Business (or Non Domestic) Rates
Reductions in your Business Rate Liability
There are several ways in which your rate liability can be
reduced if certain criteria are met:
Charitable Rate
Relief | Discretionary Rate
Relief | Empty
Property
Rating
Exemptions | Rural Rate
Relief (including Hardship & Part Occupied Relief)
| Small Business Rate
Relief
Reductions - Charitable Rate Relief
General Information
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:
- 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.
Reductions - Discretionary Rate Relief
General Information
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.
A decision to allow discretionary relief for any year must be
made before 1 October of the following year.
The following conditions are applicable:
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.
In Rural Settlements
To be eligible, any hereditament other than a post
office, general store, public house or petrol filling
station must:
- Be within the boundaries of a rural settlement;
- Have a rateable value of 12,000 or less;
Furthermore, the Council may NOT award relief
unless it is satisfied that:
- The property is used for purposes that are of benefit to the
local community; and
- It would be reasonable for the Council to grant the relief,
having regards to the interests of its Council Taxpayers.
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 proeprty; or
d. the requiring of a further apportionment
Reductions - Rating of Empty Property
General Information
- 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.
- A charge of 50% then becomes payable following this three month
rate free period.
- Any unoccupied and unfurnished property with a rateable value
of less than 2,200 is totally exempt from rates.
- Once a property becomes re-occupied, whether within the three
month period or not, the full charge becomes payable from that
date.
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:
General Information
- 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
General Information
This relief was introduced from 1 April 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 appear in a rural
settlement
- A property must be a qualifying general store or a qualifying
post office; OR
- A property may also be 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 10,500
- Relief of 50% of the amount payable may be claimed.
Discretionary:
Find out about
discretionary relief.
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.
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Bicknor
Boughton Malherbe
Boughton Monchelsea
Bredhurst
Broomfield
Chart Sutton
Detling
East Farleigh
East Sutton
Frinsted
Harrietsham
Headcorn
Hollingbourne
Hucking Hunton
Langley
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Leeds
Linton
Nettlestead
Otham
Otterden
Stockbury
Sutton Valence
Teston Thurnham
Ulcombe
West Farleigh
Wichling
Wormshill
Yalding.
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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.
Post Office and General Store
To be eligible the hereditament must:
be within the boundaries of a rural settlement;
- have a rateable value of £7,000 or less;
- be used, in whole or in part, as a general store or a post
office, or both; and
- be either the only general store or the only post office in the
settlement.
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.
Small Business Rate Relief
Only Occupied properties with a rateable value under £15,000
can be considered for the relief - the relief does NOT apply to
empty properties.
- Ratepayers occupying only one property in England with a
rateable value under £15,000 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 £2,200 and the total value of all the properties
remains below £15,000. In these cases only the main property will
be eligible for the relief.
All eligible properties (with rateable values below £15,000)
will have their bill calculated using a reduced multiplier (e.g.
from 1 April 2008 this is 45.8p instead of 46.2p).
In addition, eligible properties with a rateable value of less
than £5,000 will get 50% rate relief.
For eligible properties with a rateable value from £5000 to
£9,999 the amount of relief will reduce on a sliding scale of 1%
for every £100 below £10,000 rateable value
Eligible properties with rateable values from £10,000 to £14,999
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 2005 - 31 March
2010).
YOU MUST NOTIFY THE COUNCIL IF YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE e.g.
you occupy more properties and the additional value of the
property(ies) exceed the above limits)