The commercial lease in Geneva
What are the required documents to obtain a commercial lease?
Obtaining a lease contract requires a complete file including:
- A copy of an identity document for individuals, and a recent extract from the Trade Register for legal entities
- A recent certificate issued by the Office des poursuites et faillites.
- An attestation consisting of showing and proving the budgets in action. It can be either a salary slip, a report illustrating balance sheets, profits and losses, or a tax return.
- A business plan detailing the company’s activities.
Obtaining the permission to occupy the commercial premises
Once the building is built, a few papers need to be finalized before we can move in. To do so, it is necessary to acquire an occupancy permit which is issued by the Department of Planning, Housing and Energy.
As for the premises with industrial characteristics, we speak of a permit to operate instead of an authorization to occupy.
Setting up commercial premises in Geneva
Commercial premises are to be used to house businesses. They can therefore be defined as objects dedicated to operating a firm (offices, stores, workshops, warehouses, etc.).
To install commercial premises in the canton of Geneva, a few points must be taken into account:
- Regulatory obligations: The different activities that can be carried out are well distributed in the different zones of the city by means of a precise allocation plan.
- data on the architecture of the building: its surface, its volume, its height, etc.
- Company environment and general infrastructure: location of entrances and exits, site plan, proximity to public transportation routes, equipment, tax rates, availability of staff and workers.
When these points are well defined, the project leader can choose between :
- Move into existing premises, i.e. purchase or lease. In this case, it is more appropriate to use the services of a service provider specialized in architecture in order to arrange the layout of the premises to establish the company.
- Build a new location. It is also recommended to use the services of a service provider specialized in architecture in this case to ensure compliance with construction standards and various facilities such as the height of the wall and building, management of thermal and acoustic insulation, etc.
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