The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Calls for business rates relief
Business rate demands totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds are “crippling” commercial property landlords in Aberdeen, market experts have warned.
They called for rates relief as more tenants look to defer rents on office space due to the double impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and oil price rout.
Waterloo Quay Properties director Shaun Eardley said he had received invoices amounting to £130,000 this week.
Mr Eardley added: “Aberdeen has been absolutely hammered for the last five years. First we had Brexit and now we’ve got Covid-19.
“What happens if business rates don’t get paid? A lot of empty buildings – it’s a really serious situation.”
Mr Eardley, whose firm owns and operates 11 properties, said recent pressure to meet demands made him “want to get up and walk out”.
“We’re a small business and this is just not feasible,” he added.
Martin Callan, managing director of property developer Cromdale, said there was “very little help” and his firm had been “inundated” by tenants looking for rental “holidays” due to them
not currently trading or occupying premises.
Mr Callan added: “We’ve got very large loans on our properties and we’ve got to service those. We’re doing whatever we can to help tenants, but it’s difficult when your bank needs to get paid – it’s crippling us.”
Aberdeen City Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden urged firms to lobby the Scottish Government as he was “not in a position to offer any business rates relief from the meagre £70 million” in grant funding the council gets from Holyrood.
Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce research and policy manager Shane Taylor called on the government to carry out a “rapid review” of the business rates system, focusing on driving down upfront costs, incentivising
investment and “keeping businesses of all types in our town and city centres”.
A government spokesman said: “We recognise the need to do all we can to help the recovery of key sectors of the economy.
“We have a strong record of delivering
a competitive nondomestic rates regime.
“We have offered the most competitive relief package in the UK for a number of years and the lowest poundage for 95% of properties, including all small and medium-sized properties. We have protected businesses
by effectively underwriting almost £1bn of non-domestic rates (NDR) income for local government in 2020-21. Unlike in England, the Scottish Government guarantees NDR income for councils who have the power to offer localised reliefs.”