The British Property Federation has called on the government to consider a raft of policies to boost confidence in commercial property amid uncertainty in the wake of the EU referendum.
The BPF has urged the government to introduce a support package for the industry, including:
• accelerating its proposed reform of business rates to support activity in the broader business economy;
• delaying the introduction of plans to restrict the tax deductibility of corporate interest expense for a year until 2018, to ensure that the rules are implemented in a way that does not deter investment;
• introducing a range of tax reliefs for build to rent development, including CIL relief, relief for modular construction, and SDLT relief for new build-to-rent developments on the condition that they will be let on tenancies of three years or longer with rent increases tied to inflation; and
• maintaining an absolute and continued commitment to devolution and public infrastructure investment in HS2, the East-West Rail Line, Crossrail 2, and an imperative decision on expanding airport capacity.
The proposals come after the RICS UK commercial property market survey for Q2 2016 showed that investment demand for commercial property has fallen sharply.
BPF policy director Ian Fletcher said: “This is not the time for knee-jerk reactions, but commercial property and a number of the government’s priorities are interdependent.
“Ministers must closely monitor developments in the commercial property market and be ready to act in weeks, not months, if evidence continues of a slowdown in investment.”
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