Business Rates - Rural Rate Relief

General stores, food shops, post offices, public houses or petrol filling stations can apply for Rural Rate Relief provided that the property:

• Is in a settlement which appears in our rural settlement list (a rural settlement is defined as such if it appears to have had a population of 3,000 or less on December 31st, prior to the start of each financial year)
• Is the only general store, food shop, post office, public house or petrol filling station in that settlement, and
• Has a rateable value of £8,500 or less (£12,500 or less for public houses and petrol filling stations)

Mandatory Rural Rate Relief

Relief is given at 50% of the full rates bill, or of the transitional bill where transitional arrangements apply. This is known as Mandatory Rural Rate Relief.

Within East Hampshire, a number of parishes/part parishes have been designated as rural for the purpose of the scheme of which the following settlements are believed to have populations of less than 3000 people.

Discretionary Rural Rate Relief

In addition to the 50% mandatory Rate Relief, businesses can also apply for up to a further 50% relief under the provisions of the discretionary Rate Relief scheme.

How can I apply for relief ?

You can download and print the following forms.

Application Form

Alternatively, application forms for relief are available from the Business Rates section using the customer feedback facility ,  EMail revenues@easthants.gov.uk or telepone (01730) 234400.