Empty Property Reliefs and Exemptions
If your business premises are empty, you may not have to pay business rates for three months. After this time, most businesses will become liable for full business rates.
Some properties may be eligible for a longer period of empty property relief. Please see the examples below.
- Empty industrial premises (such as warehouses, factories) are eligible for a full exemption for six months
- Empty listed buildings are exempt until re-occupied
- Empty buildings with a Rateable Value (RV) of under £2,900 are exempt until re-occupied
- Empty properties owned by charities are exempt, as long as the next use of the property is also for charitable purposes
- Empty properties owned by Community Amateur Sports Clubs are exempt, as long as the next use of the property is also as a sports club
Removal of a property from the Rating List
If a property is in poor condition and cannot be economically repaired a decision may be made by the Valuation Office Agency to remove the property from the Rating List.
If you believe that your premises falls within this criteria, please review the link below and contact the VOA directly: Business rates relief: Empty property relief
Partially Occupied Relief (Section 44A)
If your business is only using part of a property with the remainder completely empty and unused, for a short period of time, we may be able to award a temporary discount. This is as long as the application is made at the time the property first becomes partly occupied.
To qualify for Partially Occupied Relief, we would require evidence that:
- Part of the property is empty – the Valuation Office Agency would divide the empty and occupied parts of the rateable value
- The empty part of the property is empty for a temporary period
We will only consider applications if a plan of the property is provided clearly showing the separate occupied and unoccupied parts of the property.
Application process
Applications can be made directly to our Revenues Team by email at nndr1@somerset.gov.uk. You will need to provide the information below to support the application.
- Full period of relief
- Explanation of circumstances leading to the partial occupation of the property
- Plan of the property clearly indicating the occupied and unoccupied areas
If required, the property may need to be inspected to verify the information received in the application.