With 60 hotels, old leases and rents ranging from £5 a year to almost £70,000, Dorset Council’s Weymouth property portfolio is unusual, complex – and due for a specialist review
Dorset Council is about to appoint a specialist property management agent to oversee a review of its rental properties, which includes 60 hotels in Weymouth. Dorset residents may be unaware that most of the Esplanade hotel buildings and many of the town’s guest houses are owned by the local authority, a legacy from the former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council. Dorset Life has investigated the background of this unusual public property portfolio, and what it delivers for Dorset council taxpayers.
Supporting the local economy
Nationwide, many councils have inherited historic leases. During the 2010s, a number of local authorities invested in hotels as a way of generating income or supporting their local tourism economy. A 2014 Freedom of Information investigation by the TaxPayers’ Alliance identified 174 council-owned hotels. In 2018 English councils spent £93 million buying hotels, up from £33 million the previous year.
Weymouth’s portfolio is different. Most of its hotels were already owned by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council and leased to business operators on commercial or other long-term leases. When local government was reorganised in 2019, ownership transferred to Dorset Council.
In a 2017 report by the former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, the hotel leases generated a gross income of £1,062,660 in 2016/17, with net income of around £645,000 after management costs. The lease arrangements are complex. All 60 buildings are Grade II listed, and the portfolio included everything from 125-year leases at peppercorn rents to ‘full repairing’ and ‘internal repairing’ leases.
Dorset Life sent a Freedom of Information request to Dorset Council, asking for the rental income received from each of its Weymouth hotels. The amounts vary according to the property and its lease arrangements.
No rental income is recorded for a significant number of properties – 16 in 2022-23, 14 in 2023-24 and 13 in both 2024-25 and 2025-26. Eleven properties recorded no rental income through the four-year period.
The 2025-26 figure represents 22 per cent of the council’s Weymouth property portfolio.
We are not naming the individual hotels because there could be a number of reasons for no income being recorded, including vacancies and the differing historic lease arrangements, and individual landlord-and-tenant arrangements are confidential and commercial sensitive. However, some of the properties appear to have continued operating as businesses during at least part of that period.
Are hotels good for the public purse?
A Dorset Council spokesman said: ’The council actively monitors rental income across its commercial portfolio. It takes appropriate action where rental payments are outstanding, leases require review, or properties become vacant. While some properties may experience temporary periods without income, our objective is always to protect the long-term value of the asset and secure sustainable income for residents. We are unable to comment on individual properties or specific landlord and tenant arrangements as these are commercially sensitive matters.’
Where annual rental income was recorded, the amounts ranged from £5 to £69,955. However, the historic lease arrangements mean that a very low rent does not necessarily indicate an underperforming property.
Across the portfolio, annual rental income ranged from £750,451 to just over £1.02 million during the four years covered by the FOI. The amount spent by the council on repairs and maintenance varied considerably, from £81,199 in 2022/23 to £2,096 in 2025/26, with no expenditure recorded in 2024/25. However, under many of the leases responsibility for repairs and maintenance sits with the tenant rather than the council. Income from the hotels contributes to the council’s overall finances and supports local services. None of the hoteliers approached was willing to speak to Dorset Life, but the council spokesman said: ‘Dorset Council is taking proactive steps to strengthen the management of its commercial portfolio. This includes progressing arrangements to appoint a specialist property management agent to oversee rent reviews, maintain regular engagement with tenants, ensure leases remain up to date and maximise the long-term value of the portfolio for Dorset residents.’
With around 60 properties, annual rental income approaching £1 million – and more than one in five recording no rental income in the latest year – the new management agent will have a complex portfolio to review.
