Temporary leases not the answer (From Wiltshire Business Online)

Temporary leases not the answer

12:50pm Monday 1st June 2009

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ANDREW KILPATRICK’s monthly look at the property market . . .

In another new initiative, the Government has announced plans to revive town centres in the face of shop closures caused by the recession.

The Government’s ideas include using boarded up shops for temporary use by social enterprises, for local art displays or learning centres. The Government says this will help landlords who have vacant units as well as people seeking to lease vacant units in the town centre.

In anticipation of landlords not wishing to let to temporary occupiers the Government is proposing to enter a lease directly with the landlord and act as an intermediary between the temporary occupier and the landlord in granting a “meanwhile lease.”

Swindon has had its fair share of retailer casualties, such as Woolworths, Adams, Officers Club, Zavvi, Whittard and The Works all adding to the supply of vacant shops in the town centre.

However, for the Government to suggest that by introducing some temporary occupiers into vacant shop units that is somehow going to inject life back into town centres and prevent them from turning into ghost towns, is in my view absurdly over optimistic.

The reality is that whilst such actions might paper over some cracks, it is certainly not going to kick start new life into empty town centres.

In my view, rather than tinkering with cosmetics to paper over cracks, if the Government had a desire to achieve something of substance, it would be taking action to address the problems.

For example, the Government could lift the empty rates burden for empty shop properties or go even further and provide a rates incentive to everyone taking a lease on an empty shop by allowing say three months rates free in return for signing up a lease and occupying an empty shop.

Something like that would be far more effective than trying to hide the problem by dressing up empty shop windows, which while giving the town centre a better appearance than just having boarded up shops, does not really help a current landlord or lessee of such shops shift them on to new occupiers and get the town centres back full of trading retailers, which I suggest ought to be the aim.

More of Andrew's views can be read in the June issue of the Wiltshire Business magazine.

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