Tadas Jarasius specialises in offering medium-term accommodation – an average stay of 2-3 weeks – in prized Camden locations for various corporate, heathcare and events visitors. He’s a relocation agent rather than a landlord, which left him in a difficult situation over lockdown, but one from which he has emerged stronger.

How has COVID affected your business?
“I manage properties on behalf of landlords, so I immediately got in touch with them all to see if I could negotiate rent reductions. Some were fine about this, and some were not. Despite my properties suddenly being totally empty, I had a few landlords say the risk must be 100% mine – so I had to improvise.
I went knocking on the doors on all the construction companies around Camden, because they worked on throughout the lockdown. I managed to secure quite a few contracts for my flats in King’s Cross, at a very reduced rate. At least that covered some costs, as the utility companies would simply cut us off if we didn’t pay each month. Because my properties are not hotels, they don’t have business rates, therefore we didn’t qualify for any grants either. My revenue was 50% down, but at least I could pay the bills.”

What’s your current offering?
“I’m seeing more and more companies coming back, but it’s still going to take a long time. Conferences aren’t going to happen for a while due to distancing, and tourism is also still completely down. I’m still busy approaching all the companies I can, meeting them, trying to persuade them, and just keeping going.”

What have been your greatest concerns?
“If I hadn’t been able to secure some of the building contractors, I would basically have had to back the properties, and there was a risk that I may have to shut the business too. I haven’t got enough properties under my belt yet, so it would be hard to carry on after that. As you can imagine, sometimes when I take a new place on it’s really rundown, so I always do a full refurbishment. In some cases that means putting £20k-£30k into someone else’s property. I took on two new ones late last year, and spent a lot of money getting those ready, which meant Covid hitting in early 2020 was really tough.”