Rental of small business unit for personal use & small business rate relief?

grogers

Hi All, apologies if this is not the correct place to ask but i'm sure someone else must have had a similar issue in the past.

I'm currently about to rent a small industrial unit for the restoration of some classic cars i own, however i understand that the unit has a rateable value, a proportion of which needs to be paid to the local council.

Can i claim small business rate relief that is due on the unit ( i'm not actually running it as a business) or would i be better to set up as a sole trader in order to be able claim small business rate relief?

I'm only planning on renting the unit for 6-12months but i'm hoping to avoid having to pay full business rates if possible.

Thanks for any help.