Regeneration High Street Rental Auctions
High levels of vacant commercial property are a challenge for many places across the country. In November 2021, 14.5% of all high street units in retail and leisure were vacant. 7 This continues a pre-pandemic trend, where vacancy rates gradually increased from 10.9% in 2017 to 12.2% at the start of 2020. While some level of vacancy can be a sign of natural business churn and will include units that will be filled relatively quickly or are in the process of being filled, around 30 Local Authorities in England have a vacancy rate of above 20%, with some up to 32%. 8
	These vacancies are not evenly distributed, with seven local authorities in the north west and north east having particularly high vacancy rates. This has implications for the Government’s levelling up agenda. Persistently high levels of vacant property can fuel a spiral of decline in places which poses an obvious form of scarring and can undermine pride in place.
	In accordance with the Government’s priority to regenerate high streets, as set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, the Act gives local authorities powers to auction the rental rights for vacant commercial properties in town centres and on high streets, for leases from one to five years to attract new tenants. These powers can be exercised at the discretion of local authorities, based on their local context and need, but only on properties which have been vacant for over 12 months.
	High Street Rental Auctions will seek to increase cooperation between landlords and local authorities to address vacant premises, and to make town centre tenancies more accessible and affordable for tenants, including SMEs and community groups.