How do you rent an office in Shenzhen? Well that will depend on how quickly you need to do so, what your budget is and where you want to go. Overall though it is a fairly easy process.
And this is good news for those starting a company in Shenzhen as government law states that you must have an office. Also the size of said office will be affecting by how “big” a company you are, rather than your actual needs.
How do you open a company in Shenzhen?
I will later give this its own article, but opening company in Shenzhen can be fairly complicated without a good agent. To summarize you will need to come with the other shareholders in person to open it and get your license. This can theoretically be done in a day.
The next steps through take much longer and require the legal person (me) to hang around in the country to fix the tax, import export license as well as your bank account. This will be the thirds time I have done this and it is never fun.
Generally speaking you will need an agent to do this. Local ones are of course much cheaper, while foreign ones charge frankly exorbitant prices. My agent is very good, but you will need to go through me to use him!
How to rent an office in Shenzhen – Location
Of course renting or buying anywhere is about location, location, location – so important they said it thrice! In Shenzhen though this has real practical reasons. Firstly whilst somewhere cheap and in the boonies might sound great, the reality is that the government will not appreciate this. Therefore if you are an international company you should locate down by the Lou Hu border or within 5 Subway stops from it.
Another important location factor here is how near a bank you are. A bank account for a business is always important, but in China as a foreign business you will spend a lot of time here, so ideally your bank needs to be within walking distance.
Prices vary greatly depending on the prestige of your building with it being usually between 100-150 per square meter. This roughy equates to between $1000-2000 USD for a 150 square meter office.
And while this might sound a bit big in actuality if you move enough money the authorities within Shenzhen expect you to have an office of a certain size. This is particularly important if you wish to employ foreigners.
A great hotel to stay as you are waiting is the Best Western Felicity Hotel which overlooks Hong Kong.
Contracts and the like in China
Turnaround on renting an office is usually extremely quick in China, with you generally deciding after looking on the same day. Time and tide wait for no man in China and if you don’t rent in time someone else will get it.
After this you generally sign a contract for at least a year. Mostly at least in big cities you can pay month by month, but should you have the cash then paying up to one year upfront will get you a better deal. We did this and saved almost $2000 for the year.
Renovating and office in Shenzhen
Most offices are taken over from a company that is leaving, which means the opportunity that some stiff will be left behind. Most will leave for free, or you can negotiate a small price.
You will though of course need to buy stuff, but this is a cheap dream in China, with beds, tables, chairs etc all of which can be delivered same day and most usefully assembled. This seems to be a real China thing, but is very welcome if you have my lack of talent when it comes to assembling things.
And that is how you rent an office in Shenzhen! All you need now is business…