If part of your property is empty for a short period you may apply to have your Business Rates bill reduced. To apply for the reduction, you must write to us and provide a plan of your property, clearly indicating which proportion of your premises is occupied and which is unoccupied.

Once we have received your information, we will arrange an inspection of your premises to verify your claim. If we think you should qualify for the relief, we will ask the Valuation Office to issue a certificate to confirm what the Rateable Value would be of the empty part and what the Rateable Value would be occupied.

Once we receive this, we will apply the appropriate relief or exemption to the empty part and send you a revised bill. While your application is in progress, you must pay as billed. If during this period you receive any notices from us regarding non-payment, please contact he Revenues Service immediately so that we can come to some form of payment arrangement.

Any properties where we have granted the relief will be subject to periodic visits from our property inspector. If any parts of the area you have previously claimed to be empty are found to be occupied, your relief may be cancelled. We will require you to re-apply for the relief at the start of every financial year.

The Government regulations state that the relief should be awarded for a short period only. We may decide that your relief is no longer applicable and so you should be prepared to pay full Rates when next years bill arrives.

For more information please contact the Revenues Service on 01233 330720 or email the Revenues Service Team