RICS calls for bold reform by Chancellor to unlock sustainable growth

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) urges the UK Government to use the 2025 Budget as a pivotal opportunity to modernise the economic and regulatory framework supporting sustainable growth, fairness, and resilience across the built environment.

RICS presents a series of evidence-based recommendations across four priority areas, each vital to strengthening investment, productivity, and regional regeneration while advancing the UK’s net zero ambitions.

1. Transforming Business Rates

RICS supports property-based taxation but calls for a comprehensive reform of the business rates system to ensure fairness and competitiveness. The UK currently has one of the highest levels of property taxation globally, placing domestic businesses at a significant disadvantage.

RICS therefore recommends:

• Reducing the overall burden of business rates, shortening valuation gaps, and simplifying the system.
• Modernising administration through improved government digital services and efficient data collection.
• Strengthening the Valuation Office Agency’s resourcing and promoting professionalism in the business rates sector by addressing ‘rogue agents’ and encouraging engagement with regulated professionals.
• Introducing targeted incentives within the business rates framework to encourage sustainable investment and support the transition to net zero.
   

2. Supporting High Streets and Local Economies

A fairer and more transparent business rates system must promote investment across all commercial uses and regions.

RICS recommends:

• Allowing councils to retain a greater share of local business rates revenue to fund reinvestment and regeneration initiatives, aligning with the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.
• Providing incentives for mixed-use conversions, such as time-limited rate reliefs and targeted tax incentives to transform vacant or underused commercial premises into productive spaces that revitalise local economies.
   

3. Unlocking a Green Economy

The transition to net zero represents both an environmental imperative and a major economic opportunity. However, uncertainty around Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) and inconsistent retrofit quality continue to deter investment.

RICS calls for:

• Clarity and certainty on energy performance regulations, confirming EPC C targets for residential and EPC B for non-domestic properties by 2030.
• Financial support packages to help property owners meet MEES requirements.
• Professionalised retrofit practices, ensuring consumers and public funds are protected through qualified, evidence-based advice from RICS-regulated practitioners.
• Robust monitoring and compliance mechanisms to build confidence in green schemes and ensure quality outcomes.
   

4. Planning Reform to Generate Growth

Planning reform must deliver both efficiency and fairness.

RICS recommends:

• Mandating adoption of the RICS Professional Standard on Compulsory Purchase across all acquiring authorities to enhance transparency, reduce disputes, and cut costs.
• Embedding structured mediation within the planning process, particularly for Section 106 negotiations, through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to improve outcomes and speed up delivery.
   

Conclusion

The 2025 Budget is a critical moment to reshape the built environment in ways that promote fairness, resilience, and sustainable prosperity.

RICS stands ready to collaborate with HM Treasury and other departments to ensure that reforms are professionally informed, evidence-based, and designed to drive investment, support regional regeneration, and underpin the UK’s transition to net zero.