Perhaps this is obvious to everyone, but NOT ME, so I am trying to help other naive people like myself, all those that knew this, please ignore and don't call me a fool:

When looking at office spaces, the square metres you will be quoted are based on not just the space you want to occupy, but also a proportion of the ''common space' of the complex. This can be as high as 50% (but more usually around 20-30%) of the quoted size.

I understand the entire costs of the complex need to be covered by SOMEONE, however it is quite misleading to westerners who come here used to being quoted on the actual utilisation space.

So please be aware of this.

Cheers

(This was not made explicit to me straight off. However I understand that some real estate advisors do make this clear from the start.)

it's the same way of square meter theory while you buy property in China.

They don't make it clear b/c its standard procedure in the industry here. Is like that in some other countries too.

A good reminder for everyone to ask the appropriate questions and do not assume anything.

Thanks for the tip.

It's the same for residential and retail properties. And same in Hong Kong & Singapore etc..

[quote="yu888"]They don't make it clear b/c its standard procedure in the industry here. Is like that in some other countries too.

quote]

No it's still not professional if the agent didn't make it clear upfront. Not everyone from everywhere understands this and an average local also doesn't rent an office everyday.