Ambitious but cash-hungry firms looking for industrial premises in the Midlands have been eyeing up space offered via a new ‘rent and buy’ guarantee from Shaylor Developments.

The developer has just one unit left at the Harris Business Park, near Stoke Prior, and four units on the Aldridge Fields Business Park.

Now Martin Baxter, Shaylor developments director, has devised a new-look financial package to tempt growing companies who need to relocate to new premises, but haven’t currently got the funds to buy outright.

“The first lettings happened quite quickly at both schemes, but then bank lending dried up. We understand just how difficult it can be to acquire new space, when market conditions suddenly change, and it’s almost impossible to attract external capital,” he said.

“We wanted to devise a way which would allow firms to take the units now, but to pay for them when trading conditions improve, and think we have the solution.”

Shaylor is now offering a package, which enables companies to rent the space now, on a five-year deal, giving them long-term control over their outgoings. If a tenant then decides to acquire their unit’s freehold, they can do at any time during the first two years of their lease for a guaranteed price, and will receive one year’s rent payment back.

Mr Baxter said its agents – the Birmingham office of DTZ, and Lichfield-based Kingston & Partners for the Aldridge scheme and Redditch-based John Truslove & Co for the Stoke Prior development – are already reporting significant interest in acquiring the space, on the new ‘rent and buy’ deals.

“If this new style of package succeeds here, I’m sure we’ll make it available at our other development sites in the region,” he said.