Business Lease Calculator for Premises

Set the Rent Basis

This business lease calculator compares the cash cost of two premises leases over the same entered term. It adds rent, outgoings and tenant costs, then separates incentives, GST recovery and refundable bond cash.

Enter rent before GST. Yearly rent is used directly, monthly rent is multiplied by 12 and weekly rent by 52. For per-area quotes, enter the yearly rent per square metre and the floor area. Annualised rent is divided into 12 equal lease-month amounts.

A lease month runs from the starting day to the same day next month. Shorter months use their last day. Weekly payments cover seven days, with a shorter final period when needed. Each partial period uses its actual days as a share of that lease month. Weekly cash can therefore differ from the quoted weekly amount under this conversion convention.

Payments fall in advance at each coverage period’s start. An annual payment sums its covered lease months, including any entered reviews within that year. The model rounds each payment to cents, so changing frequency can change totals by a few cents.

The base term excludes optional renewal. Select Include option only to model that separate scenario. The comparison shows base and optional cash separately and splits a payment at their boundary. Renewal continues the entered assumptions. It does not predict new rent or assume that you exercise the option.

Apply Rent Increases and Incentives

Rent reviews take effect after the whole number of elapsed months you enter. A percentage review compounds the annual rent then in force. A fixed review adds dollars to annual rent. Set new annual rent replaces that amount with your supplied figure.

Use a supplied CPI scenario or an estimated market-review amount as an entered review. The calculator contains neither a CPI forecast nor market rents. It applies one review per elapsed month and rounds the new annual rent to cents.

Rent-free periods waive rent for the entered lease months while outgoings continue. Overlapping rent-free periods are counted once. Additional incentive is separate from those waivers. Choose Cash receipt for money received at commencement or after an entered number of months.

Choose Rent reduction to divide the additional incentive equally across the selected lease months. Each reduction is capped at that month’s rent. An unused reduction during rent-free months is not carried forward. The comparison reports the unused amount, so you can match this treatment to the incentive agreement.

A rent reduction lowers the rent used to calculate GST. A cash incentive is a separate net cash receipt and leaves rent GST unchanged. Enter the incentive’s net cash amount after any GST settlement. Its tax character is a separate assessment. The NSW retail tenancy guide describes rent-free periods, rent abatements and fit-out contributions as different incentive arrangements.

Include Occupancy Cash Costs

Occupancy cash cost includes rent, entered outgoings and one-off tenant costs, plus GST cash, less received cash incentives and entered GST recovery. It excludes the refundable bond. Cash including bond adds security to the term’s net cash outlay. Use dated rows to assess cash needed before later receipts arrive.

Annual outgoings are spread evenly across lease months and stay constant unless you change the input. Add only costs outside the quoted rent. Enter upfront fit-out and other tenant costs before GST. Enter the end cash allowance for make-good or other final costs before GST. Other GST cash is paid at commencement.

Rent and outgoings have separate supplied GST rates. GST is added to each rounded payment. Enter zero where the relevant amount carries no GST. GST recovery is your assessed cash receipt at an entered elapsed month. It never reduces payments due to the landlord.

The ATO explains that commercial leasing can involve GST liabilities and GST credits. The calculator does not decide registration, credit eligibility or deduction entitlement. Use the ATO’s commercial premises guidance for those assessments. A cash bond is treated as refundable security, with no assumed refund date or automatic GST charge.

Compare the Lease Offers

The hypothetical default offers both cover 36 months, with monthly advance payments. Offer A starts at $48,000 annual rent with 3% reviews after 12 and 24 months. It has two initial rent-free months and a $6,000 cash incentive at commencement.

Offer B starts at $46,000 with 5% reviews after 12 and 24 months. It has one initial rent-free month and a $4,000 cash incentive. Both enter $9,600 annual outgoings, $18,000 upfront costs and a $3,000 end allowance. Each has a $12,000 refundable bond.

Both examples use supplied 10% GST rates for rent and outgoings, $1,800 other GST cash and zero recovery. Offer A’s occupancy cash cost is $202,880, against $205,780 for B. A is $2,900 lower despite its higher starting rent.

Effective monthly rent is rent after rent reductions and received cash incentives, divided by selected months. It excludes outgoings and GST. The examples show $3,732 for A and $3,811 for B. Monthly occupancy cost includes the wider cash items and entered recovery, at $5,636 for A and $5,716 for B.

Download both schedules to keep the entered assumptions beside exact payment rows. Period zero records commencement costs and receipts. Rent rows show their advance payment dates. Cash receipts between rent dates get separate rows. The final allowance falls at the selected term’s end. A positive A minus B cost means A costs more.

Read the export alongside the lease and any incentive deed. A make-good obligation, variable outgoing or future market review needs an entered allowance or scenario. The NSW guide to leasing costs explains these costs for retail leases in that state. Applicable lease law and recoverable charges depend on the premises and jurisdiction.

This is a cash comparison. It does not calculate lease-accounting recognition, tax deductions or legal rights. Inputs stay on your device. Changing a lease assumption sends no details to a provider and saves no lease inputs in browser storage.

Premises Leases and Vehicle Leases

A premises lease pays for the use of a building or space. A vehicle lease rental depends on financed asset value and a final residual. Use the business car lease calculator for that task.

To assess when occupancy payments use available business cash, take the schedule into the cash flow calculator. Keep the timing of incentives and GST recovery separate from the landlord’s payment dates.