KD Commercial

20/10/2026

Property, pensions and a rather important change… 😬
We spend a lot of time talking about buying property, building wealth and making good investments. But what about protecting what you've worked hard to build? From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be included in estates for Inheritance Tax purposes. If you own property, run a business or have built up a pension, it's worth understanding what these changes could mean for you and your family.
That's why I wanted to share a free live webinar from WealthBuilders, looking at the upcoming changes to pensions and Inheritance Tax, and what you might want to consider now. 📅

Wednesday 21 October 🕧 12:30–2pm 💻 Online Find out more and register here:

Join our free webinar on the April 2027 pension changes, the Triple Whammy and FAIR — Families Against Inheritance Risk. Learn how to prepare.

08/10/2026

This wasn't actually something we offered at KD Commercial.
In fact, I'd never even considered it. 😂
But then someone came along and asked for something a bit different.

Let's call him Bill.
Bill and his business partner, Ben, had already bought a few commercial properties to diversify their residential portfolio.
But Bill was honest about something.

"I need an expert. I need some mentoring. I need to know what I don't know."

We talked through the different ways KD Commercial could help, but none of our existing services were quite what he wanted.
He wanted something completely tailored to HIS situation, HIS goals and HIS portfolio.
So he asked if I offered private, in-person mentoring.
I didn't.
But I thought, why not?
We agreed to spend two days together in Birmingham, looking at properties, analysing opportunities and building a proper investment strategy.
On the first morning, Bill was very clear about what he wanted.

✅ Long leases, ideally 10–15 years
✅ Big-name tenants like Boots, Starbucks and Greggs
✅ Minimal management
✅ Yields of 8% or more

Not a bad starting point.
But was it actually the right strategy for him?
We spent the first day looking at high street, office and industrial properties, talking through valuations, tenants, leases, yields and how to identify opportunities to add value.
And then something interesting happened.
When Bill arrived the next morning, he said:
"I would have paid for this day ten times over."
He'd completely changed his search criteria overnight.
He'd already found THREE potential investments he wouldn't even have considered 24 hours earlier.

And when we reviewed his existing portfolio, we identified opportunities to add value there too.
There was another interesting moment during those two days.
While we were driving around Birmingham, Ben was in the back of the car frantically dealing with a leak at one of their residential properties.
Water was pouring through a ceiling.
It was quite the reminder of the management headaches residential landlords can face!
By the end of day two, Ben was asking whether they should sell their residential properties and move everything into commercial.
His words, not mine. 😂
We'd covered everything from analysing deals and auction packs to understanding leases, valuations and finding opportunities.
And they left with a pipeline of potential investments and a much clearer idea of what they wanted to achieve.

That's when I realised something.

This should probably be an actual service.

So, I'm now offering a small number of private, in-person commercial property mentoring days.
Two days, completely tailored to you, your experience, your portfolio and what you want to achieve.
I'll only be offering one per month.

If you're looking to get to grips with commercial property and want practical, personalised guidance rather than generic training, this might be for you.

Register your interest here and tell me a little about your situation:
https://kdcommercial.co.uk/121day
Kirsty

29/09/2026

Over £3m spent on an empty office building?!...

A 68,544 sq ft office building in Staines recently sold for £3.08 million.
Except there was one fairly important detail...
It was completely vacant.
No tenants.
No rent coming in.
So why would somebody pay more than £3 million for it?
Because sometimes, with commercial property, what’s there today is only part of the story.
The buyers could see potential for refurbishment, extension or redevelopment, subject to the relevant permissions.
And this is something I think people can easily miss when they’re new to commercial property.
A vacant unit can look like a problem.
An experienced investor might see an opportunity to increase the income.
An empty building can look like a liability.
Someone else might see redevelopment potential.
A lease might look perfectly ordinary.
Someone experienced might spot something in it that could potentially affect the value of the whole investment.
Two people can look at exactly the same property and see two completely different opportunities.
Finding a commercial property is one thing.
Really understanding what you’re looking at, and what options might be available, is another.
Sometimes the value isn’t in what’s there today...
…it’s in what somebody else hasn’t spotted yet.

If you’re considering commercial property and would like to talk it through, drop a comment below and we’ll be in touch.

25/09/2026

What REALLY changes in just an hour?

A client I'll call "Tim" recently booked a one-hour strategy call with me.
He already owned commercial property and knew what he wanted next.
Or so he thought... 👀
His shopping list:
£200k+ to invest ✓
London / South East ✓
High street retail ✓
Income-producing ✓
Strong tenant ✓
Long lease ✓
I could have agreed it was a great plan and sent him on his way.
But we're on the buyer's side at KD Commercial.
That means we're not here to simply nod along. Sometimes our job is to challenge what you think you want.
So we started with location.
Did an income-producing investment with a strong tenant really need to be close to his home in London?
No.
That opened up a MUCH bigger search area.
Which then answered another question...
Was his £200k enough?
Once we weren't restricting the search to London and the South East, it was.
Then we looked at sector.
High street retail ✓
But why not offices too?
Suddenly he had another sector to explore.
And we established commercial property auctions as a good place to start looking.
So after an hour:
£200k ✓
Strong tenant ✓
Long lease ✓
London / South East only ❌
High street retail only ❌
And with time to spare, we looked at the property he already owned and spotted something in the lease that could increase its value by a minimum of £60,000 and secure the tenant for a longer term.
Same £200k.
Very different plan.

My one-hour strategy calls are £750.
If you'd like an experienced pair of eyes on your commercial property plans, comment below and we will be in touch.

22/09/2026

44,000 rental properties sold since July... Where's the money going?

44,000 rental properties have been sold across Britain since the beginning of July.

That's roughly 562 properties a day leaving the rental market and reportedly the fastest rate since 2016.
And honestly, it's perhaps not that surprising.
Residential landlords have had a lot thrown at them.
Higher borrowing costs. Tax changes. Increasing regulation.
And by 2030, privately rented homes in England will also need to meet new minimum energy efficiency standards equivalent to EPC C, unless exempt.
But this is the bit I have been thinking about… and this isn’t in the press.

Where is all that money going?
Because selling a buy-to-let doesn't necessarily mean someone has decided they're done with investing.
Government research found that 56% of landlords see their rental property as a long-term investment contributing towards their pension.
These are people who may have spent years investing in property.
They understand bricks and mortar.
They like owning a tangible asset.
Maybe they haven't fallen out of love with property investment at all.
Maybe they've just fallen out of love with residential property.
Some will move their money into pensions, ISAs, savings or stocks and shares.
But there's another option I rarely see mentioned in these conversations.

Commercial property.
I regularly speak to experienced residential landlords who have never seriously considered commercial.
Not because they've looked at it and decided against it.
They simply don't know enough about it to consider it an option.
I'm certainly not suggesting everyone should sell their buy-to-lets tomorrow and go and buy a warehouse. 😂

Commercial property has its own risks and requires a different understanding of tenants, leases, sectors, yields, locations and void periods.
But it is another option.
And with so many residential landlords currently reassessing what they own, perhaps there's another question worth asking:
If I do sell, what could I do with the money instead?

If commercial property is something you've wondered about but you're not sure where to start, feel free to get in touch with us at KD Commercial for a chat.

18/09/2026

“But everyone works from home now…”

I hear this all the time when I mention offices as a commercial property investment.
Businesses don’t need offices anymore - everyone’s working from their kitchen table (apparently).

But…

That’s not actually what the market is telling us.

I was reading some recent research from Knight Frank and a few numbers jumped out at me.

Businesses across the UK’s 10 largest regional cities took 2.57 million sq ft of office space in the first half of 2026.

That’s the strongest first half since 2019.

But this is the bit I find much more interesting…

Businesses aren’t taking just any office space.

Higher-quality, modern “Grade A” offices accounted for 64% of take-up in Q2.

And if you’re wondering what Grade A actually means…

Modern or recently refurbished. Energy efficient. Good location. Good transport links. Bright, well-designed space. Often with things like showers, bike storage and better facilities for employees.

Basically, not the tired old office block you might be picturing when somebody says “office investment”.

Across those 10 cities, around 11% of office space was sitting vacant.

But when you look specifically at Grade A offices?

Just 3%.

And it’s not just Knight Frank reporting this shift.

CBRE’s latest European research found that 65% of the office occupiers they surveyed plan to relocate within the next 3 years.

They may not necessarily want more office space.

But they’re becoming increasingly selective about the space they do want.

Which tells us something…

The demand for offices hasn’t disappeared. But businesses have become much more specific about the offices they actually want.

Now, this is where it’s easy to misunderstand the point.

I’m not saying the big shiny buildings always make better investments.

Far from it.

Some of the best commercial property investments I’ve seen aren’t particularly pretty.

An ugly old industrial unit can be a fantastic investment if businesses are queuing up for that type of space.

A large office building might look like an absolute bargain on paper…

But it’s not a bargain if nobody wants to lease it.

That’s the important distinction.

And right now, the office data is telling us that businesses are increasingly choosing better-quality spaces.

So, a smaller, better-quality office might make more sense than getting far more square footage in a building that’s going to be difficult to let.

When you’re looking at commercial property investment options and wondering

“Are offices a good investment?”

That’s probably the wrong question.

A much better one is:

“Is this an office that businesses will actually want to occupy?”

A commercial property doesn't have to be pretty to be a successful investment. But there does need to be demand for it.

P.S. Got something commercial property related you'd like to speak about? You can book a chat with someone from the KD team here.

14/09/2026

How much is enough?

Back at Midlands Investor Networking Group (MING) today with the Monday morning networkers, not my usual 12pm start to the week!

A refreshing change in an energising and engaged room of property investors, professionals and business owners. Generating conversations beyond the financials of investing in property.

Gratitude goes a long way, lovely to receive colourful flowers as a thank you for speaking today, thank you for curating this community Mark Burrows Vicky Chittock Karen Poxon

It’s about how we truly want to spend and invest our time, how much income do we need for our own version of that?

So many stories shared with me today, from taking time off to travel every month and sharing recommended trips to reclaiming Tuesday’s to spend with your son before he goes to nursery, property enabling fostering full time and being there to support elderly family members. The returns beyond financial are the ones that really count.

We can always make more money, we can never buy more time.

Fellow speakers Tina Pickstock and Richard Parkes shared their wisdom from 30 years of business and investing, top of the list don’t over leverage and create unnecessary risk that may become unmanageable when the world pivots. Slow and steady wins the race!

How will you know when you have enough?

11/09/2026

You could just use Rightmove.....

Finding a commercial property isn't particularly difficult.
Open Rightmove and you'll see loads.
But, finding the right commercial property investment for you, is a very different matter.

The right price.
The right tenant.
The right lease.
The right numbers.
The right level of risk.
And the right potential for what you're actually trying to achieve.

That's where we come in.

Our Commercial Property Sourcing Service is for people considering investing in commercial property who have the capital, but don't necessarily have the time, contacts or specialist knowledge to spend months searching, analysing opportunities and figuring out which ones are actually worth pursuing.

We do that bit for you.

And, with more than 80 years of combined surveying experience, we're pretty good at it.

We already have relationships, conversations and a pipeline of opportunities moving through the business, including properties that are off-market, coming back to market or may never appear on the usual portals.

So rather than starting from scratch and trying to build those contacts yourself, you get to tap into ours.

And here's what that can look like in practice.

In one particularly busy month, our agency team made 16 offers on behalf of clients.

Three more offers were accepted that month, across two office investments and one high-street property, with purchase prices ranging from £230,000 to £775,000.

Two were found on the open market.

One came directly through our agent relationships, off-market.
That's the bit you don't get by simply refreshing Rightmove every morning.
But finding the opportunities is only part of it.
We analyse the property, the numbers, the tenant, the lease, the risks and the potential.
We negotiate.
We help manage the process.
And importantly, we're not looking to find you any property just so we can say we've done our job.
We're looking for an investment that makes sense for you, your capital and what you're trying to achieve.

So yes, you absolutely could do it yourself.

But if you'd rather have an experienced commercial property team do the heavy lifting and help you find and secure the right opportunity, let's have a conversation.

Reply to this email with “SOURCING” and we'll arrange an initial chat with Matt to find out a little more about what you're looking for.

If it looks like we're a good fit, we'll take it from there.

Best, Kirsty

09/09/2026

Are you around on Monday?

This is a little last minute, but I'm speaking at MING Property Networking in Birmingham on Monday 14th September and I've been given a handful of complimentary tickets for my network.

I have 4 FREE tickets remaining, so I thought I'd see if any of you fancy joining me!
MING (Midlands Investor Networking Group) is a well-established daytime networking event that's been running for more than 10 years and regularly brings together 100+ property and business professionals.

I'll be delivering a session on commercial property and property investing, sharing some of what I'm seeing in the market right now and the things I think investors really need to consider when assessing an opportunity.

Because finding a property is relatively easy.
Knowing whether it's actually a good investment for you is where things get interesting.
The numbers matter.
The location matters.
The tenant and lease matter.
The potential matters.
And it all needs to make sense for what you're actually trying to achieve.

There'll also be another guest speaker, plenty of time to meet other investors, developers and business owners, and a light complimentary lunch.

MING Property Networking
📅 Monday 14th September
⏰ 10am–2pm
📍 Avery Fields, 79 Sandon Road, Birmingham, B17 8DT

Fancy coming along for FREE?
The 4 complimentary tickets are first come, first served, so if you'd like one, just reply to this email with “FREE TICKET” and we'll send you the details.

If the complimentary tickets have already gone, we'll send you a code to get £10 off instead.
I know it's short notice, but if you're around on Monday, come and join me. It would be lovely to see some familiar faces in the room.

22/07/2026

For the residential landlords in here who are quietly fed up.
Not with tenants. With everything around them. Rising regulation, renters reforms, admin that keeps growing while margins keep shrinking (and maybe also with tenants!)
A lot of landlords are looking harder at commercial right now, and for good reason. Longer leases. Better yields in many cases. Hands off. Funding options that work differently to buy-to-let, pensions included.

A few things worth clearing up. Commercial property investment isn't only for the wealthy, I started with £10,000. Not every high street is dead, plenty are struggling, repurposing, but plenty are thriving, and the skill is knowing which is which. Most people rule themselves out too early, usually over money they don't actually need.

The Commercial Property Club opens for its final intake, then closes for good. Training at this level typically runs £10,000 to £20,000. The Club is £199 a month on a 6-month commitment, led by a Chartered Surveyor with 25+ years in the sector.
If commercial has been sitting on your list, this is the window.

https://kdcommercial.co.uk/cpc-sales-page/