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Reliefs and Exemptions - Business Rates

To apply for any Reliefs or Exemptions please contact us for a form.

Rating Advisors

Ratepayers do not have to be represented by a Rating Adviser before contacting the Revenues & Benefits Service about:

  • Appealing about rateable value of their property
  • Seeking a reduction in their bill by applying for an exemption or another relief

Appeals and applications 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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Exemptions

Exempt properties are not shown in the Local Rating List and therefore have no liability for Business Rates. Such exemptions include:

  • agricultural land and buildings
  • fish farms
  • places of religious worship
  • open public places such as parks
  • property used for the disabled
  • property in enterprise zones, etc

Some properties may be exempt whilst they are empty.

If your property is used under such circumstances, for further information you should contact the Valuation Officer Agency.

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Empty rate exemptions

Business Rates are payable on most empty properties and usually the person who is entitled to possession will be liable for the Business Rates.

  • shops and offices are exempt from Business Rates for the first three months after the property became empty. After this the full charge becomes payable
  • industrial properties are exempt from Business Rates for the first six months after the property became empty. After this the full charge becomes payable

Some properties are exempt from Business Rates empty property charges.

  • properties with a rateable value under £2,900 (check your rateable value)
  • empty properties of companies in administration or liquidation
  • listed buildings
  • properties where occupation is prohibited by law
  • properties where the owner is entitled to possession only in his capacity as the personal representative of a deceased person

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Transitional relief

Following revaluation properties may face an increase or decrease in their bill, so to phase in significant increases or decreases and reduce the impact of these changes the government introduced Transitional Relief. Transitional arrangements following the revaluation on 1st April 2017 are phased over a maximum of five years.

Further details about the transitional relief arrangements from 1st April 2017 are available on the GOV.UK website.

We will automatically include transitional relief when we calculate your liability and details will be shown on your bill.

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Small Business Rate Relief from April 2017

Ratepayers who are not entitled to another mandatory relief and who occupy a single property with a rateable value of up to £14,999 are eligible for Small Business Rate Relief.

You may also be entitled to Small Business Rates Relief if you have more than one property, but relief can only be awarded in respect of one property.

You may be eligible for Small Business Rate Relief depending on your property's 2017 Rateable Value.

Relief applies where either:

  • You are only responsible for Business Rates in respect of one property; or
  • You are responsible for two or more properties; and
  • the Rateable Value of the second and each subsequent property is less than £2,900; and
  • the Rateable Values of all the properties totals less than £20,000

Properties with a Rateable Value of £12,000 and below will qualify for 100% relief and there's a sliding scale reduction for properties with a Rateable Value of £12,001 to £14,999. No relief can be awarded where the Rateable Value is £15,000 or more.

View my premises' Rateable Value

Relief cannot be awarded in respect of unoccupied properties or those where Mandatory Charitable Relief has been awarded.

To apply for relief please complete and return an application form:

PDF FileSmall Business Rates Relief Application Form - to hand write (105KB)

If relief is awarded and you are only responsible for one property but you subsequently become responsible for Business Rates for a second property, please contact the Business Rates section immediately to confirm whether you will remain entitled to relief.

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Charities, Non-Profit Making Organisations and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC)

Charities

Where the ratepayer of a property is a registered charity and the property is used for charitable purposes, by that or another charity, then the ratepayer will be entitled to 80% mandatory rate relief, providing the property is being wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes.

The Councils can also award a further 20% discretionary relief. Applications for discretionary relief will be considered in accordance with the guidelines in the Councils' Discretionary Rate Relief Policy. If an application is received after 30th September in any year, any award can only be backdated to the start of the current financial year.

Non-Profit Making Organisations

Discretionary relief of up to 100% of the rate bill can be awarded to non-profit making organisations whose main objectives are charitable, religious, or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or fine arts or sporting organisations.

Applications for relief will be considered in accordance with the guidelines in the Council's Discretionary Rate Relief Policy.

Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC)

Community Amateur Sports Clubs are treated in the same way as registered charities and they will therefore be entitled to 80% mandatory relief and can be considered for a further 20% discretionary relief. Applications for relief will be considered in accordance with the guidelines in the Council's Discretionary Rate Relief Policy.

PDF FileBusiness Rates - Charity Relief application form - to hand write (410KB)

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Rural rate relief

Certain types of properties in a rural settlement with a population below 3,000 may be entitled to relief. The property must be the only general store, the only post office or a food shop and have a rateable value of less than £8,500 or the only public house or the only petrol station and have a rateable value of less than £12,500. The property has to be occupied. An eligible ratepayer is entitled to relief at 50% of the full charge whilst the local authority also has discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill.

In addition, the local authority has the discretion to remit all or part of the rate bill on other occupied properties in a rural settlement where the rateable value is less that £16,500 and the authority is satisfied that the property is used for a purpose that benefits the community.

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Rate Relief for pubs

In the Spring Budget on 8th March 2017 the Government announced that, as the result of the Business Rates revaluation that became effective from 1st April 2017, it would provide relief of up to £1,000 during 2017/18 for pubs that have a Rateable Value below £100,000.

In the Autumn Budget on 22nd November 2017 the Government announced that the relief for pubs would continue at £1,000 in respect of 2018/19. However, the relief ends from 31st March 2019 and this means that no relief will be granted in respect of 2019/20 onwards.

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Retail Discount

In the Autumn Budget on 29th October 2018 the Government announced that eligible retailers with a rateable value of below £51,000 will receive a one-third discount off their Business Rates bills for 2019/20 and 2020/21.

To be awarded this relief properties must be occupied and being used wholly or mainly as shops, restaurants, cafes or drinking establishments for the sale of goods to visiting members of the public. Consequently occupied properties that are not being used wholly or mainly for these purposes will not qualify for relief. The reduction must be applied after all other mandatory reliefs have been granted.

Awards are subject to State Aid rules that mean that a business cannot receive more than €200,000 in a rolling three-year period (consisting of the current financial year and the previous two years). Further details on State Aid are available on the GOV.UK website. Current Government advice is that the State Aid rules will be replicated once the UK leaves the European Union - see State aid if there's no Brexit deal on the GOV.UK website. This means that businesses with a number of properties are unlikely to qualify for Retail Discount.

Guidance about the Retail Discount scheme has been issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - see Business rates: retail discount - guidance on the GOV.UK website.

During the production of Business Rates bills for 2019/20 the Revenues & Benefits Service has attempted to identify those businesses that qualify for the Retail Discount, and if it has been awarded it will be shown as a reduction in your bill. However, if Retail Discount has not been awarded on your account and you believe that you qualify, please complete and return the application form below:

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Local Discretionary Relief from 1st April 2017

Following the re-valuation of the Rateable Values that are used to calculate Business Rates bill from 1st April 2017, the Government announced that:

  • Each Council would be provided with funds to reduce the increases that some businesses were facing
  • Each Council could decide what the qualifying criteria should be for awards to be made

Following a public consultation during the autumn of 2017, the Members (Councillors) of Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council have decided that the qualifying criteria for businesses in this area will be:

  1. The ratepayer's bill for 2017/18 must be more than their bill for 2016/17 was (after all other reliefs and reductions have been applied)
  2. The ratepayer must have been liable for Business Rates at the same address on 1st January 2017
  3. The Rateable Value of the property must be more than £14,999 and less than £200,000

The Councils want to ensure that use of the additional funds that have been made available is maximised and applying the rules described above means that the net increase in bills:

  • For 2017/18 will be reduced by:
    • 30% in Adur
    • 38% in Worthing
  • For 2018/19 will be reduced by:
    • 21% in Adur
    • 13% in Worthing
  • For 2019/20 will be reduced by:
    • 14% in Adur
    • 18% in Worthing

Awards of this relief must comply with the EU law on State Aid such that the award of relief will not exceed the €200,000 that a business can receive under the De Minimis Regulations EC 1407/2013. Further information about State Aid is available on the gov.uk website. See State Aid - on the GOV.UK website.

De Minimis States Aid includes local discretionary relief or relief for pubs that has been granted by other Councils in respect of properties in other areas, so this may be relevant to properties that are part of a large retail chain where the cumulative total of the relief received could exceed €200,000.

The €200,000 threshold should be calculated in respect of a rolling three-year period (consisting of the current financial year and the two previous financial years).

An application to apply for this relief is available below:

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Part occupied property

Section 44a of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 gives the Council discretion to award relief if part of a property, e.g. a room or floor that is included in the rating assessment, is temporarily not being used.

Applications must be made in writing to the Revenues & Benefits Service and cannot be made retrospectively. Please include a detailed plan of the occupied/unoccupied areas with your application. Please tell us why part of the property is not being used, the date that it became unoccupied and the date that you expect it to be re-used.

When we have received your application we will contact you and arrange for our Revenues Inspector to visit the property to confirm the unoccupied areas.

If relief is approved, we will then contact the VOA to value the unoccupied part. This will then allow the Councils to treat this area as a separate unoccupied property for the purposes of awarding empty property relief.

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Hardship relief

The Councils may, in exceptional circumstances, grant hardship relief to ratepayers whose circumstances have become so severe that not granting relief may cause unnecessary hardship - either financially or otherwise. The Council can only grant hardship relief if it is satisfied that:

  • The ratepayer would sustain hardship if the Council does not award relief; and
  • It would be reasonable to grant relief, having regard to the interests of Council Tax payers

Please note that you will need to include financial information including accounts and bank statements.

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