Business Rates information

Mandatory & Discretionary Rate Relief

Registered charities are entitled to 80% Mandatory Relief. The Council also has the discretion to grant the further 20% as Discretionary to Charities. Discretionary Relief can also be awarded to non profit making organisations for up to 100% of their bills.

If you think you may be eligible please contact the Business Rates Department.

Section 49 Hardship

Section 49 Hardship of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 says that a Council can reduce or cancel rates if:

A) you would suffer hardship if the Council made you pay AND

B) on balance, it would be in the interests in the council taxpayers to reduce or cancel your rates

Small Business Rates Relief

The relief was introduced by the Government in 2005 to ease the rates burden for small businesses.

Businesses must either occupy:

a) One property or,

b) One main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties each have a rateable value less than £2,600.

The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a) or the aggregate rateable value of all the properties mentioned in (b), must be under £18,000 or £25,499 in London .

The Relief is applicable to rateable values between £1.00 to £17,999.

The breakdown is listed below:

• Rateable Values up to £6,000 will get 50% relief after transition.
• Rateable Values between £6,001 to £11,999 will have a decreasing relief on an exact taper of 1% for every £100.00 after transition.
• Rateable Values between £12,000 to £17,999 can apply to pay on the small rate in the pound.

Section 44a Relief

If part of a property is temporarily unoccupied, you may be able to claim a reduction in your Business Rates for the unoccupied part. The area concerned must be totally unused (i.e. not used as a walkway) and where possible isolated from the occupied area.

If you think you may be eligible for a reduction, you should write to the Business Rates department and enclose:

• Details showing which part of the property is unoccupied (if possible enclose a site plan)
• The date this part of the property became unoccupied

When we receive the request our inspector will visit the property and we will then decide if a reduction can be allowed. If we decide to grant 44a relief we will request a certificate from the valuation officer that gives the proportion of the property's rateable value which applies to the unoccupied part. If we do grant relief it will only be for a maximum of three months for commercial assessments or six months for an industrial assessment. After this time 100% rates will be due.

When we receive the certificate from the valuation officer, we will reduce your Business Rates.

If you think you may be eligible for rate relief please contact the Business Rates Department.