Landlords, who are already under pressure, face an extra tax bill of £150m ($297m) as a result of worsening occupancy rates, a new survey reckons.

The new empty buildings tax, announced last summer and effective this April, was expected to raise about £950m a year.

Jim Pickard, FT.com – Jim Pickard 7 July 2008

The tax was intended to prevent commercial property companies from leaving buildings vacant instead of putting them to practical use – for example, by helping to resolve a perceived housing shortage.

NB Real Estate, a consultancy, calculates that the proportion of void, or empty, buildings has risen by 15 per cent since the law was proposed. Vacancy rates across office, retail and industrial buildings now average 12.4 per cent – full article