Business rates relief

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• Small business rate relief

  If the rateable value of the property you occupy is less than £51,000 (and you are not entitled to another mandatory relief), your bill will be calculated using the lower small business non-domestic rating multiplier, rather than the national non-domestic rating multiplier.

  Also, generally, if your sole or main property is shown on the rating list with a rateable value of up to £15,000, you will receive a percentage reduction in your rates bill for this property of up to a maximum of 100 per cent. For a property with a rateable value of up to £12,000, you will receive a 100 per cent reduction in your rates bill.

  Generally, this relief is only available to ratepayers who occupy either:

  (a) one property; or
  (b) one main property and other additional properties, providing those additional properties each have a rateable value below £2,900.

  The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all the properties mentioned in (b), must be less than £20,000 on each day for which relief is being sought. If the rateable value, or aggregate rateable value, increases above those levels, relief will usually end from the day of the increase. However, the Government has introduced additional support to small businesses. If you take on an additional property that would normally mean the loss of small business rate relief, the Government has confirmed that you will be allowed to keep that relief for a period of 12 months.

  You do not need to make a written application for small business rate relief, but we do need to check that you meet the conditions to receive the relief. If you think that you should be getting this relief, but it isn't shown on your bill, please get in touch.

  If you are receiving small business rate relief, you must tell us if:

  (a) you take up occupation of an additional property; or
  (b) there is an increase in the rateable value of a property you occupy outside the area of Dacorum Borough Council.

• Charity and registered community amateur sports club relief

  Charities and registered community amateur sports clubs are entitled to 80 per cent relief where the property is occupied by the charity or club and is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes or as a registered community amateur sports club.

  We have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill.

  For further details, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Rate relief for businesses in rural areas

  Certain types of properties in a rural settlement with a population below 3,000 - for example, the only general store, post office or food shop and with a rateable value of less than £8,500, or the only public house or petrol station and with a rateable value of less than £12,500 - may be entitled to relief. The property has to be occupied, and an eligible ratepayer is entitled to relief at 50 per cent of the full charge. We also have discretion to give further relief on the remaining bill.

  For further details, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Partly occupied property relief

  A ratepayer is liable for the full non-domestic rate whether a property is wholly occupied or only partly occupied. Where a property is partly occupied for a short time, we have discretion to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part.

  For further details, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Unoccupied property rating

  Business rates will not be payable in the first three months that a property is empty (or the first six months for industrial premises).

  After this period, empty rate is charged at 100 per cent of the bill. However, in most cases, the empty property rate is zero for properties owned by charities and community amateur sports clubs.

  There are also a number of exemptions from the empty rate, for example:

  • listed buildings
  • small properties with rateable values of less than £2,900 from 1 April 2017

  For further details, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Local discretionary relief

  Local authorities have a general power to grant discretionary local discounts or hardship relief in specific circumstances. Full details of our discretionary rate relief policy can be found here:   Discretionary Rate Relief Policy (PDF 103KB).

  For further details, please contact the Business Rates team.

• New-build empty property relief

  We will award 100 per cent empty rate relief for unoccupied newly built properties for a total of 18 months from the date of completion.

  This relief will be awarded for properties which are completed after 1 October 2013 and before 30 September 2016.

  We will award the relief in line with the detailed guidance issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

• State aid

  The award of discretionary rate reliefs is considered likely to amount to state aid. However, it will be state aid compliant where it is provided in accordance with the De Minimis Regulations EC 1407/2013. The De Minimis Regulations allow an undertaking to receive up to €200,000 ‘de minimis’ aid over a rolling three-year period. If you are receiving, or have received, any ‘de minimis’ aid granted during the current or two previous financial years (from any source), you should inform us immediately and provide details of the aid received.