Business Rates
Business Rates are collected by local authorities as agents of the government and are paid into a central pool and shared out between the authorities. We use our share of the Business Rates with income from Council Tax, revenue support grant from the government and certain other money, to pay for our services.
Click on the following links to move around the page:
- Rateable Value
- Appeals
- Business rates multiplier
- Transitional arrangements
- Empty properties
- Who is liable to pay the empty charge?
- Exemptions – property
- Exemptions – owners
- Exemptions – industrial property
- Small Business Rate Relief
- Partly occupied property
- Charitable and discretionary relief
- Relief for businesses in rural areas
- Employing a rating surveyor
- How do I pay my Business Rates?
- Contact us
Rateable Value
In most cases the rateable value of business property is fixed by an independent valuation officer from the Valuation Office Agency, an agency of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
All business properties are revalued every five years. From 1 April 2005, the rateable value of a property is the amount it would have cost on 1 April 2003 to rent the property for a year.
Details of the rateable values of all property we charge Business Rates on can be viewed at the Valuation Office website - www.voa.gov.uk 
or by using Warrington Direct, the council's on-line service. The link for this service can be found on the home page.
The Valuation Officer can change the value of a property if he believes the use of the property has changed. The ratepayer and certain other people who have an interest in the property, can apply to the Valuation Officer to change the property’s rateable value.
Appeals
The effect of successful proposals or appeals against values shown in the rating list that came into force on 1 April 2005 will normally be backdated to the beginning of the financial year in which they are made, although there are exceptions to this. If the Valuation Officer does not agree that the value should be changed, the matter will be referred to a Valuation Tribunal.
Information about appeals can be obtained by viewing the Valuation Office website www.voa.gov.uk , by writing to them at 72 Church Street, Liverpool L1 3AY, or by telephoning them on 0151 802 1000.
Further information can be obtained on the ODPM website at www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/busrats/guide/index.htm
Business Rates multiplier
The Business Rates multiplier is the rate in the pound we multiply the rateable value by, to find the yearly Business Rates for a property. 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 multipliers are set at a level which will keep the amount raised in rates after the re-valuation, the same as before, plus inflation for that year. See small business rate relief for further details.
| Year | Multiplier | Small business multiplier |
| 2000/01 | 41.6p | |
| 2001/02 | 43.0p | |
| 2002/03 | 43.7p | |
| 2003/04 | 44.4p | |
| 2004/05 | 45.6p | |
| 2005/06 | 42.2p | 41.5p |
| 2006/07 | 43.3p | 42.6p |
| 2007/08 | 44.4p | 44.1p |
| 2008/09 | 46.2p | 45.8p |
Transitional arrangements
Property values normally change a good deal between revaluation. Transitional arrangements help to phase in the effects of these changes by limiting the amount by which a bill may rise following a revaluation. To help pay for the limits on increases in bills after a revaluation, 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 multiplier).
The scheme only applies to the bill based on the property at the time of the revaluation. If there are any changes to the property after the revaluation date, transitional arrangements will not normally apply to the part of the bill that relates to any increase in rateable value due to those changes.
Further information about transitional arrangements can be obtained from the Revenues and Benefits Service or the website www.mybusinessrates.gov.uk
Empty properties
The council is required to charge Business Rates on empty business property. Some property however may be exempt (seeexemptionsfor details).
Prior to 1 April 2008, properties that had been empty for more than three months were liable for 50% of the full business rates or of the transitional bill if transitional arrangements applied.
However, as part of the 2007 Budget, the government announced reforms to empty property relief. The government's objectives in doing this are to provide owners with a positive incentive to bring vacant shops, offices, factories and warehouse accommodation back into use and remove the pressure on land for new commercial developments. The new legislation will apply from 1 April 2008.
The reforms mean that after an initial three month exemption, or 6 month exemption in the case of industrial properties (seeindustrial propertiesfor further information), the empty property rate will change to 100% of the occupied business rate.
If you own or lease an empty property, which has already been empty for more than the initial exemption period mentioned above, you will no longer be entitled to receive any relief from 1 April 2008 and will be charged 100% rates immediately.
The ‘free period’ before liability, relates to the property – not to the owner. If therefore, a new owner acquires a property, which has already been empty for the initial ‘free period’, the new owner will become immediately liable to a 100% charge.
Who is liable to pay the Empty Charge?
Liability to pay the empty charge falls upon the person entitled to possession of the whole hereditament – the ‘owner’.
Once the property becomes occupied again (either in whole or part) then the occupier will become liable to a full charge at 100%.
The owner should note however that if the period of occupation is less than six weeks, then in deciding whether the property has been continuously unoccupied, it is deemed to have been unoccupied for that period. This means in effect that no further 3 months ‘free period’ is allowable if the property is occupied for less than six weeks either during the ‘free period’ or during a period subject to an empty rate charge.
Exemptions – property
Certain property may be exempt from empty rates. Exemption is appropriate in the following circumstances as prescribed by the Non Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property) Regulations 1989 (as amended).
- The property has been empty for less than three months, or six months in the case of industrial property.
- The property has a rateable value less than £2,200
- The owner is prohibited by law from occupation, or allowing the property to be occupied.
- The property is kept vacant by reason of action taken by or on behalf of the Crown or any local or public authority with a view to prohibiting the occupation of the property or to acquiring it.
- The property is the subject of a building preservation notice as defined by Section 58 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 or is included in a list compiled under Section 54 of that Act (i.e. a Listed building).
- The property is included in the Schedule of Monuments compiled under Section I of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
Exemptions – owners
Certain owners are also exempt from unoccupied property rates:
- The owner is entitled to possession only in his capacity as the personal representative of a deceased person.
- There subsists in respect of the owner’s estate a bankruptcy order within the meaning of Parts VIII to XI of the Insolvency Act 1986.
- The owner is entitled to possession of the hereditament in his capacity as trustee under a deed of arrangement to which the Deeds of Arrangement Act 1914 applies.
- The owner is a company which is subject to a winding up order made under the Insolvency Act 1986 or which is being wound up voluntarily under that Act.
- The owner is entitled to possession of the hereditament in his capacity as liquidator by virtue of an order made under section 112 or section 145 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
- From 1 April 2008, the owner is a company in administration within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986 or is subject to an administration order made under the former administration provisions within the meaning of article 3 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2003
- From 1 April 2008, empty property which is held by a charity or community amateur sports club, where it appears likely that when next in use, it will be used for charitable purposes or for the purposes of the club.
Exemptions – industrial property
Prior to 1 April 2008, industrial property received a permanent exemption from empty property rates, if it was a ‘qualifying’ industrial hereditament. After 1 April 2008 industrial property is exempt from empty property rates for a continuous period not exceeding six months, after which 100% of the occupied business rate is payable. A qualifying industrial hereditament is a property, other than a ‘retail’ hereditament, in relation to which buildings comprised in the hereditament are:
- constructed or adapted for use in the course of a trade or business; and
- constructed or adapted for use for one or more of the following purposes, or one or more such purposes and one or more purposes ancillary thereto:
- the manufacture, repair or adaptation of goods or materials, or the subjection of goods or materials to any process;
- storage (including the storage or handling of goods in the course of their distribution);
- the working or processing of minerals;
- the generation of electricity.
‘Retail hereditament’ means any hereditament where any building or part of a building comprised in the hereditament is constructed or adapted for the purpose of the retail provision of:
- goods, or
- services, other than storage for distribution services, on or from the hereditament.
Small business rate relief
This relief is only available to ratepayers who apply to their local authority and who occupy either —
(a) one property, or
(b) one main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties each have a rateable value of less than £2,200.
The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all properties mentioned in (b), must be under £15,000 outside London or £21,500 within London, including on 1 April each year.
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:
(a) the ratepayer taking up occupation of a property they did not occupy at the time of making their application for relief; and
(b) an increase in the rateable value of a property occupied by the ratepayer in an area other than the area of the local authority which granted the relief.
Notification of these changes must be given to the local authority within four 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. However, failure to notify the authority within this timeframe will mean the ratepayer ceases to be entitled to the relief with effect from the day that the change happened. If they are still eligible, the ratepayer will be entitled to the relief again with effect from the day that they notify the local authority. 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.
Partly occupied property
Where a property is only partly occupied for a short time only, the council has the discretion to request that the Valuation Officer apportions the properties rateable value, between its occupied and unoccupied parts.
Prior to the 1 April 2008, the ratepayer would be liable for 50% of the occupied business rate on the empty part of the property. From 1 April 2008, the empty part of the property will receive a complete exemption from rates for the first three months it is empty, or for the first 6 months in the case of industrial property, after which 100% rates will become payable.
If the property qualifies for an exemption from rates when empty, the apportioned rateable values will continue to apply.
Charitable and Discretionary Relief
Charities are entitled to relief from rates on any non-domestic property that is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. As from 1 April 2004, sports clubs that are registered with the Inland Revenue as Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) will also be entitled to relief. Relief is given at 80% of the bill. Local authorities have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill.
We also have discretion to give relief on all or part of any rate bill for property occupied by certain non-profit making bodies. We can also consider giving rate relief in cases of hardship or where part of a property is beyond use for a certain period.
Relief for businesses in rural areas
Certain types of business in rural areas, with a population below 3,000, may qualify for rate relief of 50%. Businesses that qualify for this relief are the sole general store or the sole post office in the village, provided it has a rateable value of up to £7,000; any food shop with a rateable value of up to £7,000; and the sole pub and the sole petrol station in the village, provided it has a rateable value of up to £10,500. Local councils have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill for such property.
The local council may decide to give up to 100% relief to any other business in such a rural village, with a rateable value up to £14,000, if it is satisfied that the business is of benefit to the community and having regard to the interest of council tax payers.
Employing a rating surveyor
Ratepayers do not have to be represented in discussions about their rateable value or their rate bills. Appeals against rateable values can be made free of charge.
However, you may wish to contact a rating adviser. Members of the Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS – website www.rics.org.uk ) and the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation (IRRV – website www.irrv.org.uk ) are regulated by rules of professional conduct designed to protect the public from misconduct.
Before employing a rating adviser, and particularly before employing one who is not a member of one of these bodies, you should satisfy yourself that he or she has the necessary knowledge and expertise, as well as appropriate indemnity insurance.
You should also be wary of false or misleading claims. We are aware of agents who do not explain, for example, that a reduction on rateable value may not necessarily lead to a reduction in the amount of rates you will have to pay. This is because there are overriding limits on how much rates bills can change from year to year under the transitional relief scheme.
Please be careful before entering into any contract and take advice if necessary before you do so.
How do I pay my Business Rates?
There are various ways in which you can pay your business rates. For further information of these options please click here.
Contact us
If you require more information on unoccupied rating, or feel that an exemption is applicable, please contact:
(01925) 443210
(01925) 442333
Revenues&Benefits@warrington.gov.uk
Strategic Director of Corporate Services, Revenues and Benefits Service, PO Box 13, Warrington, WA1 1BN.
More information can be obtained by visiting the official government website www.mybusinessrates.gov.uk
