Local councils will be offered up to £79,000 to refurbish an empty property under the government’s new High Street Rental Auctions (HRSA) initiative.

They can now apply for cash so they can auction the rental rights of a commercial high street property that has been vacant for 366 days or more in a 24-month period.

The HSRA fund aims to help them use these new powers by funding the cost of producing a register of vacant commercial high street properties and the refurbishment of vacant properties.

Independent

Authorities must have served the initial notice to the landlord to start a refurbishment project, obtained an independent survey of works to get the property to a minimum letting standard, including the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard and already have quotes before applying for grants.

Projects must end by 31st March 2026 and need to be based in a designated area with a vacancy rate of at least 8%.

There is up to £1.5 million available and the government estimates that most vacancy registers will cost between £3,000 and £8,000, while most refurbishments will cost up to £40,000 for a property between 100 and 200 square metres and £79,000 for a property between 201 and 300 square metres. Funding is not capped but is expected to be about £50,000 per property.

Refurbishment

It adds: “We encourage you to secure match funding from the landlord of the property for refurbishment projects, however this is not a requirement.”

Local authorities can request a new burdens payment of up to £5,223 to cover the cost of applying the new powers. The new burdens grant is a non-discretionary payment to offset the marketing, auction and legal costs.

Applications are now open and the deadline for applications is 31st January 2026.

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