Comments by "Henry Law" (@henrybn14ar) on "Why is London Disappearing?" video.

Business rates are only part of the problem - to the extent that the valuations are out of date. The real issue is greedy landlords who are unwilling to accept the going market rent. All of this London commercial property is lettable if the rent is right. Behind the greedy landlord problem is the practice of borrowing on artificially high values. If the properties were let at the going rate, the market values would have to be written down, leaving the owners in negative equity. That is the scam behind the vacant property epidemic. The solution is reform of the business rate to keep the valuations up to date, and based on site values only - then the rates would have to be paid by the owners, who would have to get tenants into their properties so as to have the income to pay the rent with. This has been an issue for the past 100 years. Cuts in the business rate would not help.
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