Empty Rate Legislation Changes
Important Changes to the Empty Rate Legislation
From 1
st April 2008 The Rating (Empty Property) Act 2007 came into force.
This means that rating charges for empty properties changed.
These regulations have been further amended with effect from 1st April 2009 and again in April 2010 which changes the Exemption of empty properties to values less than £18,000.
How will this affect you?
| Empty Properties |
1st April 2009 |
1st April 2010 * |
| Rateable Value less than |
Exempt - less than £15,000 |
Exempt - less than £18,000 |
| Qualifying Industrial Hereditaments e.g. factories, warehouses |
Maximum 6 months exemption followed by 100% of the basic occupied business rate. |
Maximum 6 months exemption followed by 100% of the basic occupied business rate. |
| Registered Charities |
Zero rating provided property is owned by the charity and it appears that the property will be next used for charitable purposes. . |
Zero rating provided property is owned by the charity and it appears that the property will be next used for charitable purposes. |
| Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) |
Zero rating provided property is owned by the CASC and it appears that the property will next be in use for the purposes of the club. |
Zero rating provided property is owned by the CASC and it appears that the property will next be in use for the purposes of the club. |
| Empty Properties |
3-month exemption followed by a 100% charge. |
3-month exemption followed by a 100% charge. |
* Please note, with effect from 1 April 2011, the regulations changed once more and only properties with a rateable value less than £2600 will be exempt from empty rates. All empty properties with a rateable value above this threshold will be charged empty rates at 100% of the occupied rate.
Please note if after 1 April 2011 an exemption had been in place for 3 months (or 6 months for an industrial exemption) for a property that had an RV of less than £18000 the full rate will be payable with immediate effect.
In all cases there must be a minimum of six weeks occupation before a fresh exempt period can commence.