The CLA has today (Tuesday, 18 November) called upon the Chancellor to suspend the recently introduced changes to the rating of empty premises. Under the changes, after three months, a landlord is required to pay the full rates even when the property is empty. CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: “It is extremely unfortunate that the changes were introduced without any assessment of the potential impact on the rural economy. As a result it is now impossible for the Chancellor to know what effect they are likely to have. And with the economy in the state it is, now is not the time to be experimenting with rural landowners’ livelihoods in this way.  The changes must be suspended until the economy picks up.” CLA members’ are concerned that they will be left having to pay rates on buildings with there being no realistic chance of tenants being found in the foreseeable future.  The CLA President added: “We didn’t think the Government’s policy sounded very sensible when it was first announced.  In our experience, a rural landlord can have perfectly good commercial reasons for not wanting to let a particular property. 

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18 November 2008
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