Should Your Gym Offer Space to Self-Employed Personal Trainers? A UK Owner’s Guide

The PT Space Rental Model: What It Is and Why It Matters

Most independent gym owners employ personal trainers directly, or don’t offer personal training at all. A third model — renting floor space or time to self-employed personal trainers — has grown significantly in the UK gym sector and can work well for independent gym owners who want the revenue and service benefits of personal training without the employment costs and management overhead. (see NHS exercise guidelines)

This guide covers how the space rental model works, how to structure it correctly, what to charge, what should be in your PT licence agreement, and how to avoid the pitfalls that can make the model more trouble than it’s worth.

The Business Case for Space Rental

For the gym owner, the PT space rental model offers several advantages over direct employment:

• Rental income without employment risk — you earn revenue from the PT’s use of your facilities without the employer’s obligations (NICs, holiday pay, sick pay, redundancy rights, disciplinary management)
• Member acquisition — PTs often bring their own existing client base. When a PT with 10 clients moves their practice to your gym, you potentially gain 10 new members or paying gym users
• Increased facility utilisation — PT sessions typically happen at consistent times, filling capacity that would otherwise be idle
• Enhanced member value — access to professional personal training is a genuine benefit of gym membership, even for members who use it infrequently or just aspire to

For the PT, your gym provides a professional environment, equipment, and a potential member client pipeline without the capital cost of running their own facility.

Structuring the Arrangement Correctly

How you structure the relationship has significant legal and tax implications. Getting this wrong creates employment status risk (HMRC treating your self-employed PT as an employee for tax purposes), insurance gaps, and potential contractual disputes.

What genuine self-employment looks like

A genuinely self-employed PT should:

• Work at multiple venues, not exclusively at your gym
• Set their own rates and negotiate their own client fees
• Hold their own professional indemnity and public liability insurance
• Invoice your gym for sessions or pay you a licence fee, rather than being paid a wage
• Be free to send a substitute if unavailable (in practice this is rare for PTs, but the contractual right matters)
• Bear the risk of their own business — if they have no clients, they earn nothing and owe you nothing

If your arrangement doesn’t reflect these characteristics — if the PT works exclusively at your gym, you set their rates, you control their hours in detail — HMRC may treat them as employees regardless of what the contract says. Take professional HR or legal advice if you are uncertain.

Models for the arrangement

There are two main commercial structures:

• Licence fee model — the PT pays you a fixed monthly or weekly fee for access to your gym and floor space. Their client fees are entirely their own. Predictable revenue for you; predictable cost for them. This is the cleaner model from an employment status perspective.
• Commission model — the PT shares a percentage of their session fees with you. Higher upside for you if the PT builds a large client base; lower guaranteed revenue. More complex to administer and can create conflicts over client fee rates.

Most independent gym operators prefer the licence fee model for its simplicity and predictability.

What to Charge

PT licence fees vary significantly by location, facility quality, and market demand. Indicative ranges for UK independent gyms:

• Full access licence (unlimited sessions): £150–£400/month depending on location and facility quality
• Sessional rate (per session or per hour of access): £8–£20 per session/hour
• Limited access (e.g. mornings only, or a specific number of sessions per week): proportional reduction on full access rate

Price based on the value you provide: high-quality equipment, a professional environment, a strong existing membership base that generates PT client leads, and a location with good footfall justify premium rates. A basic facility with low footfall should price accordingly.

Research what other gyms in your area charge before setting your rates. PTs will compare options, and a rate that is significantly out of line with the market will either leave money on the table or make your gym uncompetitive.

What Your PT Licence Agreement Must Cover

A verbal arrangement with a PT is a recipe for disputes. A written licence agreement protects both parties and ensures expectations are clear from the start. Key clauses to include:

Insurance requirements

Specify that the PT must hold, maintain, and provide evidence of: professional indemnity insurance (minimum £1m, typically £2m cover), public liability insurance (minimum £2m, typically £5m cover), and an up-to-date first aid certification. The agreement should allow you to terminate if these lapse. (see CIMSPA professional standards for fitness professionals)

Qualifications

Specify minimum qualification requirements: Level 3 Personal Training qualification recognised by REPs or CIMSPA, current first aid at work certificate. Consider requiring a DBS check if the PT works with any under-18 clients on your premises.

Code of conduct

Define standards of professional behaviour: how PTs should interact with your members (respectfully, without soliciting direct memberships to alternative gyms), what they can and cannot do on your gym floor (no subletting to other PTs, no using your branded materials without permission), and what happens if they breach these standards.

Client ownership

This is often the most contested element. Clarify: who “owns” the PT’s clients who are also your gym members? If the PT leaves, can they continue to work with clients who prefer to stay at your gym? Can they take clients to a competing gym? A reasonable position is that members are members of your gym (and owe their membership fee to you regardless of who trains them), but the PT’s client coaching relationship is theirs. The PT should not actively solicit your members to leave your gym.

Termination provisions

Specify the notice period required from each party to end the arrangement (typically 4–8 weeks), the process for settling final invoices or licence fees, and the PT’s obligations on departure (clearing personal equipment, transitioning clients where appropriate).

Exclusivity (or lack of it)

Specify whether you offer exclusivity in a specialism (e.g. “you are the only nutritional coaching PT at this gym”) or whether you may licence other PTs with similar specialisms. Clarity here prevents future disputes.

How to Find Good PTs

The best PT hires for a space rental model come through the same channels as employed instructors: referrals from your existing PT network, LinkedIn, fitness industry Facebook groups, REPs/CIMSPA directories, and local fitness training providers. Ask specifically for PTs who are looking to grow or establish a self-employed practice, rather than those looking for employment.

Run an audition — ask the PT to demonstrate their approach with a sample session, and observe how they interact with members and use the equipment. A PT who does not respect your gym environment, equipment, or members during a trial session will not do so once established.

Pitfalls to Avoid

• PTs who underperform and don’t pay — a PT who has no clients quickly becomes a licence fee debtor. Set a short trial period (3 months) before moving to a longer licence term, and have a clear payment terms clause with a consequence for late payment.
• PTs who leave and take your members — a well-drafted client ownership clause and a non-solicitation period after termination (typically 6 months, not to directly approach your gym members for competing services) reduces this risk without being unreasonably restrictive.
• Too many PTs with the same specialism — having six strength coaches and no mobility specialists creates internal competition that reduces earnings for all your PTs and doesn’t serve the breadth of your membership’s needs.
• PTs who don’t integrate with your gym culture — a PT who treats your gym as a venue rather than a community, and who doesn’t build relationships with members beyond their own client base, contributes less to your gym’s atmosphere and retention than one who is genuinely part of the team.

Build the Membership Base That PTs Want Access To

PTs are attracted to gyms with strong, active memberships — because that’s where their clients come from. A well-presented GymPal listing helps new members discover your gym, which in turn makes your gym more attractive to the PTs who want to work with them.

Claim your free GymPal listing and give your gym — and the PTs you partner with — the best possible member pipeline.