Sublets office space that companies are locked into but no longer use
TL;DR Shedfloor helps companies that are paying for office space they don't need any more. It checks the lease, gets the landlord's consent, finds a subtenant and handles the paperwork and handover. The company with surplus space pays a success fee, and the subtenant gets a fitted office below market rent.
Most large Indian occupiers aren't shrinking. One property consultancy found 72% expect to grow their portfolio by 10% or more within two years, and 55% report average office use above 75%[1].
That still leaves a minority with too much space - firms that cut teams, merged, or went hybrid on a lease signed for more. They keep paying rent on empty floors until a lock-in ends, which hurts every single month.
Meanwhile rent for new space keeps rising, and Bengaluru prime office hit ₹163 per sq ft a month in Q2 2026, up 10.7% in a year[2]. So a fitted floor that's available sooner and cheaper has real value to somebody.
Shedfloor works on the lease, not the floor plan. For a company with surplus space, it reads the lease to see whether sub-letting is allowed and on what terms, and drafts the landlord consent request. It prices the space against nearby options and markets it to growing firms, brokers and flex operators who might take a whole floor. Then it manages the sub-licence, handover and any furniture deal.
The seed pitched intelligent space-management software to cut wasted space. Other ideas in this directory already cover occupancy sensors and desk booking, and those only help a company that wants to keep its space. Shedfloor serves the company that has already decided it has too much. Few will need it, but each one will need it badly.
The client is the CFO or admin head of a company with surplus space. They pay a success fee, likely a share of the first year's sub-rent, though the level is untested. The subtenant is a growing company or a flex operator that wants a fitted floor quickly. Some landlords may also pay to keep a stable occupier in the building rather than face an early exit.
A record 82.6 million sq ft of office space was leased in 2025[3], much of it on long commitments. Some of those firms will get their sizing wrong. Rising rents in the biggest markets[2] widen the gap between a sublet and a fresh lease, which makes it easier for a subtenant to say yes.
We found no public figure for office sublease supply or deals in India. If anyone claims one without a source then don't trust it.
The neighbour is total leasing, 82.6 million sq ft in 2025[3]. If even a small share of that turns surplus over a lease term then the pool is real, but your first job is counting it in one city.
Local brokers handle subleases case by case, and we couldn't find a specialist offer. One US platform runs a marketplace of more than 100,000 workspaces in 120+ countries where hosts list space by the hour or year[4], though its site doesn't mention subleases. One listed flex operator, with 250+ centres, could absorb a surplus floor as a managed centre[5].
The gap is a desk that starts from the lease and the landlord's consent.
| Difficulty | Moderate (30/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹40–75 L |
| Time to launch | 3–6 months |
The work is mostly legal and sales. The hard part is finding companies before they admit publicly that they have surplus space, and then getting landlords to consent when they could just re-let the floor themselves at full rent once the current tenant leaves.
No special licence is needed to run a sublease desk, but every deal depends on the lease and the law around it.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI decide whether a lease allows sub-letting. A lawyer reads the clause, and the landlord's written consent settles it.
Want to work out the AI layer for Shedfloor? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this fits a commercial leasing broker or property lawyer who already knows CFOs and landlords in one city. If you're hoping to build a software marketplace first then it isn't for you.
Before anything else, count the surplus - find 20 companies in one city with space they would sublet within a year.
Plan for about ₹40–75 L for a small leasing and legal team and marketing in one city.
No sector licence, but you need the landlord's written consent, a registered agreement for terms over a year and GST registration.
Yes, surplus office space exists in most big cities. Check local lease and brokerage licensing rules before you start.
The free Shedfloor validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the lease and consent checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for CFOs and landlords, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Shedfloor or something close to it? The make-or-break work is finding enough surplus space and winning landlord consent, and I'm happy to help you size both. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.