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High Street Rental Auctions

Introduction

In this blog post, we discuss High Street Rental Auctions which is a reform proposed under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (the Act) being brought forward by the Government which will now come into force on 2 December 2024 pursuant to the following two new Regulations made on 11 and 12 November 2024:

What is a High Street Rental Auction?

A High Street Rental Auction is a procedure under which a local authority will be able to auction tenancies of vacant premises in certain designated high streets and town centres.

New permitted development right for High Street Rental Auctions

The High Street Auctions reform is of interest from a planning perspective, as to facilitate this procedure the Government is introducing a new temporary permitted development right which is set out in full under Regulation 15 of Regulations 2. Part 4 of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 will be amended to introduce a new Class DB permitted development right for the following development:

“Development consisting of a change of use of a building which is a qualifying high-street premises within the meaning of section 192(2) of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 (“the 2023 Act”) and any land within the curtilage of that building to a suitable high-street use (as defined by section 192(4) of the 2023 Act) for the duration of a tenancy granted following a rental auction of the premises held under Part 10 of the 2023 Act.”

Section 192(2) of the Act defines a ‘qualifying high-street premises’ as one that is situated on a designated high street or in a designated town centre and which the local authority considers to be suitable for a high-street use and section 192(3) specifically excludes premises used as a warehouse.

Section 192 (4) of the Act defines a ‘suitable high-street use’ as any of the following ‘high-street uses’ (set out in Section 192(1) of the Act) for which the local authority considers the rented premises to be suitable:

  • use as a shop or office
  • use for the provision of services to persons who include visiting members of the public
  • use as a restaurant, bar, public house, café or other establishment selling food or drink for immediate consumption
  • use for public entertainment or recreation
  • use as a communal hall or meeting-place
  • use for manufacturing or other industrial processes of a sort that can (in each case) reasonably be carried on in proximity to, and compatibly with, the preceding uses

Our comments

The High Street Rental Auctions reform (and its associated new permitted development right) now being brought forward by the Government will provide a procedure to allow the re-use of vacant premises on the High Street for a wide range of uses without the requirement to obtain express planning permission. We view this as potentially a positive reform to improve and revitalise the High Street, however it remains to be seen how much this reform is actually utilised in practice by local authorities, particularly given the current constraint on their capacity and resources.

Note: all comments and views expressed in this blog are merely opinions and provided for information purposes only and do not constitute legal advice which can be relied upon. Should you require legal advice on a matter then please contact us

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Published by Chad Sutton