Our Landlords have notified us that they will be using a ‘break clause’ in our lease to terminate our occupation of Alphacom House by 31st March 2016. This means that we are already on a hunt for new premises that will be affordable to the charity. We are not restricted to Horsham, but this has been our home since the charity was started back in 2000. We need to house 3 members of staff. A meeting room would be a bonus. If you know of any suitable premises, we would love to hear from you.
The Government introduced new permitted development rights to enable offices to be converted to homes without the need for planning permission which came into force in England on 30th May 2013. The new right was for a three year period. This change has seen a huge take up and is very evident in Horsham, with developers rubbing their hands together at the prospect of making huge profits. The initiative was designed to free up empty/derelict offices for much needed housing. The trouble is that occupied premises are being targeted as well. Our charity friends at HomeStart Crawley found themselves in a similar position recently.
The downside is suffered by charities like ourselves, resulting in great difficulty finding suitable office space at an affordable level.
