Wokingham – Town hall rent hike forces shop out

The town council has some retail units in the town hall which it lets to traders. On advice from estate agents, it has jacked up the rent to the point that the tenants have had to go. Councillor Julian McGhee-Sumner, chairman of the finance and general
purposes committee, told The Wokingham Times the town council reduced
the figure the agents had suggested to offer tenants a discounted rate. He added the town council has a duty to get good value for money for the taxpayer from its assets.

We can’t quite see how trying unsuccessfully to get rents higher than the going rate is value for money for the taxpayer but perhaps we are missing something. This is of course a small matter in the overall scheme of things but when it is part of a widespread pattern it become signficant. Read the full story here