If your warehouse lease in Romania ends next year, you’ll be deciding in a different market from the one you signed in. For two years, there was very little to compare your landlord’s offer against. Now there is. Whether you stay or move, that changes what you can ask for, but not always in the way you’d expect.
What changed, and what it means for you
You have alternatives again. Vacancy stayed below 4% through 2023 and 2024. By mid-2026 it reached about 6%, with roughly 247,400 sqm of modern space available in Bucharest. About 653,000 sqm of new space is due this year, almost double 2025, most of it around Bucharest (CBRE).
You can pick finished space. Pre-leasing fell from 61% of take-up in Q1 to 39% across H1, because tenants can now choose units that are ready (CBRE).
There is sublease space. Some companies that took extra space for growth that came more slowly are now subletting it, sometimes below new-build rents (Colliers).
Headline rents haven’t fallen. Prime is stable at around €4.75/sqm/month, and the average rose 2.4% in a year (CBRE). Deals are closing at the lower end of the prime range, but construction costs up more than 10% in a year leave little room for further cuts (Colliers).
In Bucharest, the choice isn’t even. Modern buildings on the A1, A2 and A0 corridors still let quickly. Older buildings and secondary locations offer more availability and better terms (CBRE).
First, whether you stay or move: price a real alternative
A vacancy rate won’t move a landlord. A comparable unit you’ve actually priced will. Even if you plan to stay, get at least one real offer, and check what sublease space is available nearby. It’s the only way to know what your current landlord’s offer is really worth.
If you’re renewing where you are
Your commitment is your strongest card. When I worked on the landlord side, a firm commitment was worth more to us than a few cents per sqm when space was harder to let, and incentives were easier to give than a lower headline rent.
For your renewal, that means:
Offer the term you can genuinely commit to, and ask for something in return. Incentives, and the flexibility rights covered below.
Expect the rent to move in some buildings more than others. In an older building or a secondary location, the rent itself can come down. In a modern building on a main corridor, the room is mostly in incentives and terms.
Start from your notice deadline, not your end date. If your lease requires notice to renew or leave, that date is your real timeline.
If you’re moving
To a building that’s already finished
The same logic applies, including to speculative units completed without a tenant. The construction cost is already spent, and an empty unit earns nothing. So the term you commit to is what you trade for incentives, and in older buildings or secondary locations, for a lower rent.
But check that the cheaper unit is actually cheaper to run. Before comparing offers, ask:
What are the real transit times, at the hours you operate?
Are there heavy-vehicle restrictions on the access roads?
Can your shift workers get there?
How far is the nearest customs office, if you need one?
Can the roof take solar panels, and how efficient is the building to run?
For clear height, docks and power capacity, see The Word Doing All the Work in Your Relocation Clause. The same comparison applies here. A gap you find is a cost to you, and also an argument at the table.
If you’re considering sublease space, remember it can’t outlast the lease it sits under, and it comes as it is.
To a building that isn’t built yet
Built-to-suit and pre-lets work differently, because the rent has to carry construction costs. If you need more than about 10,000 sqm in one place, this may be your only route (Colliers). Here your negotiation is about two things:
Delivery: the date, and what happens if it slips.
Specification: exactly what the base rent includes, and what will be charged as extra works.
Either way: keep your options open without paying for a break
If you’re not sure where the business will be in three years, a break option is the obvious protection. It’s also the most expensive, because it cuts into the secured income the landlord values most.
Two other rights give you room to adjust without cutting that income, because you stay bound to the lease. On the landlord side, these were far easier to agree than a break. Ask for them whether you’re renewing or signing a new lease.
A subletting right. Under the Civil Code (art. 1805), you may sublet unless your lease expressly prohibits it, so check what yours says. If it requires the landlord’s consent, ask that consent not be unreasonably withheld:
“The Tenant may sublet all or part of the Premises with the Landlord’s prior written consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld.”
Be realistic about what it’s worth today, though. If you ever need to use it, you’d be competing with the sublease space already on the market, some of it below new-build rents. A sublet may not cover your full rent. It still limits what you lose, which a lease with no way out doesn’t.
First refusal on the adjoining unit. If the space next to yours is about to be let, you can match the deal and take it first:
“The Landlord grants the Tenant a right of first refusal over the adjoining unit for the duration of the Lease.”
I’ve written about how this works at renewal in Your Renewal Isn’t a Pricing Conversation.
Both clause excerpts are illustrative wording.
Before your next warehouse lease decision
Whether you stay or move
Price at least one real alternative, including sublease space nearby
Decide how long you can genuinely commit
If you’re renewing
Start from your notice deadline, not your end date
Trade the term for incentives, and for rent in an older or secondary building
If you’re moving
Finished building: check running costs and location before comparing rents
Not yet built: negotiate delivery and specification
Either way
Ask for a subletting right, with consent not unreasonably withheld
Ask for first refusal on the adjoining unit
General guidance. Every lease needs its own review.
I’m Nicole-Olga Pulpea, MRICS, founder of ClarePoint Lease Advisory. I advise tenants on commercial lease review and negotiation across office, retail and industrial space, after years on the landlord side. If your warehouse lease is up for renewal or you’re comparing new space, see how I work at clarepointlease.com/services
Sources: CBRE Romania, “More supply and greater choice reshape Romania’s industrial & logistics market in 2026” (11 September 2026); Colliers Romania, Industrial & Logistics Market Q3 2026 (15 October 2026); Civil Code, art. 1805.
Photo by Ryan Parker on Unsplash
