small business rates. Help needed pls!!

teacher2mum

Hi guys help needed regards the council tax on our shop. Current situation is that it is sitting empty waiting for my husband to finish the house we are renovating in order to rent out. It is a ground floor shop and flat above that we have bought. I asked the local council for a discount as the property was empty at the mo. They say they could reduce the flat one (The smaller one of the two) but not the shop one as it had been empty quite a while b4 we bought it. So that alone is £150.00 a month. The flat one has been reduced to £46 per month. Just before christmas i put an enquiry in to ask if i qualified for small business rates relief. This was their reply:

Dear Madam

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the Business Rates.

Unfortunately, in order to qualify for Small Business Rates Relief, the property must be occupied. As the property is empty, no further discount will apply.

I hope this clarifies the matter for you.

Yours faithfully

Now the property is currently empty because it is run down and we are waiting to renovate it and make big changes as it is being changed from a butchers into a learning centre. My question is.....If it has had toilet, bathroom and kitchen ripped out can it be classed as unhabitable and if so can i qualify for discount in relation to this... If not how can i make the property unhabitable as it could be stood empty for another 6 months and we are already paying our own council tax which is 1200 ayear and the one for the house we are going to be renting out by spring!!!! Thanks for your time!!!

lincroft1710

If you are trying to make the shop "incapable of beneficial occupation" and the flat "uninhabitable", it will be up to the Valuation Office Agency to decide whether the properties are thus, not the council. Constructive vandalism, which is what you are proposing, is not popular either with councils or VOA.

I am ex VOA and used come across these requests quite often. Simply removing bathroom/kitchen/WC fittings would not, IMHO, work. The only occasions I agreed that a dwelling was no longer capable of being used as such was when they were in such bad repair or economically unviable that the next step would be demolition, or it was literally falling down.

You should talk to VOA, but I'd doubt that they would tell you what to do, but if you told them what you proposed to do they might advise whether or not it was feasible.

Airwolf1

If you are actively doing a major refurbishment here, and work is in progress (in that you are not leaving it in a run down condition on purpose), and the property is currently incapable of beneficial occupation, i.e., you're stripping it down to the bare walls etc, the VOA may take the shop out of the rating list. However, you would need to contact them sooner rather than later as they will want to come out and inspect. The VOA would need to re-inspect when the property was completed.

lincroft1710

As Airwolf says when you're doing the renovation, then at some stage shop may be in a bad enough state to qualify for removal from rating list, but it has got to be far more than normal redecoration. If you could give us an idea of what you intend doing to property and timescale we may be able to advise further.

mollymoo12

There are 2 types of "uninhabitable" for the flat. One, that the condition is so bad that it can no longer be deemed to be a chargeable dwelling, which the VOA will decide. If this is the case, the VOA would remove from the Council Tax list.

The other type is a Class A Exemption from Council Tax, which applies if the flat is undergoing structural alteration or major repair. This lasts for upto 12 months and reduces the CTAX down to zero. This could apply if you were joining the flat and the shop together, or doing other major repairs such as to floors, joists or collectively the work that is in progress or needed is to an extent that no one could live in the property. Just removing toilet, bath etc is not enough as these can be replaced in a day if needbe.

teacher2mum

Thanks guys.
No it is very run down and has a supporting wall where if you push it it will just fall over!! There are no fire precautions in the loft as you can just walk into the shop next door!!! hubby just removed asbestos fridge freezer from the sales area so right back to bare brick and heating and electrics have all been wiped out ready for renovation but can't do that till we've had someone advice us on which particular sound proofing we need in order to meet the requirements of the planning permission!!! Hope this helps!!

Airwolf1

Unsure if you can do this, but could you take any internal photos of the shop and upload them just so we can take a look?

If you have gone back to bare brick etc, then you need to contact the VOA now as they will want to see it in the current state.

Airwolf1

What rent were you thinking of asking for the shop, and what is the rateable value?

lincroft1710

If supporting wall did collapse although weakening the structure it would strengthen your case for deletion from Rating List. Lack of heating and fire precautions just indicate it is an old property needing updating.