Councillors voted 30 to 19 against pausing backdated rent rises on council shop parades. The council says backdating is not automatic and rises can be stepped.

Hillingdon Council will not pause the backdated rent rises facing traders on its shopping parades. Councillors voted down a motion calling for a pause by 30 votes to 19 at the Full Council meeting on Thursday 24 September.

The council did set out what it says it will offer shopkeepers who cannot pay. New rents need not be backdated in full, and rises can be stepped over the first years of a lease.

The vote and the answers are taken from the council’s own recording of the meeting. The written minutes have not yet been published.

What the motion asked for

The motion was moved by Cllr Stuart Mathers, leader of the Labour group, and seconded by Cllr Tony Eginton. Its published text says tenants on council-owned parades had received notice of rent increases of more than 100%. It says the rises came about because rent reviews due one to four years ago were never carried out, and are now being backdated.

It called on the Cabinet to:

  • pause the current backdated rent increases
  • have officers report within two months on why the reviews were delayed, how many businesses are affected, and the evidence for the new rents
  • publish a Commercial Tenant Charter covering rent reviews, repairs and disputes
  • adopt a new policy for local shopping parades, including a fair rent-setting approach for small businesses

Reform UK councillors spoke in support. The motion was lost on a recorded vote, 19 for and 30 against.

The council’s answer

Cllr Nick Denys, the Cabinet Member for Planning, Housing and Property, answered a group of public questions from traders earlier in the evening. Cllr Denys gave one spoken answer and promised each questioner a written reply the following week.

Cllr Denys said the statutory best value framework requires the council to make the best use of public resources. “If the council were to seek rents not aligned to market rates, they would be giving commercial shop owners a subsidy which would have to be covered by taxpayers’ money,” Cllr Denys said.

The answer also covered these points:

  • No sale is planned. “There are no plans to redevelop or sell off Sutton Court Road or Mulberry Parade for other uses.”
  • Money has gone in. The council has spent £567,000 on Mulberry Parade in West Drayton and £460,000 on Sutton Court Road in Hillingdon on signage, street furniture, paving, lighting and landscaping over the last decade.
  • The 100% figures lack context. “We do not know what the starting point is, what the current agreement is, and what the stage of the negotiations are.”
  • Low rents have downsides. Low rents had allowed “some owners, not all or most” to cut their opening hours and use shops as fronts for other businesses, Cllr Denys said.

Speaking against the motion later, Cllr Denys said a pause “will create uncertainty for everyone” because hundreds of negotiations were under way.

What a trader can ask for

Cllr Denys set out what the council says it will consider for a shopkeeper worried about a new rent:

  • A later start date. There will be “not an automatic approach” of backdating new rents to the date the lease allows.
  • A stepped increase. New rents can rise in stages over the early years of a lease. In the debate, Cllr Denys gave three or five years as examples.
  • Hardship. Officers will look at cases individually and may ask for evidence of hardship.
  • Independent arbitration. Either side can refer a dispute over the rent to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The fee is under £450, and the council will abide by the decision.

All of this depends on the trader agreeing to pay market rent at some point in the lease. If a trader refuses arbitration or rejects the result, “the relationship for that particular shop unit will need to end”, and officers will work towards “an orderly exit”.

Cllr Denys advised traders to get representation from a chartered surveyor with experience of commercial rent reviews.

Mulberry Parade

Mulberry Parade in West Drayton featured heavily in the debate. A trader from the parade asked at the meeting why the increase was being imposed all at once.

Cllr Jan Sweeting, a Labour councillor for West Drayton, described the parade unit by unit, including a pharmacy, a florist, a funeral director and a café. Cllr Sweeting said traders were facing rises backdated by up to four years, with interest on top. The example given was a rent of £7,400 replaced by one of £16,000. Cllr Sweeting also said the council planned to remove some secured tenancies.

Those figures are Cllr Sweeting’s. The council has not published rents for individual units. Cllr Denys said those details should not be public, because each is an individual commercial negotiation.

A resident from Sutton Court Road asked what the council planned for Sutton Court Parade in Hillingdon, citing the probability that half its shops would be closed by summer 2027.

What happens next

The council’s position stands. Traders who asked public questions were promised written replies this week. The Full Council minutes, which will record the named vote, are due on the meeting page.

The same meeting voted down a motion to keep the West Drayton tip open, also by 30 votes to 19. We reported that on the West Drayton tip vote.

What it means for you

  • If you rent a council shop: you can ask for a later start date and a stepped rise before agreeing a new rent. Put the request in writing and keep a copy.
  • If you cannot agree a figure: RICS arbitration is open to both sides, for a fee the council puts at under £450.
  • If you use a parade: rents are being settled one shop at a time, so the effect will differ from parade to parade.

Our Uxbridge planning news page tracks what is happening to sites across the borough.

Sources