More than three-quarters (76%) of Europe’s office buildings are at risk of obsolescence by the end of this decade unless landlords invest in improvements or find alternative uses for it. This is the warning from Cushman & Wakefield in its latest report.

As service charge budgets are set for 2023, occupiers and landlords with vacancy can expect significant operational cost increases across their real estate portfolios. Property Forum talked to Ryan Wray MRICS, Principal at Avison Young Czech Republic to understand what you can do to make savings and get better value from your budget.

C2H, the company that owns the Kara and Pietro Filipi fashion stores in the Czech Republic, has recently emptied its 58 stores in the country to prevent landlords it owes rent to from seizing its inventory as security for payments.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause multiple disruptions to the world’s industries and economies and this is also true for many CEE currencies. Those countries that have not adopted the Euro, or are not pegged to it, have each seen a ca. 10% depreciation in currency value during the period February to March 2020. The Romanian Leu is the exception which has depreciated just 1%, largely due to central bank intervention, Colliers reports in its CEE Special Insights Series.

Cresa, a tenant-only real estate advisor, will open an office in Warsaw this autumn. Piotr Kaszyński, who has 20 years’ experience in the real estate sector, will lead the Polish office.

Colliers International Hungary announced that Michael Smithing has returned to the Office Agency Team as Director of Landlord Representation, effective immediately.

Tenant representation is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon on the office markets of Central Europe, which is without a doubt a sign of a healthy, growing and more educated market. Their activity, however, often raises ethical questions as it’s still often unclear who pays for their services. Conflict of interest in tenant representation has been one of the key topics of two regional events: the Property Forum - RICS Prague Property Summit 2017 and the latest RICS Hungary Tea & Talk in Budapest.