Premises only part occupied for a short time
If part of your premises are not being used, so long as this situation is for ‘a short time/temporary period only, the Council may consider an application for relief under Section 44A of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.
Please provide the Council with a plan of the property showing the empty part and a covering letter explaining the reason that part of the property is empty and for how long this is likely to be the case, and how you intend to bring the unoccupied part into use within that short timescale. You will also need to send in a plan of the property labelling the empty part and the occupied parts.
If you think you might qualify but want some advice please contact us on 01264 368000
The Council may arrange for an Inspector to visit your premises and, if satisfied that the relief should be applied, will ask the Valuation Office Agency to issue a certificate detailing the Rateable Value of the unoccupied and occupied parts. Your bill will then be recalculated to take into account any reduction that you are entitled to in respect of the unoccupied part.
It should be noted that this action depends on the intended occupation of the premises. This situation must be happening at the present time as we need to be able to check which part of the property is unoccupied, so requests for backdated claims cannot be considered.
If a view is taken that there is no intention to fully occupy the premises, the Valuation Office Agency may, instead, be asked to split the assessment.