The British Property Federation (BPF) in a bid to revitalise the high street has appealed to the Government for an extension of the time period for business rates relief of empty stores to 12 months, along with a reintroduction of 50 per cent rate cut for long-term empty stores.
Currently, owners of vacant stores have a three-month exemption from business rates to upgrade stores as necessary while re-letting them to a new tenant.
According to sources, less than one in ten empty shops i.e. 9 per cent are re-occupied within six months and almost a third of 31 per cent lie empty for over two years.
The greater regional disparity across UK with just 4 per cent of empty stores in Yorkshire re-let in six months along with 5 per cent in the East Midlands and North East in comparision to 13 per cent in the South West and Greater London.
According to Melanie Leech chief executive of BPF, the current empty rates relief is “completely out of step with today’s market conditions. We recognise that business rates generate vital income for local authorities, but it is simply not sustainable for property owners to shoulder this tax burden when there is no tenant or income on a unit.”
The current data signifies that re-letting empty units is challenging across retail locations as 9.9 per cent of high street stores are reoccupied in six months compared to 7.5 per cent at shopping malls and 10.3 per cent at retail parks.
