Business rates - reductions

Reductions in your business rate liability

Apart from a successful appeal against the rateable value of your property with the Listing Officer, there are several ways in which your rate liability can be reduced if certain criteria are met.

If you wish to appeal against the rateable Value of your property, your appeal should be made in writing to The Listing Officer, Palting House, Trinity Road, Folkestone, Kent CT20 2TP. The telephone number, should you wish to speak to someone in his office for any advice is 01303 852900. The listing officer is also known as the Valuation Officer.

Reductions - Charitable Rate Relief

Relief can be either Mandatory or Discretionary. An application must be made in writing and be supported by a variety of information. Contact us if you require further information and/or an application form.

Mandatory Relief:

Where a property is occupied by a charity or trustees for a charity, and it is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes, then Mandatory relief may be awarded.
Where a property is unoccupied and the ratepayer is a charity or trustees for a charity, and it appears that when next in use the property will be wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes, then Mandatory relief may be awarded.
Relief of 80% of the amount payable may be claimed.

Discretionary Relief (Charitable & Similar bodies):

The ratepayer should be a charity or trustees for a charity and the property wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes; or
All or part of the property is occupied for the purposes or one or more organisations, none of which are established or conducted for profit and each of whose main objects are charitable or otherwise philanthropic etc; or
The property is wholly or mainly used for the purposes of recreation and all or part of it is occupied for the purpose of a club, society or other organisation not established or conducted for profit.
A decision to allow discretionary rate relief for a year MUST be made within 6 months of that year ending, for example before October 1 of the following year.

Community Amateur Sports Clubs (or CASCs). More information about CASCs can be found on the HM Revenues and Customs website, which also lists those organisations who have currently registered. An extract from the web site is attached for your information. Please visit the web site and look at the information, forms and guidance available.

Reductions - Rating of Empty Property

Relief of 100% is available for the first three months that a property is unoccupied and unfurnished, starting with the date that the property became unoccupied and unfurnished. Certain plant and machinery is ignored when determining whether or not a property is unfurnished. The rate free period is six months in the case of industrial / warehouse types of property.
The full charge is then payable (previously, only 50% was due) following this three (or six) month rate free period.
Any unoccupied and unfurnished property with a rateable value of less than £2,600 is totally exempt from empty rates from 1 April 2011. Up to 31 March 2011, the limit was temporarily increased from £2,600 to £18,000.
Once a property becomes re-occupied, whether within the three (or six) month period or not, the full charge becomes payable from that date.
There are certain exemptions.

Reductions - Rating Exemptions

The classes of land and property that are exempt from rating are listed in Schedule 5 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988. Such exemptions will not be shown in the local rating List and the Valuation Officer will determine whether or not such exclusions are correct. A list of these exemptions is shown below, but more information concerning the requirements that have to be met can be obtained from Schedule 5 LGFA 1988:

Agricultural Land and buildings
Fish Farms
Places of Religious Worship etc
Sewers & properties belonging to Drainage Authorities
Public Parks etc
Properties used for the disabled (training, welfare services, workshops etc)
Air Raid protection works
Swinging Moorings
Road crossings over watercourses etc
Property in Enterprise Zones
Visiting Forces etc

Reductions - Rural Rate Relief

This relief was introduced from April 1, 1998 and can be either Mandatory or Discretionary. An application must be made in writing and be supported by a variety of information. Contact us if you require further information and / or an application form.

Mandatory

Applies to certain kinds of properties that are within the boundaries of a rural settlement
A Post Office or general store with a rateable value of £8,500 or less; used in whole or in part as a post office or general store or both; and be either the only post office or general store in the settlement (*); or
A Public House or Petrol Filling Station, which must be the only such property in the settlement and have a Rateable Value of less than £12,500
Relief of 50% of the amount payable may be claimed.

(*) It is possible that a general store and a post office in the same settlement may both qualify for mandatory rate relief, provided that they both meet the criteria.

Discretionary

Applies to any property that has a rateable value of £16,500 or less that is within the boundaries of a rural settlement

However, the Council may NOT allow any discretionary rate relief unless it is satisfied that:

The property is used for purposes that are of benefit to the local community and
It is reasonable for the council to grant the relief, having regard to the interests of it's council taxpayers

A decision to allow discretionary rate relief for a year MUST be made within 6 months of that year ending, i.e. before October 1 of the following year.

Rural Settlements List

This list must identify any settlements which are within the Council's area and appear to have a population of not more than 3,000. They must also fall within an area designated by the secretary of state.

The following Parishes have been defined as settlements for the purpose of awarding rural businesses, post offices and general stores rate relief:

Bicknor
Boughton Malherbe
Boughton Monchelsea
Bredhurst
Broomfield
Chart Sutton
Detling
East Farleigh
East Sutton
Frinsted

Harrietsham
Headcorn

Hollingbourne
Hucking Hunton
Langley

Leeds
Linton
Nettlestead
Otham
Otterden
Stockbury
Sutton Valence
Teston Thurnham
Ulcombe
West Farleigh
Wichling
Wormshill
Yalding.

The following Parishes have had settlements defined by maps:

Boxley (Boxley settlement excludes Walderslade and Grove Green areas of the Parish).
Lenham (Four settlements are identified in the Parish being Lenham, Lenham Heath, Platts Heath and Warren Street/Woodside Green).

In addition, Marden is ineligible for post offices and general stores and rural businesses rate relief, as the population of the main settlement is over 3000.

Finally, Barming, Bearsted, Coxheath, Downswood, Loose, Staplehurst, and Tovil have not been included in the area defined by the Secretary of State and they are ineligible for rural businesses, post offices and general stores rate relief.

Small Business Rate Relief

Only occupied properties with a rateable value under £18,000 can be considered for the relief - the relief does not apply to empty properties.

There must be an entry and rateable value in the Non Domestic Rating List for the first day of the year in which relief is claimed. If the property does not appear in the list on 1 April, no relief may be allowed for that year.

Should any Mandatory Rate Relief under the Rural Rate Relief Scheme be appropriate, that relief will take priority and be awarded instead of Small Business Rate Relief.

Ratepayers occupying only one property in England with a rateable value under £18,000 will qualify for the relief.
Ratepayers occupying more than one property in England may also qualify providing the additional properties each have a rateable value of less than £2,600 and the total value of all the properties remains below £18,000. In these cases only the main property will be eligible for the relief.
All eligible properties (with rateable values below £18,000) will have their bill calculated using a reduced multiplier (e.g. from 1 April 2010 this is 40.7p instead of 41.4p).
In addition, eligible properties with a rateable value of less than £6,000 will get 50% rate relief. FROM 1 OCTOBER 2010 TO 30 SEPTEMBER 2011 eligible properties with a rateable value of less than £6,000 will get 100% rate relief.
For eligible properties with a rateable value from £6000 to £11,999 the amount of relief will reduce on a sliding scale of 1% for every £100 below £12,000 rateable value. FROM 1 OCTOBER 2010 TO 30 SEPTEMBER 2011 eligible properties with a rateable value from £6000 to £11,999 will get increased, tapered relief of between 100% and 0%.
Eligible properties with rateable values from £12,000 to £17,999 will not receive a relief reduction but they will still have their bill calculated using the reduced multiplier (or tax rate).

You now only need apply once. Providing your circumstances remain the same and the above conditions continue to be met, the relief will continue for the life of the rating List (usually 5 years - the current list is in force from 1 April 2010 - 31 March 2015).

You must notify the council if your circumstances change for example you occupy more properties and the additional value of the property(ies) exceed the above limits)

Deferment - Business Rates Deferral Scheme (BRDS)

There is a new scheme whereby businesses can delay the payment of some of their business rates for the current year. However, it should be noted that if a business has lost the right to pay in instalments as a result their late payment, they will not be able to delay any payment.

Basically, payment of 3% of your business rates for the year commencing 1 April 2009 can be made over a two year period, with half the amount paid in instalments with the liability for 2010/2011 year and the other half with the instalments for the 2011/2012 year.

If any business had transitional rate relief in 2008/2009, payment of 60% of that amount may also be delayed over the same period.

The council will be writing to all business providing more details of the scheme and enclosing an application form. Any business wishing to apply for relief should complete and return the form and they will be advised of any appropriate amount. This is a one off scheme for the current rating year only

An example of the value of the relief would be: If a property has a rateable value of £15,000, with an amount of rates payable of £7250.00, then they would be able to delay payment of £218.35 over a two year period.

The lower the rateable value, the lower will be the amount that can be delayed.

It will be up to each business to decide whether or not any amount they may be able to delay payment of is actually worth doing.

Business Rates Deferral Scheme Fact Sheet

Reductions - Other Discretionary Rate Relief

This relief may be awarded to both occupied and unoccupied property. An application must be made in writing and be supported by a variety of information. See, contacting the non-domestic rating section if further information and / or an application form is required.

Hardship Relief - Conditions:

The ratepayer would sustain hardship if the Council refused to allow the relief; and
It would be reasonable for the Council to grant the relief, having regards to the interests of its Council Taxpayers

Advice provided by the secretary of state implies that relief under the hardship provisions will be the exception rather than the rule.

Part Occupied Property

Where part of a property is unoccupied and will appear so for a short time only, the council may apportion the amount to be paid on the basis of the occupied part. However:
The council must ask the Valuation Officer for a certificate stating what the rateable value for the occupied part is;
The council must have decided to exercise this discretionary power before asking for the aforementioned certificate, as once the certificate is issued, the charge must be levied on the values stated;
The period for which the partial charge applies will be from the date the property became partly occupied until either;

a. the end of the rating year; or

b. the occupation of any of the unoccupied parts; or

c. the complete occupation of the property; or

d. the requiring of a further apportionment