This area contains the following information about Business (Non-Domestic) Rates:
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Non-Domestic Rates, or Business Rates, collected by local authorities are the way that those who occupy non-domestic property contribute towards the cost of local services. Except in the City of London where special arrangements apply, the rates are pooled by central government and redistributed to local authorities according to the number of people living in the area. The money, together with revenue from council tax payers, revenue support grant provided by the Government and certain other sums, is used to pay for the services provided by your local authority and other local authorities in your area.
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Apart from properties that are exempt from Business Rates, each non-domestic property has a rateable value which is normally set by the valuation officers of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), an agency of the Inland Revenue. It draws up and maintains a full list of all rateable values, available on their website at www.voa.gov.uk.
The rateable value of your property is shown on the front of your bill. This broadly represents the yearly rent the property could have been let for on the open market on a particular date. For the revaluation that came into effect on 1st April 2005, this date was set as 1st April 2003.
The valuation officer may alter the value if the circumstances of the property have changed. The ratepayer (and certain others who have an interest in the property) can also appeal against the value shown in the list if they believe it is wrong. Further information about making appeals can be found on the VOA website or from your local valuation office.
Successful appeals against values shown in the rating list that came into force on 1st April 2005 will normally be backdated to that date, although there are exceptions to this. Further information about these arrangements may be found on the VOA website.
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The local authority works out the Business Rates bill by multiplying the rateable value of the property by the appropriate multiplier. From 1st April 2005 there are two multipliers; the standard non-domestic rating multiplier and the small business non-domestic rating multiplier. The former is higher to pay for small business rate relief. The Government sets the multipliers for each financial year for the whole of England. The Government normally changes both multipliers every year in line with inflation. By law, the multipliers cannot go up by more than the rate of inflation apart from some minor adjustments to counteract losses from appeals and, in relation to the standard multiplier, to pay for small business rate relief. In the year of a revaluation it is set at a level which will keep the total amount raised in rates after the revaluation the same as before, plus inflation for that year. The current multipliers are shown on the front of your bill.
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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 by contacting us or by visiting www.businesslink.gov.uk.
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Business Rates will not be payable in the first three months that a property is empty or in the case of an Industrial property the first 6 months.
After this period, full rate is charged of the bill that would have been due had the property been occupied. There are a number of exemptions from the empty rate (eg. listed buildings and small properties with rateable values of less than £15,000 effective from 1 April 2009). A full list of exempt empty properties are shown below. Please contact us if you need advice.
With effect from the 1 April 2008, no empty rates will be charged if the property is empty and any of the following apply:
For further information please contact us.
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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 to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part. Please contact us for full details.
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This relief is only available to ratepayers who apply to their local authority and who occupy either:
The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all the properties mentioned in (b), must be under £15,000 outside London or £21,500 in London on every day for which relief is being sought. 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:
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.
Please contact us for full details.
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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. We have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill.
Please contact us for full details.
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Ratepayers who face certain backdated rates liability may be able to discharge that liability over up to 8 years by agreement with their billing authority.
This may be possible if the backdated liability has arisen as a result of an alteration to a ratings list which:
To be eligible, ratepayers must have occupied one or more properties affected by the type of rating list adjustment above, within the billing authority area, between the effective date of the list alteration and the date it was actually made, for 33 months or more. Ratepayers are not eligible if they were previously liable for rates in respect of a property 'preceding' the new property assessment (i.e. a property that forms a part of a new merged property or a part of a property that has been split into two or more new properties).
With the agreement of their billing authority, eligible ratepayers will be able to discharge any outstanding liability that accrued between the effective date of the relevant list alteration and the date the alteration was made over a period of up to 8 years.
Please contact us for further details on the criteria and the process to obtain a schedule of payments.
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The local authority has discretion to give relief to Non-Profit Making Organisations. Please contact us or full details.
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The local authority has discretion to give relief in special circumstances. Please contact us for full details.
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Ratepayers do not have to be represented in discussions about their rateable value or their rates bill. Appeals against rateable values can be made free of charge. However, ratepayers who do wish to be represented should be aware that members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation (IRRV) are qualified and are regulated by rules of professional conduct designed to protect the public from misconduct.
Before you employ a rating adviser, you should check that they have the necessary knowledge and expertise, as well as appropriate indemnity insurance. Take great care and, if necessary, seek further advice before entering into any contract.
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Please note that Non-Domestic Rates are payable on the first of every month.
Details regarding payment methods for your non-domestic rates are shown on your bill.
We recommend Direct Debit as the most convenient and cost effective way of paying your non-domestic rates. You only need sign one instruction to your bank which remains in force until you decide to cancel it. If you wish to join our many customers who already pay their bills this way, simply complete and sign the direct debit form enclosed with your bill and return it to Revenue Services.
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Please contact us for further advice or information on any matter relating to Revenue Services.
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This page last updated: 02/04/2009