buying its first premises, a SSAS buying one property to hold for the long term, or an investor adding a unit all get the same process, with the fee scaled to the purchase.
How it works
Six stages, one adviser throughout
Brief
A call, then a written acquisition brief: budget including stamp duty, legals and fees, location, sector, size, the lease and tenant profile you want, and any pension, tax or lending rules the purchase has to work within. This is the first deliverable and the yardstick for everything after it.
Search
A national search of the open market, auction catalogues, agents and our own contacts, with off-market opportunities pursued where they fit. You see a shortlist with our view on each, not a forwarded inbox.
Appraise
For each shortlisted property we inspect, read the lease and the covenant, assess condition and likely capital spend, and put a written appraisal in front of you with a view on the price. This is where most searches save their fee: the properties you do not buy.
Negotiate
We make and negotiate the offer and agree heads of terms on your behalf, using the appraisal findings and comparable evidence rather than the asking price as the starting point.
Complete
We coordinate your solicitor, lender, pension administrator and any specialist reports, instruct a building survey or Red Book valuation where the findings justify it, and keep the transaction moving to exchange and completion.
Handover
On completion you get a handover file: the appraisal, the agreed terms, the lease and rent schedule, the key dates and every report obtained. If you want the property managed afterwards, we can quote for that separately.
What it costs
Two fees, both in writing before we start
Most buying agents will not publish what they charge. We would rather you knew before you called. The retainer pays for the brief, the search and the appraisals. The success fee is only earned when you exchange on a property.
Buying through a pension
SSAS and SIPP purchases, done in the right order
A pension scheme can only buy commercial property, has to buy at market value, and the administrator or trustee will want an independent RICS valuation before the scheme commits. Where the property is being let back to a connected business, the rent has to be at market rate too.
We build those rules into the brief from day one, so the search only turns up property the scheme can actually hold, and the Red Book valuation the administrator asks for is prepared in-house by an RICS Registered Valuer rather than bolted on at the end.
Start your brief
Tell us what you are looking for
The more you can tell us about budget, location and who is buying, the better the first call. We reply within one working day with a view on whether a retained search is the right route, and a fee proposal if it is.
Already found a property? Tell us about it below. We can appraise and negotiate a single purchase without a full search.
FAQs
Commercial property buying agent questions
A buying agent, also called an acquisition agent or property finder, is retained by the purchaser to find, appraise, negotiate and secure a commercial property. Selling agents act for the vendor; a buying agent is the only party in the transaction working for you. Our service is run by a chartered surveyor, so the appraisal of the building, the lease and the price is done by the person running your search rather than passed to a third party.
Selling or disposing of commercial premises? We hold live buyer briefs across London and the South East. Email info@surveyorsorted.co.uk with the details and we will check them against our current mandates.