FAQs

1. There are lots of companies out there that offer rates saving initiatives, why are you any different?

First and foremost we are a registered charity (No.1136377), regulated by the Charity Commission, with a legal obligation to deliver public benefit through our activities.

If we could convince landlords to give us their property without any benefits to them then we would be a very happy charity!  However we understand that CSR considerations alone are not a big enough incentive, and therefore have come up with a solution that works for all parties.

3Space:

• Only charge to cover the costs of delivering our service of finding and managing charitable use. Any surplus is used to further our charitable objectives, by promoting charitable use of property, sharing best practice and assisting groups utilise our spaces.
• Don’t work on savings based on 42 days occupation and the 3 month rates relief that follows.  This is frowned upon by the Councils and could harm future grant of planning permissions and development relationships.  Our on-going donation requirement is 50% only and without charging a large up front cost (as the commercial operators do) we hope to encourage Landlords to use our service sustainably and only request the property back when a commercial tenant is found.
• Council’s support the regeneration benefits of our activities.  Indeed, we are beginning to work with local authorities to apply our model to their own empty properties.

2.  I can place a charity in my property and only pay 20% of my existing costs, why do I pay you 50%?

There is nothing stopping you working with a charity direct and we encourage you to find the charity tenant yourself.

However working with 3Space saves you time, effort and potentially even money in the long term, by allowing you to mitigate empty rates liabilities across your whole portfolio, with a single, flexible agreement. This means that properties can be added or surrendered as commercial tenants are found.

There is no other charity in the UK which has the mandate from the charity commission to occupy large amounts of vacant property at one time.

We are a new charity, formed explicitly for this purpose. We receive no state funding, which means that our operating costs are funded by supportive landlords.

Our primary operating costs are professional property management, legal and marketing costs.

3Space uses Third Sector Property for its property services, and Charles Russell for its legal services, both of whom are specialists in charitable short term use of property.

For more details on how we market the properties see below.

3. Where does the fee for 3Space services go to?

Our fee for 50% of the existing business rates liability is allocated approximately as follows:

4. You say that charities only use your spaces for short periods of time so how are you occupying the property in terms of the Business Rates requirement?

3Space now has a large database of charities and social organisations ready to use our spaces.  There is always a period of time between when we take on a property to when we find a charitable user – which is similar in many ways to the time taken to complete a commercial shop fit out.  We work very hard to minimise this time as much as possible and it is rapidly decreasing as we continue to build contacts and partnerships in local areas.

We advertise to the local community, work closely with the local Council and use a series of other marketing tools, described further here , which ensure we reach the widest possible audience in the third sector.

If, after marketing a unit, are unable to find any appropriate charitable use, then the we are able to surrender the property back to the landlord under the terms of the meanwhile use lease. Any excess funds will also be returned on a pro rata basis.

Ultimately, we are required to report our activities to the Charities Commission in order to demonstrate how we are meeting our charitable objectives.

Our reputation depends heavily on our ability to find charities and facilitate temporary use that delivers tangible public benefit, and we are wholly committed to the successful delivery of this.

As a result, Councils’ Business Rates offices are very supportive of our model, as are the planning and regeneration teams.

5. Your source of funding is government taxes, won’t the government be unhappy that you are taking taxes away from them to deliver your service?

Absolutely not, in fact the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) released a policy paper and legal documents promoting the services of a intermediary to deal with the use of empty property. Draft legal agreements that facilitate this provided by CLG can be found here.

80% of business rates goes to central government and then gets distributed back to local government. Our service keeps the tax for the immediate benefit for the local community.  Consider the alternatives:

• buildings remain vacant, the government continues to receive rates on empty buildings while a landlord searches for a commercial tenant. In the current climate this could be years. It is well documented that empty property can destroy the image of an area and lead to structural economic decline; OR
• government receive slightly less rates from empty buildings and through pop up uses there is a chance to generate interest in an area or bring people to an area where they haven’t been before. It also offers an opportunity to reduce the burden on the public sector to provide premises for charities and community organisations. The regeneration benefits of 3Space activities are described further here.

If this sound a bit like the Big Society, well that is because we believe it is!

3Space is a perfect example of localism in action and helps drive the government’s shift towards local empowerment.

6. Does meanwhile use require planning permission?

The short answer is no!

Not only do we ensure that charitable activities are appropriate for the spaces concerned., but temporary events do not, generally, constitute a material change of use.

Indeed, because 3Space’s arrangement allow for continued marketing of the property for its existing use, then this is further evidence of the use continuing.