Empty Rates Relief Slashed

The Government began the process of raising money out of misfortune and tenants' agony when it used a Ways and Means process to introduce its Empty Rates Bill on 10th May.

The stated purpose of the Bill is to influence the behaviour of property owners who allow their property to remain empty while they claim relief from property tax (which doesn't mean they actually get any money from the tax man, merely that they don't pay as much as they would while their property is empty!) and to attempt to free up more brownfield sites for development.

The Government expects to raise £900m from this measure every year - presumably this is more likely to be the purpose - and consider the money to be theirs anyway!

Unfortunately the stated aim is reasonably sensible but the 'sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut' approach is far from sensible.

In Guildford town centre there is a building known as 'The Old Tile Warehouse' on Sydenham Road that has been unoccupied and locked up for at least sixteen years. This is the kind of building that should be targted by the Government.

In practice, however, the properties that will be affected are the small business premises that have become unviable to run and yet are locked in a planning process that precludes their redevelopment, or locked in a lease that prevents them being assigned to other occupiers.

Property tax (National Non-Domestic Rates) are absurdly high in the UK relative to continental Europe. Until now the only saving grace has been that the tax is on USE rather than EXISTENCE.

If you look at Godalming a few years ago, there were many empty shops and no real market for them. These would have been hard hit by this measure. On Guildford Business Park are many thousands of sqaure feet of offices that stand empty awaiting tenants. These buildings would also suffer from the measure.

Our pension funds will be affected by falling commercial property values and why? Because the Government will stop at nothing to interfere in the markets, to raise stealth taxes and to ensure that Europe thrives at our expense.

This is the shape Gordon Brown has brought to the Treasury - what hope UK Plc when he is finally in Number 10?