Slough jobcentre’s office building could be sold off for less than the council paid for it, leaders have said.

Slough Borough Council plans to sell off Upton Lodge in the town centre to help pay off its debts. But council leaders say they will likely have to sell the building for less than it was bought for in 2018 – although they will also make a saving on the cost of owning the building.

Council leader Dexter Smith said: “The important thing to note is that the council acquired this property in 2018 and at that time the value was £5.95 million.

“The market has turned somewhat against us, the valuations of the property have fallen since then.”

READ MORE: Council’s former Bath Road offices advertised for sale by mistake

The jobcentre office is among several properties the council has earmarked for sale after it effectively went bankrupt in 2021.

Altogether the council spent £6.3 million on buying the jobcentre office building in 2018. This is made up of the price of £5.95 million plus costs such as stamp duty land tax.

Councillor Smith said a pre-sale valuation of the property produced a ‘guide price’ that was less than what the council had paid in 2018.

He said the council had received a ‘number of bids’ for the building and that some of them were slightly higher than the guide price – but ‘not a great deal greater'.

But council officers said that if the council didn’t sell the building it would have to invest some £4 million into upgrades and repairs so that they could keep letting it out.

They said that this, combined with the cost of servicing debts on the building, would mean the council could save £82,000 a year by selling it on.

Officers also said that the jobcentre planned to move out of the building once its tenancy ends in four years. They said it might then be difficult to find a new occupier as ‘there are very, very few tenants looking for that size building'.

Councillor Smith was speaking at a meeting of the council cabinet’s asset sales committee on Thursday, July 11.

The committee agreed to recommend the sale of the jobcentre building as well as the separate sale of land the council owns at the end of the Grand Union Canal.

The council had hoped to use this land to develop a 312-home housing project known as Stoke Wharf in partnership with private firms.

Council officers say they expect to sell this land for more than it was bought for as any new owner will benefit from having planning permission for the development, which was approved in 2021.

However the profits will be split between the council and the other private firms which own the other parcels of land that will form part of the development.

The recommended sale prices of both properties have been kept confidential. The rest of the council’s cabinet – its leading group of councillors – will discuss the sales at a meeting on Monday, July 15.