Business rates - reductions relief
Business owners may be eligible for reductions in their business rates. Examples of reductions are transitional relief, empty properties, charity relief, rural rate relief and hardship relief.
The Council provides advice on eligibility for rate reductions and will provide application forms and process applications for reductions.
There are a number of different reductions available:
Transitional Arrangements
Property values normally change a good deal between each revaluation. Transitional arrangements help to phase in the effects of these changes by limiting increases in bills. To help pay for the limits on increases in bills, there also have to be limits on reductions in bills. Under the transition scheme, limits continue to apply to yearly increases and decreases until the full amount is due (rateable value times the appropriate multiplier).
The scheme applies only to the bill based on a property at the time of the revaluation. If there are any changes to the property after 1st April 2005, transitional arrangements will not normally apply to the part of a bill that relates to any increase in rateable value due to those changes. Any transitional adjustments are shown on the front of this bill.
Further information about transitional arrangements and other reliefs may be obtained from Stevenage Borough Council or tthe Business Link website:
Unoccupied Property Rating
Business Rates will not be payable in the first three months that a property is empty. This is extended to six months in the case of certain industrial properties. After this period, rates are payable in full unless the unoccupied property rate has been reduced by the Government by order. In most cases, the unoccupied property rate is zero for properties owned by charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs. In addition, there are a number of exemptions from the empty property rate as below:
- has been unoccupied for a continuous period not exceeding three months;
- which is a qualifying industrial hereditament that has been unoccupied for a continuous period not exceeding six months;
- the ratepayer is a charity or trustees for a charity, and it appears that when next in use the hereditament will be wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes (whether of that charity or of that and other charities).
- the ratepayer is a registered club for the purposes of Schedule 18 to the Finance Act 2002 (community amateur sports clubs), and it appears that when the hereditament is next in use it will be wholly or mainly used for the purposes of that club and that club will be such a registered club, or it will be wholly or mainly used for the purposes of two or more clubs including that club, and each of those clubs will be such a registered club.
- whose owner is prohibited by law from occupying it or allowing it to be occupied;
- which is kept vacant by reason of action taken by or on behalf of the Crown or any local or public authority with a view to prohibiting the occupation of the hereditament or to acquiring it;
- which is the subject of a building preservation notice within the meaning of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 or is included in a list compiled under section 1 of that Act;
- which is included in the Schedule of monuments compiled under section 1 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979;
- whose rateable value is less than £2,200;
- whose owner is entitled to possession only in his capacity as the personal representative of a deceased person;
- whose owner is entitled to possession of the hereditament in his capacity as trustee under a deed of arrangement to which the Deeds of Arrangement Act 1914 applies;
- whose owner is a company which is subject to a winding-up order made under the Insolvency Act 1986 or which is being wound up voluntarily under that Act;
- whose owner is a company in administration within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986 or is subject to an administration order made under the former administration provisions within the meaning of article 3 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2003;
- whose owner is entitled to possession of the hereditament in his capacity as liquidator by virtue of an order made under section 112 or section 145 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
Partly Occupied Property Relief
A ratepayer is liable for the full non-domestic rate whether a property is wholly occupied or only partly occupied. Where a property is partly occupied for a short time, the local authority has discretion in certain cases to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part. Full details can be obtained from the local authority.
Small Business Rate Relief
This relief is only available to ratepayers who apply to their local authority and who occupy either -
- one property, or
- one main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties each have a rateable value of less than £2,200.
The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all properties mentioned in (b), must be under £15,000 outside London or £21,500 in London on 1st April in the financial year in question, on the day for which relief is being sought, and each intervening day. If the rateable value, or aggregate rateable value, increases above those levels, relief will cease from the day of the increase.
Ratepayers who satisfy these conditions will have the bill for their single or main property calculated using the lower small business non-domestic rating multiplier rather than the ordinary non-domestic rating multiplier that is used to calculate the liability of other businesses.
In addition, if the single or main property is shown on the rating list with a rateable value of up to £10,000, the ratepayer will receive a percentage reduction in their rates bill for this property of up to a maximum of 50% for a property with a rateable value of not more than £5,000.
If an application for relief is granted, provided the ratepayer’s circumstances do not change, the application will not need to be renewed until the next revaluation of non-domestic premises, which happens every five years. Certain changes in circumstances will need to be notified to the local authority by the ratepayer (other changes will be picked up by the local authority). The changes which must be notified are -
- the ratepayer taking up occupation of a property they did not occupy at the time of making their application for relief, and
- an increase in the rateable value of a property occupied by the ratepayer in an area other than the area of the local authority which granted the relief.
Notification of these changes must be given to the local authority within 4 weeks of the day after the day the change happened. If this happens, there will be no interruption to the ratepayer’s entitlement to the relief. A notification that the ratepayer has taken up occupation of an additional property must be by way of a fresh application for relief; notice of an increase in rateable value must be given in writing.
Full details on the eligibility criteria and on how to apply for this relief are available from the local authority.
Charity and Registered Community Amateur Sports Club Relief
Charities and Registered Community Amateur Sports Clubs are entitled to 80% relief where the property is occupied by the Charity or Club and is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes or as a Registered Community Amateur Sports Club.
The local authority has discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill. Full details can be obtained from the local authority.
Non-Profit Making Organisation Relief
The local authority has discretion to give relief to Non-Profit Making Organisations. Full details can be obtained from the local authority.
Hardship Relief
The local authority has discretion to give relief in special circumstances. Full details can be obtained from the local authority.
Rate relief for businesses in rural areas
Certain types of properties in a rural settlement with a population below 3,000 may be entitled to relief. The property must be the only general store, the only post office or a food shop and have a rateable value of less than £7,000, or the only public house or the only petrol station and have a rateable value of less than £10,500. The property has to be occupied. An eligible ratepayer is entitled to relief at 50% of the full charge whilst the local authority also has discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill.
In addition, the local authority can give relief on certain other occupied property in a rural settlement where the rateable value is less than £14,000. Full details can be obtained from the local authority.