Business rates relief

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• Small business rate relief

  You can get small business rate relief if:

  • your property’s rateable value is less than £15,000
  • you occupy the property
  • your business only uses one property - you may still be able to get relief if you use more

  What you get

  You will not pay business rates on a property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less.

  For properties with a rateable value of £12,001 to £15,000, the rate of relief will go down gradually from 100% to 0%.

  If you use more than one property

  When you get a second property, you’ll keep getting any existing relief on your main property for 12 months.

  You can still get small business rate relief on your main property after this if both the following apply:

  • none of your other properties have a rateable value above £2,899
  • the total rateable value of all your properties is less than £20,000

  You’re a small business but do not qualify for small business rate relief

  If your property has a rateable value below £51,000, your bill will be calculated using the small business multiplier, which is lower than the standard one. This doesn’t apply if the property is unoccupied, or you receive another business rate relief.

  How to get small business rate relief

  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 apply using the button lower down the page.

  Changes you need to tell us about

  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.

• Expanded retail relief and nursery discount

  This relief has been provided by the Government as part of its response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

  From 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2021 it is a business rates holiday - this means that the rates bill for eligible properties during that period is reduced to zero.

  From 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022 it is a relief of 66 per cent - this means that the rates bill for eligible properties will be reduced by that amount. Where a business occupies more than one property, there are limits on the total value of relief a business can receive.

  Eligible properties

  for expanded retail relief:

  These are properties that are occupied, and wholly or mainly used:

  • as a shop, restaurant, café, drinking establishment, cinema or live music venue
  • for assembly or leisure (including sports clubs, nightclubs, theatres, sport and leisure facilities, gyms, public halls, clubhouses)
  • as a hotel, guest and boarding premises or self-catering accommodation.

  For more information about what property uses are eligible, please see the guidance on the Government website.

  for nursery relief:

  These are properties that are occupied, and wholly or mainly used:

  • for the provision of childcare in the Early Years Foundation Stage by providers that are on Ofsted's Early Years Register.

  Premises that have closed temporarily due to the Government’s advice on COVID-19 will be treated as occupied. 

  Limits on relief

  For the period 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022, the total relief a business can receive is limited to £105,000, or £2 million if the business occupies a property that was required to be closed on 5 January 2021.

  Business rates bills for 2021-2022 that we send out until late May 2021 will only show the business rates holiday. We will contact businesses again at that point with revised bills showing the change to the 66 per cent relief rate.

  If you think your business qualifies for expanded retail relief or nursery relief but you have not received a bill showing this, please email us at business.rates@dacorum.gov.uk.

  Opting out of relief

  A business can opt out of expanded retail relief or nursery relief for the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 for one or all properties it occupies. If you want to do this, please email us at business.rates@dacorum.gov.uk confirming the account numbers and property addresses for which you are opting out. You can do this at any time until 30 April 2022, and we will then remove the relief from your account and send you a new bill.

  Please note: if you do opt out of these reliefs you will not be able to change your mind and opt back in again at a later date.
• 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. Full details can be found in our  Discretionary Rate Relief Policy (101KB).

  For more information, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Business rates revaluation relief

  During the 2017 Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced funding of £300 million across four years to provide help to businesses most affected by the revaluation. 
  
  To qualify, the main conditions are as follows:

  • You have been affected by the revaluation – this means that you must have been occupying the property and liable to pay business rates on both 31 March 2017 and 1 April 2017.
  • You continue to occupy the property and remain liable to pay business rates for it.
  • If you are liable to pay business rates on other properties anywhere in the UK, the total rateable value of all properties must be less than £200,000.
  • You must comply with the State Aid De Minimis Regulations EC 1407/2013.

  For more information on our scheme, please view our  Revaluation relief 2017-18 to 2020-21 policy (PDF 216KB).

• 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 will get relief of the full rates charge (50 per cent is mandatory relief and 50 per cent is centrally funded discretionary relief).

• 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. For full details, please see our  Discretionary Rate Relief Policy (PDF 100KB).

  For more information, please contact the Business Rates team.

• Supporting small business relief

  Ratepayers losing Small Business or Rural Rate Relief as a result of the 2017 revaluation will have their increases limited to the greater of either (i) a cash value of £600 per year, or (ii) the matching cap on increases for small properties in the transitional relief scheme. This relief will run for five years to 31 March 2022 and ratepayers will receive the relief until this date or they reach what their bill would have been within the relief scheme, whichever is first.

  This relief will be delivered through local authority discretionary discount powers (under section 47(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988). Further information can be obtained from us.

• 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.