We’re a small business that rent an office from Workspace, a large office supplier. We moved into our office on a 2 year lease last september. Since then we’ve been burgled 3 times.

We’ve installed an alarm, bars over the windows, dead locks – the police and our insurers believe we’ve done all possible. However I’ve arrived this morning to another burglary, the 4th.

To get into the building to access our office, you need a key fob – that seems to be the only way they got in this time, and then smashed thru 2 doors to access our office (and another office in the building).

I feel despondent and I know the team’s morale will sink. We’re only small and this hits us badly, emotionally and financially.

Ideally I would like to move out as feel we’re being targeted, possibly by someone who has a key fob (and these seem to be in wide distribution – sandwich suppliers, building works, etc).

Workspace are a big group and I suspect our contract is very binding – any advice on approach to explore options to get out? Legal stuff is not my forte but I’d hope they can understand that the office is not really fit for purpose.

Any help gratefully received … thanks

What does the contract say about security? Is there any negligence on the side of Workspace? If they’ve done a reasonable job of securing the building but local scrotes are smashing the crap out of doors and windows to get in, it’s not like they can help it.

If there’s nothing in the contract nor anything you can use to force negligence, your best bet may be to sit down and explain the problem and hope they’re a reasonable business

Not legal advice but what have workspace said about the break ins so far? Their response will probably be important. If it looks like somebody is using key fobs are they logged? Is there any CCTV? Workspace should probably be responsible for outside security etc. As with anything dialogue is better than law for resolving things.

To get this right, on both the current and previous occasions the break in has occurred after they have gained access to a communal area (via key fob) then proceeded to break in to your premises, is that right?

if so, and the landlords have done nothing to increase the security/withdraw or change the key fobs after the previous occasions, then they must be in breach of a duty of care

what he said
they control the communal space
At our works they know who has which key fob and when it is used- it is a sackable offence to not have it on you or to not report it as lost ASAP.
It is very easy to do this and I would ask why they have not done it.

Yeah, that’d be negligence on their part IMO. You could use that (via your legal representation) to argue a breach of contract.

thanks – there is cctv in the communal areas and workspace issue key fobs to tenants – access has been gained through the communal areas so guess that’s a line of discussion to push for an early exit from our contract.

If they use key fob then on their computerised system they should know who that key fob belongs to.

Work from home with virtual office and rent a storage location nearby?

When I had my business we went through the same.

We were turned over twice in 5 weeks in offices we were renting from Your Space (a similar sounding large office supplier). it was exactly the same set up. The front door was accessed by a key fob, then individual office doors were kicked in. They came back and did exactly the same once we’d replaced all the Macs they took first time, 5 weeks later.

From this we concluded:

a) We were targeted, and it was from the inside. They were very selective about which offices they went into. It certainly wasn’t random.

b) For it to happen twice in succession proved they weren’t serious about security. Providing a ‘secure ‘ office is part of their contract, so as far as we were concerned, it was nul and void. We also found out from the police that they had CCTV installed, but it ‘wasn’t working’.

So we moved out immediately, told them their contract wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on, and they could stick it, then took out legal proceedings against them to recover our substantial uninsured losses. Shortly after we did that they went bust. It cost us a fortune, and was a large contributory factor in our business going under

Cut your losses, get out, and start legal proceedings to recover any losses. Any solicitor will go over your contract and find the bit where the onus is on them to provide a ‘secure’ workspace, which in this case they clearly haven’t done. Even if it isn’t explicit in black and white (which it probably is) there is an implied level which they clearly haven’t met if someone was able to walk into the building using a fob

thanks all, and thanks binders – that sounds encouraging. They have CCTV but not all the cameras seem to be working! Key fobs are all named but they’re struggling to know whether they can get a log of in and outs – that said, there’s some building works going on, plus a sandwich guy who pops in and they all have fobs so I’m not sure there’s much discipline on their distribution.

I’ve asked for a meeting to discuss the situation – trying to be professional and reasonable. But desperate to move out before they do us again and nick all the shiny new kit.

Aus – Sounds like you are in the same boat we were – You’re a soft, and very lucrative, target. We spoke to the police about our repeated burglaries and they said that basically we’d be on a list. These weren’t opportunist scrotes, they were professionals. Once they know somewhere has lax security (or they know someone inside with a fob, and whole turn a blind eye), then they’ll leave a period of time until the insurance has come through, and you’ve replaced all your kit, then they come back and do you again. Same routine every time.

Whats the worse that can happen if you breach your contract? Not much, I’d imagine. After 4 times, I’d be long gone. Get yourself out of there sharpish, or it’ll just happen again…. and again…..

I wouldn’t have stuck around that log, as it sounds to me like you’ve pretty much zero security

4 times claim off the office suppliers and leave.
That meeting you’re going to have? Take the best solicitor you can afford with you.

I’ve administered a few proximity access systems over the years and I’ve yet to come across one where you cannot get a log, quickly and easily, of every fob swipe on the system. I’d posit that either the people you’re speaking to aren’t the people who use the system or their pants are on fire.

I’d posit that either the people you’re speaking to aren’t the people who use the system or their pants are on fire. the insiders.

ftfy

More likely the local security guard is on the take and let the scrotes in, hence is reluctant to look at the logs…

If everyone and their dog has a fob, they need to cancel and reissue them all. In our old block of flats, we had 100 properties and 2000 active fobs on the loose!

Pretty damned sure that the admin system that logs the security fobs/cards can be accessed in seconds, by anyone with the appropriate password. To claim otherwise seems like dereliction of duty.
It’s possible for ‘civilians’, or non-staff to walk into our building via the warehouse door, which is usually open during summer, but to access upstairs, which is restricted access requires pass-cards or dongles, which are only given to permanent staff, or loaned to builders or maintenance people, or H&S/ISO auditors, and those cards/dongles can be tracked very, very easily.
We also have CCTV in the most security-sensitive areas, which proved its worth when a temp was found to be stealing cash from envelopes sent in for charities.
I have full, unrestricted access to everywhere in the building, but previously I only had access to parts of upstairs that were relevant to my job, and all access could be controlled by one person, so the OP’s problems would indicate that one person with access to the admin system has full knowledge of what’s going on.