"I would question why a building which had been marketed for many months would attract interest at auction"
- Simon Barry - Boyer
It is right that the regeneration of our high street is a priority for the government: the vitality of a local high street has a significant knock-on impact on the broader economic and social value of our towns and cities.
But great minds from across retail, planning and regeneration have attempted to find a solution to the ‘perfect storm’ battering so many of our high streets and the failure to do so suggests that the solution is far from simple.
The suggestion by the government that ‘disengaged landlords’ are ‘sitting on empty properties’ highlights the complexity of property investment. No landlord wants their investment to remain vacant while maintenance bills mount or the property falls into disrepair: most would welcome any alternative.
But, as is demonstrated by the number of multi-nationals, and independents closing on the high street and the fact that one in seven high street units is empty, the state of the high street is ultimately at the mercy of supply and demand factors. Boyer has first-hand experience of this and we are currently working for a number of clients regarding restaurants, pubs, coffee shops and general retail. We are aware that there are detailed considerations which need to be taken into account before any investment is made.
The previous government’s introduction of Class E was a bold move, using considerable deregulation of the planning system to encourage high street regeneration, allow a wider choice and support local demand. Whilst there has been some success in this and it inevitably increases the flexible use, many properties remain empty.
It seems unlikely, therefore, given the flexibility of change of use and the considerable marketing that is invested in such properties, that an auction could resolve their fortunes. There are many broad, complex and ever-changing factors at play the government’s priority for high street regeneration must be to address them.
The ethos of ‘right to rent’ is a throwback to Localism – itself an ineffective gesture to offer power to local communities which for a plethora of reasons failed to deliver.
I would question why a building which had been marketed for many months would attract interest at auction; whether landlords’ properties should be removed from their possession (albeit temporarily) when they have invested in both the bricks and mortar and the management and marketing of the unit, and how the new tenants would succeed where the professional landlord has failed.
Furthermore, do local authorities have the resources to do so, in terms of skills and finances? The perilous state of local authority finances would suggest not.
