Cardiff Council is highlighting Treasury changes to rate charges on empty commercial and industrial properties which will come into effect on 1 April 2011.
The Government set the level of rate charges on empty properties at 100 per cent of the full occupied rate charge in 2008. However, temporary measures were then introduced to allow a full exemption from payment of empty rate charges for premises with a Rateable Value (RV) up to £15,000 in 2009/10 and £18,000 in 2010/11. This temporary exemption will end on 31 March 2011 and will mean that from 1 April 2011, the owners of most commercial or industrial property with a Rateable Value between £2,600 and £18,000 will no longer receive a reduction in their rate bill if their property is empty for longer than three or six months.
For the first three months that a property is empty, or six months in the case of industrial property, no business rates will be payable. If a property is still empty at the end of the three or six month period, then business rates will be charged at 100% of the basic occupied business rates. Business rates are payable on most commercial properties, these include shops, warehouses, and factories. Some non-domestic properties do not have to pay rates, for example, farms, churches and parks.
Some types of empty properties will be exempt from paying rate charges, including, properties with a Rateable Value below £2,600 and Listed buildings.
Rates are usually paid by the occupier of the property. If the property is unoccupied then the owner or leaseholder will usually have to pay empty rates. The new rate bills for the financial year 2011/12 are expected to be issued by the Council in mid March.
Further information on the charges is available from Cardiff Council’s Non-Domestic Rating Section on 029 2087 1491 or 2087 1492.
