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In accordance with the provisions of section 45 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 as amended by the Non Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property)(England) Regulations 2008, the owner (ie the person entitled to possession) of an unoccupied non-domestic property is liable to pay 100% of the basic occupied business rate. Rates will not be payable for the first three months that a property is empty. This period will be extended to six months for qualifying industrial properties.
The regulations define a ‘qualifying industrial hereditament’ as any hereditament other than a retail hereditament in relation to which all buildings comprised in the hereditament are:
(a) constructed or adapted for use in the course of a trade or business; and
(b) constructed or adapted for use for one or more purposes ancillary thereto:
(i) the manufacture, repair, or adaptation of goods or materials, or the subjection of goods or materials to any process;
(ii) storage (including the storage or handling of goods in the course of their distribution);
(iii) the working or processing of materials;
(iv) the generation of electricity;
and ‘retail hereditament’ means any hereditament where any building or part of a building comprised the hereditament is constructed or adapted for the purpose of the retail provision of:
(a) goods, or
(b) services, other than storage for distribution services, on or from the hereditament.
100% of the basic occupied business rates will be payable on all relevant non domestic hereditaments unless they fall within one of the categories defined within paragraph 4 of the Non Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property)(England) Regulations 2008 (as amended by The Non-Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property) (England) Regulations 2009). These categories are shown below.
Any hereditament which falls within one of the following categories will be exempt from empty rates
A ‘relevant non domestic hereditament’ means any non domestic hereditament consisting of, or of part of, any building, together with any land ordinarily used or intended for use for the purposes of the building or part.
A hereditament which has been unoccupied and becomes occupied on any day shall be treated as having been continuously unoccupied, for the purposes of a three or six month exemption period, if it becomes unoccupied again on the expiration of a period of less than six weeks beginning with that day.
Empty properties held by a charity or Community Amateur Sports Club may qualify for the new zero rate provided by the Rating (Empty Properties) Act 2007.
Regulations regarding the rating of unoccupied properties was amended from 1 April 2008 .The information provided is based on those changes.