Consultations

High Street rental auctions

Closed

Details

Opening date

Friday, 21 November 2025

Closing date

Wednesday, 31 December 2025

Area

East Riding of Yorkshire

Target audience

All residents of the East Riding

Description

Across the country, more shops and commercial buildings are standing empty. This is due to changes in how people shop and wider economic challenges. Empty buildings can make our high streets look less welcoming and affect local businesses and the community.

New law to bring empty shops back into use

To help fix this, the government has brought in a new law. It gives councils the power to require landlords to rent out shops and commercial buildings that have been empty continuously for 12 months, or for at least 366 days (non-continuously) within a 24-month period, subject to meeting certain conditions. This is called a High Street Rental Auction (HSRA).

In the East Riding of Yorkshire, we will use this approach carefully to help bring life, businesses, and visitors back to our high streets. It will work alongside other projects supporting our town and village centres.

How High Street rental auctions work

 Here is a brief overview of the process:

  1. The council identifies a shop or commercial building that has been empty continuously for 12 months, or for at least 366 days (non-continuously) within a 24-month period and meets the HSRA local benefit criteria.
  2. We contact the landlord to ask them to rent out the property within eight weeks.
  3. If the property is still empty after eight weeks, we can run an auction to assign a tenancy.
  4. The auction process lasts 12 weeks and includes a marketing period of at least five weeks and a sealed bid auction. The whole process can take up to six months.

You can view the full HRSA process on the GOV.UK website

It is important to note:

  • We only use HSRA powers when needed.
  • The landlord remains the legal owner of the property. HRSA lets the council rent it out only if the landlord does not take action.
  • We will always contact the landlord first to encourage them to, and work with them to, bring the property back into use before starting the HSRA process.
  • Possible tenants could be local businesses, social enterprises, start-ups and community groups. This depends on the needs of the local area and what the building is suitable for.

Where High Street rental auctions could be used

We are suggesting these powers could be used in the areas designated as retail centres within the East Riding local plan.

Maps for each of these areas are available in the documents section.

Why we are asking for comments

We want to understand what people think about the idea of using High Street Rental Auctions in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Your feedback will help us decide the best way forward.

What happens next

Once the closing date passes, we will review all feedback and consider the next steps.

Documents

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