Reductions (relief)

There are a number of different discounts available.

• Transitional relief
• Empty Properties
• Charities and registered community amateur sports clubs
• Rural Areas
• Hardship relief
• Small Business relief

Transitional relief

As property values often change between valuations, transitional arrangements are used to help phase the changes in.

After a valuation, the amount by which a bill can rise is limited. These limits continue to apply every year until the full amount is due (the rateable value times the multiplier).

Partly Occupied Property Relief

A ratepayer is liable for the full non-domestic rate whether a property is wholly occupied or only partly occupied. Where a property is partly occupied for a short time, the local authority has discretion in certain cases to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part.

You need to send in an application letter with a floor plan highlighting the unoccupied area with the empty period. Please send your application to: Income and  Awards, PO Box 1761, Council House, Solihull, B91 9RR.

Empty Properties

In general, for commercial properties, there will be no Business Rates to pay for the first three months a property is empty. Industrial buildings will not have to pay Business Rates for the first six months a property is empty. After the free period the full charge becomes payable. Once you let us know, we will adjust your bill - if you are eligible.

Listed buildings and small properties (those with a rateable value of less than £2,600) pay no Business Rates until occupied again.

Some businesses cannot claim empty property rates - if this is the case, we will let you know.

For the financial year 2010/2011 empty properties with a rateable value of less than £2,600 will be exempt from empty property rates.

For further information or to apply for a rate reduction on an empty property please contact us.

Charities and Registered Community Amateur Sports Clubs

Charities and registered community amateur sports clubs can get 80% discount off their Business Rate bills. In some circumstances, we can choose to reduce the bill further. We may be able to provide discounts to other types of non-profit making bodies.

View further information or make an application for this relief.

Rural Rate Relief Areas

If your business property is in a designated rural area (with no more than 3,000 residents), you may be able to claim a rural rate discount of 50%.

To qualify, you must:

• run the only village store, or the only post office, or a food store, with a rateable value of less than £8,500.
• run the only pub, or the only petrol station, with a rateable value of less than £12,500.
• run any other business of benefit to the community and Council Tax payers (as decided by us), with a rateable value of less than £16,500. (Discount up to 100% in this case).

Make an application for mandatory or discretionary rural rate relief.

Hardship relief

We maybe able to provide hardship relief if you are experiencing hardship and your business is considered to be important to the local community.

For more information on this relief please contact us.

Small Business Relief

This relief is only available to ratepayers who apply to their local authority and who occupy either (a) one property or (b) one main property and other additional properties providing those additional properties each have a rateable value which does not exceed £2,599.

The rateable value of the property mentioned in (a), or the aggregate rateable value of all the properties mentioned in (b), must not exceed £17,999 outside London or £25,499 in London on each day for which relief is being sought. If the rateable value, or aggregate rateable value, increases above those levels, relief will cease from the day of the increase.

Ratepayers who satisfy these conditions will have the bill for their sole or main property calculated using the lower small business non-domestic rating multiplier rather than the national non-domestic rating multiplier that is used to calculate the liability of other businesses.

Amount of Relief from 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2012

The amounts of Small Business Rate Relief for the period from 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2012 have been amended and are shown below.

The government is also considering extending the temporary increase in Small Business Rate Relief upto March 2013.

If the sole or main property is shown on the rating list with a rateable value which does not exceed £12,000, the ratepayer will receive a percentage reduction in their rates bill of up to a maximum of 100% for a property with a rateable value of not more than £6,000.

The amount of relief and instalments payable are shown on the rates bill. If an application for relief is granted, provided the ratepayer continues to satisfy the conditions for relief which apply at the relevant time as regards the property and the ratepayer, they will not need to re-apply for relief in each new valuation period.  

Certain changes in circumstances will need to be notified to the local authority by the ratepayer (other changes will be picked up by the local authority). The changes which must be notified are (a) the ratepayer taking up occupation of a property they did not occupy at the time of making their application for relief, and (b) an increase in the rateable value of a property occupied by the ratepayer in an area other than the area of the local authority which granted the Relief.  

Notification of these changes must be given to the local authority within four weeks of the day after the day on which the change happened. If this happens, there will be no interruption to the ratepayer's entitlement to the relief. A notification that the ratepayer has taken up occupation of an additional property must be by way of a fresh application for relief; notice of an increase in rateable value must be given in writing.  

Full details on the eligibility criteria and on how to apply for this relief are available from the local authority. 

If your rateable value increases or decreases at re-valuation the amount of relief granted on your premises should be adjusted accordingly.

Contact us

For further information on Business Rates please contact the Business Rates Team on:

Telephone number 0121 704 8175

Email businessrates@solihull.gov.uk or

Write to us at Business Rates, Income and Awards, PO Box 1761, Council House, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 9RR