Empy property tax sparks backlash for small firms

The Country Land and Business Association yesterday said that the future of thousands of rural firms was being damaged by taxes on empty business properties, something they claim is playing havoc for business working in commercial lets.

Last April the Government removed exemptions that allowed empty properties with a rateable value below £18,000 to avoid paying rates.

The CLA’s president Harry Cotterell, making his first appearance at the Great Yorkshire Show since assuming the role, said that the move disincentives people from creating developments without already having secured tenants, makes landlords less inclined to rent to small businesses and was having the un-intended consequence of harming the countryside.

“We will push very hard over the next few months on this issue. We will seek a rural exemption.

“Growth is so important to this Government but we think there is a strong pro-growth argument in what we are saying on this issue.

“The issue of having to pay non-domestic rates on empty commercial property remains an issue of very real concern for many CLA members. In the current economic climate, many have lost tenants from their office and workshop conversations and now looking at massive empty property tax bills.

“The problem is aggravated by the fact that many of these properties are in rural areas with poor or non-existent broadband provision, which makes it almost impossible to attract new tenants.”

One rural business owner who has been affected by the tax shake-up is Gareth Gaunt, who claims to have been unable to let two of his business units at Carlshead Farm near Wetherby for the past 12 weeks and now faces a rents bill of more than £12,000 from his local council.

Mr Gaunt said: “I am left with two offices which I can’t let, generating massive bills which are threatening the future of my business and livelihood.”

The CLA also spoke out at the Great Yorkshire Show on the issue of VAT on listed buildings - which it says would make it difficult for heritage sites to be maintained.

However Mr Cotterell added that given the raft of Government U-turns of late, he was not optimistic about this being altered.