Multi-company buildings

What is a multi-company building?

A multi-company building houses several companies under one roof. You have your own business space. You can often arrange this workplace yourself. This makes such a space suitable for the self-employed and for entrepreneurs with staff.

You share certain facilities with other entrepreneurs. You save money by sharing the costs of these services. For example:

• maintenance and cleaning of the building
• office supplies
• personnel, such as reception or security
• copier
• conference rooms

Special variant: the incubator

A special variant of a multi-company building is the so-called incubator. These often contain innovative startups. The emphasis in an incubator is on the mutual exchange of experiences by entrepreneurs. Business support is also often available.

What are the advantages of a multi-company building?

Renting a workplace in a multi-company building has many advantages, such as:

• You save money by sharing costs.
• There are many different options, from just a desk to several rooms. So you only pay for the business space you need. Do you want to hire staff? Then you can easily expand.
• The rental contracts are usually not for a long period of time.
• You can collaborate and discuss problems with other entrepreneurs. Or help each other.

Multi-company building not always suitable

A multi-company building is not suitable for every entrepreneur. For example in these situations:

• It is necessary for people to pass by. For example, if you have a store.
• You want your company to have its own image and appearance.

Choosing a business centre

When looking for a collective building, pay attention to:

• the house rules
• costs
• the rental contract and when you must cancel (term of notice)
• the facilities, such as a kitchen and toilets

Rent a workshop

Besides office space, you can also rent a workshop in some multi-tenant buildings. For example, if you are a carpenter. Or if you are going to hire staff and need a larger workshop.

KVK registration and business address

You can only register your business at the address of a multi-tenant business centre if you have permanent access to a workspace or room where you carry out a significant proportion of your work. This may also be a flexible workspace, such as a room you share with other entrepreneurs. You must be able to enter this part of the building yourself during opening hours. For example, using your own key. This must be stated in your tenancy agreement. We will check this when you register.

Do you only rent a flexible workspace or meeting room occasionally? If so, you cannot use this address as a visiting address. In that case, your home address is the visiting address. You may, however, use the address of the multi-tenant business premises as a postal address.

A business centre as a postal address

Do you mainly work from home but do not want to give people your home address? If so, check whether you can have your visiting address kept private. Keeping your home address private as a visiting address is always possible for eenmanszaken and sometimes for other legal structures too.

To shield your visiting address, you will need a postal address, for example, via a PO box. You can rent a PO box from a multi-tenant business centre, a PO box provider, or an administrative office. This protects your privacy, looks professional, and is cheaper than renting your own premises. You can ask a business to scan all your post and email it to you, so you don’t have to collect anything.

Read more about registering a company in a multi-company building at KVK.

Rules for renting business premises

The rules for renting and letting business premises differ per type of business premises. For example, the rules for rent protection, rent protection and notice period.