01
Permitted use and consents
What the local zoning plan and the land register say, whether your activity is allowed in the unit, and whether a change of use will be needed. Hospitality and services add sanitary requirements and sign-offs.
Commercial Property
Units, warehouses and offices for business in Warsaw and the surrounding area.
I
Retail and services
A unit matched to what your business needs.
II
Warehousing and logistics
Space that can carry your volumes: power, height, docks, access.
III
Offices
Warsaw's best offices — in our portfolio.
[ 01 · Service ]
A unit has to earn its keep.
The best business decisions often start with the right address.
Villa Estate is a Warsaw agency run by lawyers. We look for the unit, warehouse or office a specific business needs, check whether it is actually permitted to do there what you plan to do, negotiate the rent and the charges, and read the lease sentence by sentence — before you sign it.
[ 02 · The point ]
Rent is only one part of it. What counts is the location, the terms of the lease and what the property can do for the business.
A commercial lease is often signed for five to ten years and is close to impossible to leave. Over that time you pay not only rent but the service charge, the utilities, the fit-out and — if things go wrong — the cost of putting the unit back as you found it. And if it turns out your activity isn't permitted there, or the power supply isn't sufficient, none of those figures matter any more.
[ 03 · Comparison ]
On your own, or with us
You can find a unit yourself. The hard part starts at the question of whether you're allowed to do there what you intend to.
On your own
- You view adverts that mention neither the available power nor the permitted use.
- You compare rent to rent, and learn the service charge after signing.
- You get the landlord's version of the lease and sign it unchanged.
- You find out a consent or a change of use was needed when an inspector tells you.
With Villa Estate
- We check the permitted use, the consents, and whether your activity is allowed there at all.
- We work out the total cost: rent, charges, utilities, fit-out and property tax.
- We negotiate and amend the lease — a lawyer reads it before you sign anything.
- You also see units that change tenant without ever being advertised.
[ 05 · Access ]
The best units are never advertised
Good commercial space changes tenant without a public listing — the owner or the managing agent rings the agencies they work with before anything reaches the internet. We work with hundreds of Warsaw offices, with managing agents and with developers, so you also see what will never be advertised.
[ 04 · Due diligence ]
What we check in a unit
Six things that decide whether your business can operate in a given space — and what it really costs.
02
Utilities and power
Available power, gas, ventilation, air conditioning, water and drainage. Missing power or no ventilation can cost more than a year's rent.
03
Access and logistics
Delivery access, the loading area, ceiling height and floor loading, parking for customers and staff, and the delivery hours the building manager or the local rules actually allow.
04
Service charge
What it covers, how it is reconciled and indexed, plus property tax and utilities. This is the line that most often breaks the budget, because the advert doesn't carry it.
05
Condition and fit-out
What has to be done for the unit to suit your business, what it costs and who pays. We also check whether you'll have to reinstate the original condition at the end.
06
Surroundings and competition
Foot and vehicle traffic, the neighbours, competitors within a few streets, and what is due to be built here in the coming years.
[ 06 · Edge ]
Lease, negotiation, cost
The three places businesses most often overpay for space — and the three we are genuinely strong at.
01
The commercial lease
Villa Estate is run by lawyers. A commercial tenancy has none of the statutory protection a residential one does — only the contract counts. We read the clauses on indexation, penalties, security, subletting, non-compete and reinstatement, and then we negotiate them.
02
Negotiation
The rate per square metre is only the beginning. We also negotiate a rent-free period for the fit-out, the landlord's contribution to it, how indexation works, the size of the security and your right to exit. On a longer lease those lines weigh the most.
03
Total cost
We work out not the rate but the sum: rent, service charge, utilities, fit-out, tax and the cost of reinstatement. Only that lets you compare two units that look alike in the advert.
[ 07 · Kinds of space ]
What we look for, and for whom
Four kinds of space, each with its own set of questions to ask before signing.
01
Retail and services
Frontage, foot traffic, visibility and neighbours. We also check what the lease says about opening hours and what you may put on the façade.
02
Hospitality
Ventilation, power, connections, sign-offs and the building's consent. The most demanding category, and the one where it's easiest to sign for a unit you then can't open.
03
Warehouse and production
Clear height, floor loading, docks, lorry access, available power and the zoning designation.
04
Offices
Layout, cost per workstation, common parts, and what the quoted rate actually includes. With offices it usually turns out the cheaper offer isn't the cheaper one.
[ 08 · Benefits ]
What you actually get
No asterisks and no small print — this is the scope we deliver on every lease and every purchase.
01
Space beyond the adverts
Closed agency databases, contacts with managing agents and developers, and units that change tenant without a public listing.
02
Certainty that you're allowed
Permitted use, consents and sector requirements checked before signing, not at the first inspection.
03
A lease negotiated by a lawyer
The clauses on indexation, penalties, security and exit amended in your favour.
04
The total cost worked out
Rent, charges, utilities, fit-out and tax in one table — only that is the price.
05
Your time
No ringing round adverts and no visits to units your business wouldn't be permitted to occupy anyway.
06
Support after signing
The schedule of condition, the meters, the handover and help with sign-offs. If a dispute with the landlord follows, you know who to call.
Tell us what your business needs.
The first conversation is free and commits you to nothing. We reply within one working day.
[ 09 · The process ]
From the brief to the keys
This is what a typical search with us looks like. With clear requirements it runs from a few days to a few weeks.
Start
Brief and requirements
We establish what the space has to satisfy: floor area, power, ventilation, deliveries, parking, foot traffic and the total budget. That becomes a list of criteria you can test, rather than general expectations.
Weeks 1–2
Screening the market
We search the portals, the closed agency databases and our contacts with managing agents and developers. Anything that fails on permitted use or utilities is dropped before we ever show it to you.
Viewings
Site visits
We view with you, and for harder units with a services engineer or a contractor. We ask the questions nobody asks on a first impression.
Verification
Use and technical fit
We check the zoning plan, the land register, the consents, the power, the ventilation and the sector requirements. Most options fall away at this stage — and better here than after signing.
Negotiation
Terms and total cost
We negotiate rent, charges, the rent-free period, the landlord's fit-out contribution, indexation and security. The result is converted into total cost across the whole term.
Lease
Legal review
A lawyer reads the lease and every annex, explains them in ordinary language and proposes amendments. You sign only once you know what you're agreeing to.
Completion
Schedule of condition and keys
We record the condition of the unit and the meter readings, photograph everything and take the keys. That record decides your security deposit at the end of the term.
After signing
We stay in touch
We help with sign-offs, with the annual service-charge reconciliation and with conversations with the landlord during the term. As the end approaches we come back to it early.
[ 10 · Voices ]
What businesses say
From business owners we found space for in Warsaw and the surrounding area.
We'd previously signed for a hospitality unit where the ventilation couldn't be built. The second time we searched with Villa Estate — the first thing they asked the owner about was ventilation and power. Three units fell away at that stage; the fourth is still trading.
The difference between two offers looked like two złoty a metre. Once the service charge and the indexation were added, over five years it came to more than two hundred thousand. We took the second one.
What helped most was the rent-free period they negotiated for fitting out the café. We'd never have asked for it ourselves, because we didn't know it was a thing.
[ 11 · Questions ]
Before you ask
The questions businesses ask most often. If yours isn't here, write to us and we'll answer it personally.
We agree the fee before we start and write it into the contract — nothing gets added along the way. The first conversation is free.
Both. Either way the property gets a full legal review: the land register and any encumbrances, the leases in place, and on a purchase the preliminary and final contracts. You don't have to worry about any of it.
We check that before signing and say plainly whether the change is realistic, how long it takes and who bears the cost. Sometimes it's a formality, and sometimes it's a reason to walk away — and that second answer is worth far more than quickly finding something.
It has no statutory protection. A commercial tenancy is governed only by what the contract says. That is why the lease here matters more than the unit, and why a lawyer reads it.
It's the charge for running the building's common parts: cleaning, security, shared utilities, management. It may be a flat rate or reconciled against actual costs, and it can run to tens of złoty per square metre a year. Adverts almost never carry it, and it makes a real difference to the budget.
We don't carry out building work, but we cost it during the negotiation, negotiate the landlord's contribution and a rent-free period for it, and recommend contractors we trust. We also make sure the lease says clearly what stays in the unit at the end.
Yes. Site visits are done on video, documents move electronically, and the lease can be signed through an attorney. We act for businesses in Polish, English, Ukrainian and Russian.
With clear requirements, usually anywhere from a few days to a few weeks from brief to signature, plus the fit-out. What stretches it most is unusual technical requirements and locations with limited supply — we say so plainly at the start.
[ 12 · Consultation ]
Tell us what you need.
Write and tell us what your business does and what space you're looking for. Within one working day we'll come back with an honest read on the situation, some first options and clear terms.
- The first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
- Permitted use and technical requirements are checked before signing.
- We keep things confidential. Your details stay with Villa Estate, and we share them with nobody for any purpose beyond delivering the service itself.