Unoccupied Property

Non-domestic properties which are unoccupied may be liable to empty property rates.

From 1st April 2009, rates are charged at 100% of the full rate bill or of the transitional bill where the transitional arrangements apply. The charge begins after the property has been empty for six months for industrial and three months for non-industrial.

Some properties are exempt from empty rates:

• those where the rateable value is less than £1,500 in the 1995 List, £1,900 in the 2000 List, £2,200 in the 2005 List or £15,000 from 1st April 2009. From 1st April 2010, properties with a rateable value of less than £18,000 will be exempt whilst empty. From 1st April 2011 properties with a rateable value of less than £2,600 will be exempt whilst empty. 
• where occupation is prohibited by law, e.g. by Health and Safety legislation
• properties empty due to action taken by the Crown, or by any public or local authority, either to prevent occupation or to acquire the property, e.g. a compulsory purchase order has been made
• where the person liable would be so only in his/her capacity as a personal representative of a deceased person, a liquidator or a trustee under a deed of arrangement
• where the person entitled to possession is the subject of insolvency proceedings
• listed buildings or those subject to a preservation order
• properties on the National Schedule of Monuments
• properties left empty by registered charitable organisations and community amateur sports clubs

Part occupancy

If a property is temporarily only partly occupied, it is not always possible or necessary to create two separate assessments in the Rating List (for example, where the occupier of a warehouse reduces the amount of storage because of a recession, or where a company phases its removal from one set of premises to another).

Instead we can ask the Valuation Office to determine the rateable values of the occupied and unoccupied parts. The rates payable on each part can then be worked out and relief is granted so that the ratepayer only pays the full rates for the occupied part plus 50% of the rates for the unoccupied part. ( If an exemption applies to the unoccupied part, however, then nothing is payable for that part. )

This relief is given as laid down in Section 44A of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and the Government reimburses the council in full.

Part occupancy rate relief is limited to a period of three months only or to the date on which the property ceases to be only partly occupied, whichever is the sooner. For properties with a rateable value of less than £2,600, the relief will be granted from the applicable date to the end of the financial year (31st March) or to the date on which the property ceases to be only partly occupied, whichever is the sooner.

For further information please use the customer feedback facility , send an email to revenues@easthants.gov.uk , or telephone 01730 234400.