Part of the Levelling Up Bill introduced into Parliament on 11 May 2022, proposed “unlocking new powers for local authorities to bring empty premises back into use and instigate rental auctions of vacant commercial properties in town centres and on high streets".
This proposal highlighted that vacancy rates on high streets remain high at 13.5% - this figures is a national average and some towns and cities have higher and lower vacancy rates. The Bill would seek to address this issue by enabling local authorities such as Surrey Heath Borough Council to designate an area as a 'high street', if it considers that area as important to the local economy due to the concentration of shops and businesses.
If a premises remains vacant for sometime, and meets qualifying criteria, the Bill grant a local authority the power to conduct a compulsory rental auction of the premises. Whilst not only regenerating new life into the area, it would also generate rental income and important revenue for the authority to use to fund services for the community.
The contract would entered into by the local authority and the successful bidder, as if it were entered into by the landlord instead of the authority.
The Government is currently consulting on these proposals, and is primarily aimed at commercial landlords, tenant businesses, community groups and local authorities, though is open to comment from the general public and private sectors.
Commenting, Trefor said:
"In 2020, I showed Michael Gove our empty local shops and talked about the way empty and abandoned shops blighted communities right across Britain. He listened and by May 2022, he was talking about Rental Auctions for Empty Shops as part of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, joking that he was calling it 'Trefor's Law', but fortunately noting that I didn't have to be dead!
"Now it is coming into reality with a consultation for commercial landlords, property specialists and local authorities to give their view of how exactly the Rental Auctions should be implemented.
"The Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent soon and become enacted into law. There aren't that many Councillors who can say they have managed to get a new law on the statute books, and I can't wait to see those shops open once more."
The consultation is at: gov.uk/government/consultations/high-street-rental-auctions/high-street-rental-auctions
Pictured, empty retails units on the Old Dean back in 2020.
