Rural Rate Relief

Help has been available for certain village shops and post offices since 1998.

Certain types of properties in a rural settlement with a population below 3,000 may be entitled to full relief. The property must be the only general store, the only post office or a food shop and have a rateable value of less than £8,500, or the only public house or the only petrol station and have a rateable value of less than £12,500. The property must be occupied.

Other businesses in these rural areas with rateable values up to £16,500 can also apply for relief. In these cases, we have the final say on whether or not to award the relief.

The 2016 Autumn Statement confirmed the doubling of rural rate relief from 50% to 100% from 1 April 2017. Whilst this is confirmed in legislation, we have used our local discount powers to still give 100% rural rate relief to eligible rate payers from 1 April 2017.