Breadcrumb Trail
Reductions and Relief
You may be entitled to various reliefs that will help reduce your bill. These are summarised below:
- Charitable Relief
- Empty property rating
- Relief for properties which are partly occupied
- Rural Rate Relief
- Transitional Relief
- Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR)
Charitable Relief
Relief for Registered Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) and Discretionary Relief.
Charities are entitled to relief, at 80% from rates on any non-domestic property that is totally or mainly used for charitable purposes.
Registered CASCs are also entitled to 80% rate relief on any non-domestic property that is totally or mainly used for the purposes of that club, or any other registered clubs We can also decide to provide extra relief on the other 20% of the bill.
As well as this, we can decide to give relief on all or part of any bill for property which is used by certain non-profit-making organisations.
We can also consider giving rate relief in cases of hardship or if part of a property cannot be used for a certain period.
Empty Property Rating
In general, there will be no business rates to pay for the first three months that a property is empty. This is extended to six months in the case of certain industrial properties. After this, you must pay the full rate unless the Government has reduced the empty property rate.
If the Government has reduced the empty property rate for the financial year, the new rate will be shown on your bill.
You may not have to pay the empty property rate if you meet certain conditions (known as exemptions). These include the following:
- A - A property is owned or held by a registered charity and will be next used for the purposes of that charity
- B - A property is owned or held by a community amateur sports club (CASC) and will be next used for the purposes of that club
- C - A property with a rateable value less than £2,200
- D - A property which is empty because of action taken by, or on behalf of, the Crown or any local or public authority with a view to forbidding occupation or to buying it
- E - A property which is placed under a building preservation notice
- F - A property where the owner is entitled to possession only because he or she is the personal representative of a person who has died
- G - A property where there is a bankruptcy order for the owner's estate
- H - A property where the owner is entitled to possession of the property as a trustee under a deed of arrangement
- I - A property which is owned by a company which is placed under a winding-up order or is being wound up voluntarily
- J - A property where the owner is entitled to possession as a liquidator
- K - A property where the owner is a company in administration or is subject to an administration order
Relief for Properties which are Partly Occupied
You are liable for the full non-domestic rate whether the property is fully or only partly used. If you only use part of a property for a short time, we can award relief for the part you are not using. You can get full details by contacting the Business Rates Section.
Rural Rate Relief
The occupier of a general store or post office in an area listed on our rural settlement list is entitled to rate relief if it is the only store or post office in that area and its rateable value is £7,000 or less. Also entitled to this rate relief is any food shop with a rateable value of £7,000 or less and the only pub and the only petrol station in the village with a rateable value of £10,500 or less. We can give 50% relief off the rates bill. We can cancel all or part of the other 50%.
We can also cancel all or part of the rate bills on other property in an area on the rural settlement list if the rateable value is £14,000 or less and we are satisfied that the property is used for a purpose which benefits the local community.
Our rural settlement list is only made up of the parishes of Dunham Massey and Warburton. A copy of the list is held at our business rates section and can be seen via Access Trafford, Sale Town Hall between 9am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Transitional Relief
In 2005 non-domestic property was 'revalued'. This has led to some properties being valued a lot higher or a lot lower. There are limits to the percentage by which bills may increase or decrease each year. So the Government has introduced transitional arrangements so the amount paid on all properties where there are big differences may be adjusted to meet the new valuation. If ratepayers are entitled to relief, this will automatically be shown on rate bills.
These transitional arrangements will apply until March 2010 when all non-domestic properties will be revalued again. There are special rules for changes in rateable value or when existing properties are merged or split.
Further information about transitional relief can be found on the Department for Communities and Local Government website.
Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR)
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 properties as long as those other properties each have a rateable value of less than £2,200.
The rateable value of the property mentioned above, or the total rateable value of all properties mentioned in b, must be under £15,000 outside London or £21,500 in London, on 1 April of the financial year in question, on the day on which you apply for relief, and each day in between. If the rateable value (or the total rateable value of the properties mentioned in b) increases above those levels, relief will end on the day of the increase.
If you meet these conditions we will work out the bill for your single or main property using the lower small business non-domestic rating multiplier rather than the ordinary non-domestic rating multiplier that is used to work out the liability of other businesses.
Also, if the single or main property is shown on the rating list with a rateable value of up to £10,000, you will receive a percentage reduction in your 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. We grant your relief as long as your circumstances do not change.
You must tell us about the following changes in circumstances:
- A - You start to occupy a property you did not occupy at the time of making your application for relief
- B - There is an increase in the rateable value of a property you occupy in another area
You must tell us about these changes within four weeks of the day after the day the change happened. As long as you do this there will be no interruption to your entitlement to the relief. To tell us you have started to occupy another property, you must make a fresh application for relief.
Who to contact
Business Rates Section
Trafford Council
PO Box 65
Sale
M33 6BY
Email: business.rates@trafford.gov.uk
Customer Services: 0161 912 2346
Fax: 0161 912 2369
This page was last reviewed on 15 December 2009
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