Pictured above: Richard Wackett
Having been overshadowed by the desperate need to rebuild public
finances, the commercial property sector was left somewhat
under-whelmed by Chancellor Alistair Darling's latest ever
Pre-Budget Report (PBR) according to Richard Wackett, Head of
National Rating at Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH).
The Chancellor's extension of the empty property rates relief
for small properties for a further 12 months is welcomed but simply
doesn't go far enough.
The threshold for the exemption, which will come into effect
next April, will be raised from £15,000 to £18,000.
This will take into account any increase in rateable values
following revaluation in 2010.
The fact remains that the punitive imposition of Business Rates
on empty properties continues to stifle development and urban
regeneration. The extension will be of little use to larger
regeneration areas and will not cover most major office, warehouse,
industrial or retail schemes. The exemption is designed to cover
the interests of the small scale investor holding nursery units or
small commercial interests.
However, as far as Business Rates are concerned, the PBR is more
interesting for what was not featured rather than what was.
When the Valuation Office Agency changed its policy to rate
individual businesses instead of the statutory port owner last
year, occupiers across the 56 statutory ports in England and Wales
became liable for large Business Rates demands that were then
back-dated to 1 April 2005.
It was hoped that the Chancellor would provide some form of
relief for port operators in his long-awaited PBR. This glaring
omission will continue to exert unnecessary pressure on an already
over-stretched industry.
It is not yet clear whether the Conservatives intend to drop the
£1bn annual tax grab that the Government currently receives
from empty rates if successful at next year's General Election.
However, one would hope they are more helpful towards investors and
developers, who are currently suffering from the burden of paying
Business Rates on empty properties, in order to stimulate positive
movement in the economy.