SHOP LANDLORDS FACE RATES HIKE
RETAIL centres hit hard in the COVID-19 pandemic in Townsville are facing hikes in general rates of up to 40 per cent with landlords having to negotiate with struggling tenants to pay the bills, according to property managers Knight Frank.
“They are big increases,” Craig Stack, senior partner with Knight Frank Mackay and Townsville, said yesterday.
“If the rate in the dollar is transferred to current values assessed for centres then the increase in general rates could be as high as 40 per cent.”
Townsville City Council has introduced new differential rating categories which are used to calculate the amount of general rates property owners pay.
The council strikes a rate in the dollar which is applied to the unimproved value of the sites.
The new categories have been introduced as part of the council’s 2020-21 budget aimed at removing anomalies and inconsistencies in rating.
An investor who owns a Townsville residential unit complex, Jackie Newton, said the changes were “pretty bad timing” coming with no consultation amid a virus pandemic.
The rate in the dollar for retail centres larger than 2000 sqm but less than 20,000 sqm has been increased 37 per cent, while for larger centres above 40,000 sqm, such as Stockland and Willows, it has increased 22 per cent.
Mr Stack said the rate in the dollar for other small commercial and industrial properties had been reduced about 5 per cent but that those savings could be eroded by increases in water and waste charges.
He said landlords and tenants would have to absorb increases of tens of thousands of dollars.