General > General Technical Chat
Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus
EEVblog:
--- Quote from: Zero999 on July 14, 2020, 05:46:31 pm ---We have a housing shortage, so why not convert those empty shops to homes?
--- End quote ---
Because someone owns those shops, it's commercial property, it does not belong to the government.
That's like saying my old lab that I own is currently vacant, so the government can just come and take it and give it to someone. Err, nope.
PlainName:
I don't think he implied the government would just take them. The landlords likely wouldn't care where their rent comes from so long as it's comparable, and the reason many commercial properties aren't luxury abodes is down to zoning rules. Relax those, let the rich gits live in the city centers and that frees up affordable housing away from town.
Or probably not, but the government can induce change-of-use without actually wrenching properties from their owners.
coppice:
--- Quote from: dunkemhigh on July 16, 2020, 11:23:13 am ---I don't think he implied the government would just take them. The landlords likely wouldn't care where their rent comes from so long as it's comparable, and the reason many commercial properties aren't luxury abodes is down to zoning rules. Relax those, let the rich gits live in the city centers and that frees up affordable housing away from town.
Or probably not, but the government can induce change-of-use without actually wrenching properties from their owners.
--- End quote ---
Commercial rents are really high, so owners are not going to repurpose property as residential unless they have lost all hope of revitalising some kind of commercial use. Where owners have really lost hope for commercial use of their property it has already become residential. For example, most of the traditional corner shops, pubs and many churches in the UK are now someone's home.
AndyC_772:
Here in the UK retail has been struggling for years now; both commercial rent and business rates (property tax) are still set at levels which reflect how profitable retail space used to be. They've not been reduced in proportion to the actual profit that a given retail site can now be expected to generate.
Unfortunately that means there are a lot of retail spaces becoming (and, crucially, remaining) vacant. The law of supply and demand might mean that commercial rent will come down in time, but that doesn't really apply to taxes.
PlainName:
Corner shops were already residential - they are basically homes with a shop in the front room, except where they used to be like that and got refurbished as mini-supermarkets.
But for a landlord charging high-value rents, a lower rent is surely better than none. Don't forget that this is coming about because people are working from home and some companies will be offloading empty offices.
I haven't rented a commercial property, so don't know who pays what. Does the rent cover taxes (in which case it's not such a good deal for the landlord) or does the tenant pay the rates and the landlord just creams off megabucks for zero effort?
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