British cities are “beginning to look like broken teeth”, with hundreds of buildings being razed as the result of a damaging tax on empty property, a government regeneration chief said on Friday.

The levy on empty shops, offices and warehouses introduced in April this year has been dubbed by private and public sector opponents the “bombsite Britain tax”. Aimed at landlords who left buildings deliberately empty as they waited for rents to rise, it intended to reduce rents, raise property supply and earn the Treasury almost £1bn in tax.