Rate relief changes ''could restrict development'' - commercial mortgages

12 October 2007

Developers with commercial mortgages could suffer as a result of forthcoming changes to empty property rate relief legislation, it has been suggested.

The British Retail Consortium and CoreNet Global UK have joined forces in order to demand that the government extends the relief period to at least a year an a half, ahead of planned changes which would see rates enforced after just three months.

Regeneration could suffer as a result of the plan, the groups suggest, as it is more difficult to find long-term tenants in such areas.
"It seems like the government has been blinded by the cash benefits and can''t or won’t see the negative consequences of what it is doing," commented BRC director general Kevin Hawkins, according to the Liverpool Daily Post.

"With just three months'' relief developers will be reluctant to take a chance on areas where the returns are not assured. Retailers will be similarly cautious," Mr Hawkins added.

The deadline for small firms to apply for rates relief has now passed, with September 2010 being the next deadline for all such applications from now on.