Retail property expert is scathing on Government’s High Street plan

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The Government’s latest plans to put new life back into Britain’s “dying” high streets are “short-sighted and raise huge concerns, that’s according to a North East retail property consultancy, @Retail.

The regionally based property consultants who claim to be “changing the face of the North East’s high streets,” seem to think that the Government is driving the wrong way up a one-way street with their latest proposals in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.

In particular one of the 12 key “missions” that Michael Gove has unveiled in the Government’s flagship Levelling Up White Paper, aimed at shifting the government’s focus and resources to Britain’s “forgotten communities,” is giving powers to local authorities to force landlords to rent out long-term vacant properties to prospective tenants, such as local businesses or community groups.

One in every 5 shops vacant

The North East, along with much of Britain, has seen a large rise in the number of vacant shops, and in some locations this is above the national average.

The British Retail Consortium/Local Data Company study is the latest where worrying North East data comes at a same time that other parts of the country are seeing improvements as they start to recover from the pandemic.

It underscores the Government desire to take some drastic action. But, indicates Ian Thurlbeck, director at the Newcastle-based retail property consultants, @retail, the government is going up the wrong street with this Bill.

The @retail agency which offers advice on aspects of retail property, including High Street Agency, Shopping Centre Leasing, Investment, Development, Professional Services and a strategic retail Consultancy says: “We are unique in our ability to offer ‘on the spot’ advice from a team of local experts, all of whom are from the Region and have spent the majority of their careers immersed within it.”

Major concerns

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill raises major concerns – under the Bill, landlords will be compelled to let out retail units that have been vacant for longer than six months, says Mr Thurlbeck.

The Government’s aim is to quickly reduce the number of boarded-up shops, while at the same time create new opportunities for local small businesses and community groups, and help to increase footfall and spending in these North East town centres.

But Ian Thurlbeck has described the move as “an unrealistic proposal that fails to take into account regional differences.” He thinks that this will result in hundreds of empty properties being auctioned off to unscrupulous tenants.

Mr Thurlbeck comments further:

“This short-sighted scheme fails to address some fundamental issues, placing the burden directly on property owners and feeding off the general sense of mistrust by people in so-called ‘greedy” landlords.

“It raises many unanswered questions. For instance, what if the tenant who wins the auction is a rogue, pays none of the outgoings and trashes the property – who picks up the bill then? And do the local authorities tasked with running the auctions have the requisite experience and expertise? Will they be willing to take responsibility if things go wrong?”

Mr Thurlbeck thinks that there are now fewer retail operators requiring high street space than previously, but the perception that hundreds of North East high streets face terminal decline is simply untrue, he says.

“There is a popular misconception that our high streets are littered with empty shops, leading to a downward spiral of neglect, decay and blight. This is not the case and here in the North East, we see many high streets that are thriving and as busy as anywhere else in the country.

“Moreover, regional vacancy rates are in line with national trends and in our experience, high street retail activity in Newton Aycliffe, Durham City, Bishop Auckland, Peterlee, Chester le Street, Stanley, Consett, Seaham and Crook among other places, where we have lately updated the council with vacancy rates for these town centres, remains robust.

“There are pockets within some of these town centres where vacancy rates exceed the national average, but I would say that this is as much a national issue as it is a North East one.”

Mr Thurlbeck also has said that landlords should not be blamed for long-term retail vacancies landlords cannot afford to have their properties vacant for extended periods – in his experience, @retail has seen 99% of landlords keen to see their property let as soon as possible.

Further, he advises:

“The alternative is to suffer the cost of rates, repairs, insurance, security and maintenance. In our experience, most landlords faced with limited demand are prepared to agree short-term, rent-free leases with charities, local organisations and other groups, who can demonstrate they will be reliable and responsible occupiers. This helps to offset these costs while searching for a more sustainable solution.

“Indeed, landlords are often keen to mitigate their outgoings on vacant space and most of @retail’s clients who are faced with a lack of demand at market rents will let to charities and other organisations simply to mitigate rates.”

[Image: Tyne Bridge, Newcastle at night]

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Oh Mr Rigsby! Creator of world most famous landlord dies aged 88

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The creator of TV’s most famous landlord, the miserly and pompous Rigsby, has died.

Eric Chappell (pictured, below), who penned the classic sitcom Rising Damp, worked for the local electricity board in the East Midlands while trying unsuccessfully to become a published writer before his breakthrough play, The Banana Box, was picked up by Yorkshire Television.

The play was inspired by a newspaper article about a black man who stayed at a hotel for a year without paying after telling them he was a prince.

When it was turned into a sitcom (and later a film), the venue evolved from a hotel to a seedy run-down boarding house and the focus switched to the miserly landlord, originally played by Wilfrid Brambell.

The landlord’s name had to be changed to Rigsby from the original Rooksby after a landlord called Rooksby threatened legal action.

Social attitudes

Chappell’s comedy challenged social attitudes of the time to become one of the great British sitcom classics with Leonard Rossiter as the landlord Rigsby, Don Warrington as Philip Smith, Frances de la Tour as the lusted-after Miss Jones, and Richard Beckinsale as the medical student Alan Moore.

Although Rossiter was notoriously difficult to work with and often dismissive of the scripts, he became a household name as the iconic Rupert Rigsby, in his holey cardigan, fantasising about past military glories and once believing that Miss Jones calling him a philistine was a compliment.

Rising Damp ran for four series in the 1970s, pipping Porridge, The Good Life and Rossiter’s other big hit, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, to the award for Best Sitcom at the 1978 Baftas.

Grantham-based Chappell went on to write a string of other hits, including Only When I Laugh, The Bounder, Duty Free and Home to Roost.

Pic credit: Youtube

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Landlords quitting sector ‘ is key reason for homelessness, not high rents – claim

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Landlords selling up or re-letting is now the biggest cause of homelessness among renters in England – and not rising rents.

New Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities data reveals that 31,090 households were threatened with homelessness between October and December 2021, up 7.3% on the same quarter the previous year.

This includes 5,260 households who were served a Section 21 notice, an increase of 168% on the same period in 2020 and higher than the 3,830 in October to December 2019 before Covid.

A breakdown of households needing to be rehomed because their AST had ended shows that the biggest increase was due to landlords wanting to sell or re-let the property, which more than doubled (up 146%) compared to the same quarter in 2020 and was up 19% on the same period pre-Covid. The research also found that tenancies were 40 times less likely to be ended because the tenant couldn’t afford the rent.

Timothy Douglas (pictured), head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, says the statistics provide further evidence that the biggest issue facing the private rented sector is a lack of incentives for landlords to keep their properties in it.

“They also call into question the validity of calls for rent controls as rent increases are clearly not a major cause of homelessness,” he says.

Adds Douglas: “More challenges are coming down the line with the renters’ reform agenda, which looks likely to pave the way for the removal of Section 21.

“The UK government must study these figures very closely and ensure further reform of the sector is balanced and includes policies to maintain existing investment and encourage more.”

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Fair rent detemination?

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I have a tenant who’s been on Housing benefits since April 2005. The council have stated that his claim and the eligible rent used in the calculation is decided with regard to October Deregulated tenancies and any rent increase must be referred to the Rent Officer (HB regulations 2006 regulation 13).

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