The government-owned property company set up to cut the cost of the NHS estate has run up a £4m empty property rates bill in its first year.
NHS Property Services has so far incurred £3.8m in empty rates for the financial year from 1 April 2013, covering 122 vacant properties.
The figure, uncovered by an Estates Gazette freedom of information request, equates to the starting salaries of 265 NHS nurses.
Jerry Schurder, head of rating at Gerald Eve, said: “This data shows how burdensome and inequitable the levying of full business rates on empty properties is, affecting both the private and public sector.
“The original rationale for the empty rates charge was to discourage landlords from holding vacant property from the market, but this has no justification in the present property market when even an organisation set up specifically for the purpose of reducing costs cannot find takers for vacant NHS properties.”
The property company was set up in 2012 to manage estates on behalf of 150 abolished ?Primary Care Trusts and 10 Strategic Health Authorities.
It now manages around 4,000 assets valued at £3bn.
Its empty rates bill is four times that of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, according to figures also obtained by EG. This is despite the DIO managing seven times the value of property, with £21bn of Ministry of Defence assets.
NHS Property Services has a budget of £800m and employs 3,100 people. It has earmarked 276 properties for disposal, with 91 freeholds brought to market during this financial year.
A key aspect of the body’s mandate is to use “the company’s scale and effective management of its portfolio to keep costs to a minimum and pass back savings to the NHS”.
A previous EG investigation revealed central and local ?government incurs an annual empty rates bill of around £70m (17 March, 2012, p39).
A Department of Health spokesman said: “The way the NHS estate was previously managed was inefficient and costly. NHS Property Services will help generate money that can be redirected to the front line and provide land for more homes for hardworking families by selling land the NHS no longer needs.”
An NHS Property Services spokesman said: “NHS Property Services was established on 1 April 2013, at which point the company took over responsibility for 70% of PCT estate (around 4,000 properties), including a number of historically vacant properties.
“Current business rates are based on rating assessments made in 2005 and 2010, before NHS Property Services was formed. We are reviewing the rating assessments on all our properties with a view to appealing any that are found to be too high and making savings where possible.
“The company is on track to dispose of a number of properties which are surplus to NHS operational requirements. The decision as to whether one of our properties is surplus resides with the commissioners – NHS England or a clinical commissioning group (CCG).”
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
