Answers · Owner-occupier vs investor
What's the difference between an owner-occupier and a property investor?
Direct answer
An owner-occupier owns the property their business operates from; a property investor owns property to lease to others as an investment. The difference matters because owner-occupiers tie business capital up in real estate, while leasing from an investor keeps that capital working in the business.
Many businesses become owner-occupiers almost by accident — buying their premises felt safer than leasing. But owning converts high-returning business capital into lower-returning property capital, and puts all the property risk on the business owner.
A professional investor, by contrast, holds property precisely because a property return suits their capital. That's the logic behind leasing from a long-term owner: you let someone whose business is property carry the building, while your capital stays in the business it knows best. A sale and leaseback is simply an owner-occupier converting to a tenant — releasing the capital while keeping the premises.
Start a conversation
Tell us your requirement
Talk to us directly about the premises your business needs — to outgrow, to free up capital, or to have built. One conversation with the people who decide.
We work with agents. If you’re an agent with a tenant requirement you can’t place or an off-market opportunity, bring it to us.