Rother District Council

Unoccupied Property Rating

Owners of non-domestic properties which are unoccupied may be liable to empty property rates. Until 31st March 2008, rates are charged at 50% of the full rate bill or of the transitional bill where the transitional arrangements apply. Liability begins after the property has been empty for 3 months. Owners of certain types of property, for instance factories and warehouses, are exempt from empty property rates.

With effect from 1st April 2008 the Government has reformed empty property relief in order to bring empty property back into use. From then, owners of most property that has been empty for more than three months, or in the case of industrial property, for more than six months, will no longer receive relief from rates. After those initial three or six months rate-free periods, the owners will be liable for 100% of the basic occupied business rate, unless an exemption applies.

If a property is not capable of beneficial occupation, for instance if it is in poor condition and cannot be economically repaired, and has not been intentionally damaged to avoid payment of rates, the Valuation Officer may judge that it should be taken out of the rating list altogether.

If a property is only partly occupied, the Council has the discretion to request that the Valuation Officer apportions the property's Rateable Value between its occupied and unoccupied parts. Normal rates would then be charged on the occupied part, with the rules for empty property rating, as described above, applying to the unoccupied part.

Further information on unoccupied property rating may be obtained from the Council on 01424 787752 or 787730.

Relief for Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs

Mandatory Relief
Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs are entitled to 80% relief from the rates on a property which is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes.  Once entitlement is established, relief will continue from year to year without re-application, but a check will be made every two years to confirm continued entitlement. Charity shops will also qualify for 80% relief provided the shop is wholly or mainly used for the sale of items donated to the charity and the proceeds from the sale of the goods are applied for the purpose of a charity. Again, checks will be carried out to confirm entitlement to relief.

An application form can be downloaded to complete and return.

Discretionary Relief
Further relief for Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs from all or part of the remaining 20% of their rate charge can be allowed.

An application form for this relief can be downloaded.

Please complete and return both pages of the form. Applications MUST be accompanied by the audited accounts and forecasts specified in the form.

A fresh application is required each financial year for relief to continue.

Relief for Village Shops and Post Offices

Mandatory Relief
Village Shops and Post Offices may be entitled to relief of 50% of their rates bill, provided they meet the following conditions:-

1. They must be within a "Rural Settlement" (defined in the Rural Settlement List compiled by the Council).
2. The Rateable Value of the property is less than £6,000 for 2004/5 or £7,000 for 2005/6 onwards.
3. They must be used, in whole or part, as a General Store or Post Office, or both.
4. They must be either the only General Store or the only Post Office in the settlement.

Both a General Store and a Post Office in the same settlement can qualify for relief.

A General Store is one in which the business consists wholly or mainly of the sale by retail of food for human consumption (excluding confectionery) and general household goods.

An application form for this relief can be downloaded.

Once entitlement is established, relief will continue from year to year without re-application but a check will be made from time to time to confirm the above conditions are still met.  New proprietors will need to make their own application.

Discretionary Relief
Further relief for village shops and post offices from the remaining 50% of their rates bill can also be allowed.

An application for this relief can be downloaded.

Both completed pages of the application MUST be accompanied by the trading accounts and forecast specified in the form.

A fresh application is required each financial year for relief to continue.

Relief for Village Public Houses and Petrol Filling Stations

Mandatory Relief
Public Houses and Petrol Filling Stations located in villages maybe entitled to relief of 50% of their rates bill, provided they meet the following conditions;

1. they must be located within a 'Rural Settlement' (defined in the Rural Settlement list compiled by the Council)
2. the rateable value of the property is less than £9,000 for 2004/5 or £10,500 for 2005/6 onwards.

An application form for this relief can be downloaded (right).

Once entitlement is established, relief will continue from year to year without reapplication, but a check will be made from time to time to confirm the above conditions are still met. New proprietors will need to make their own application.

Discretionary Relief
Further relief for village Public Houses and Petrol Filling Stations from the remaining 50% of their rates bill can also be allowed.

An application form for this relief can be downloaded (right).

Other Discretionary Relief

Voluntary Organisations
Relief of up to 100% can be allowed to institutions or organisations, not established or conducted for profit and whose main objects are charitable, philanthropic, religious or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts.  An application for this relief may be downloaded. The completed application MUST be accompanied by the copies of the accounts and forecasts shown.

Sports Clubs (not Community Amateur Sports Clubs)
Relief of up to 100% can be allowed to the ratepayers of properties wholly or mainly used for purposes of recreation, and the occupier is a club, society or other organisation not established or conducted for profit. Application for this relief can be made on the form which may be downloaded. Applications MUST be accompanied by the copies of the accounts and forecasts shown.

Other Rural Businesses
Relief of up to 100% can be allowed to other village shops and rural businesses, of any sort, located in a "Rural Settlement" provided the property has a Rateable Value of less than £12,000 for 2004/5 or £14,000 for 2005/6 onwards, and is used for the purposes which are beneficial to the local community.  The interests of the Council Taxpayers must also be considered. You may download an application form for this relief which must be accompanied by the copies of the accounts and forecasts shown.

Business Hardship
Relief of up to 100% of the rates on ANY property in the District can be allowed on the grounds of hardship.  This means not only the hardship caused to the ratepayers by payment of the rates, but also the loss of the local community by the possible closure of the business, depending on the proximity and availability of alternatives. Applications for this relief can be made on the form which may be downloaded. Applications MUST be accompanied by the trading accounts and forecasts shown.

All applications for Discretionary Relief are considered by the Licensing and Appeals Committee of the Council. In all cases, an applicant is required to provide copies of trading accounts for the past two years, and a forecast for the current year.  If these are not available for any reasons, other evidence of the financial position of the business MUST be provided.  Applications will NOT be considered without this information.  Relief is only allowed for a year at a time, and a fresh application is required each year for relief to be continued.  Applicants are advised to provide as much information as possible with an application, to avoid delays in a decision being made.

Small Business Rate Relief

Communities and Local Government have now published Business Rates Information Letter (BRIL) 8/2010 which
covers:

        -  changes to the Small Business Rate Relief scheme announcement in the budget; and

        -  legislation to cancel certain backdated business rates liabilities.

The BRIL can be found at the following link:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/localgovernmentfinance/businessrates/busratesinformationletters/ratesletters2010/

The thresholds for the relief will be increased from 1 April 2010 as follows:

*    all eligible properties of up to £17,999 rateable value (RV) outside London, will have their rates calculated using the Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) multiplier;

*    additional properties of up to £2,599 RV will be ignored in considering entitlement to SBRR, as long as the combined rateable value of all properties falls below the threshold which applies to the property in respect of which relief is sought.

In addition:

*    eligible properties of £6,000 (RV) or below will receive 50% relief and;

*    eligible properties with an RV which is more than £6,000 but not more than £12,000 RV will receive relief on a sliding scale with each extra £120 of rateable value over £6,000 equating to 1% less relief.

Relief is available to qualifying small businesses who occupy properties with rateable values below £18,000. In order to qualify, the business must not occupy any other non-domestic property in England with a rateable value of £2,600 or above. Qualifying businesses whose rateable value is less than £6,000 will be allowed 50% relief from their rates bill. Where the rateable value is between £6,000 and £11,999 relief will be phased down to 0% at rateable value £11,999. Where the rateable value is between £12,000 and £17,999 the rates bill will be calculated using a lower 'multiplier' of 42.6p (40.7p for 2010/11) in place of the standard 'multiplier' of 43.3p (41.4p for 2010/11) applied to the rates bills for larger properties. 

Changes which must be notified to the Council are:

a) the ratepayer taking up occupation of a property they did not occupy at the time of making their application for relief.

b) 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.

A form to apply for Small Business Rate Relief can be downloaded (right). Please read the notes at the end of the form before signing the declaration. A form to report relevant changes in circumstances can also be downloaded (right). 

Further details of the scheme can be found at www.mybusinessrates.gov.uk.

Further information on any of the above reliefs may be obtained from Rother District Council on (01424) 787752 or 787730.

• Print This Page