Grants for community interest companies

Tracy_robinson

Urgent help required please

We are a community interest company who rent a building as our clients have a learning disability and have a private landlord so at the moment we are being charged for our rent but my question is if they are claiming a grant for £25,000 or £10,000 which I think they are, is it legal to be taking our rent for the same building? We can not access business rate relief but our landlord can And how do we find out if they are receiving these grant monies? Can we check? I just want to find out as it may seem unfair and we are struggling to pay this rent.
also where can we get advice on any charity grants for community interest companies as  rishi announced a few weeks ago?
please advise!
thank you 

DavidBrazier

Tracy it sounds like you are in a very tough spot. Most Landlords are very keen to pass on to the occupiers of thier buildings the obligation to pay Business Rates. I presume you are in some kind of Business Centre or Serviced Office Space with a number of other occupiers. A part of your rent must be used by your landlord to pay Business Rates. I presume you have rent invoices or a tenancy or licence agreement that says this to be the case. If so it is worth approaching your Local Authority for a £10K grant even though your name is not on the Rates Bill.  Local Authorites have some discretion under Paragraph 33 of the Guidance to withhold grant payments in oder to discover who the correct ratepayer should be. You can download the BEIS Guidance for Local Authorities from the Gov uk website. It is called "Grant Funding Schemes. Small Business Grant Fund and Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Fund: Guidance for Local Authorities". I would also suggest you check your premises postcode on the Valuation Office website to see if the space you occupy is separately rated and if so what is its rateable value. If the hereditament has a rateable value of more than £51,000 - forget it - no one is getting a grant. Also if you have the time please take a look at the 'Small Business Rates Relief' thread on the Martin Lewis website Charities Forum ie this Forum. Lots of Charities and CICs do get their own Business Rates Bills and still can't get a grant. They need your support expressed on that thread to get the Guidance that excludes them changed. Good luck.     

VivN

What does your CIC do?  If it is training for your clients with a learning disability, and if that is the sole use for the building, then you may be able to get the building zero-rated.  I can't post a link as I am new to the forum, but do a search online for Business Rates Exempted Buildings and you'll see on the Gov.uk site that it says that one exemption is for buildings used for training for disabled people.  
I used to manage a project for people with an LD, with a private landlord and we paid the rates.  After speaking to the council they came to check we provided training, our clients all had social workers or personal budgets, and the building was used by no one else.  
NB: this is not the same as the 80% (sometimes 100%) reduction that councils can give to charities.  This is to do with the use of the building and should apply whether charity or social enterprise, or even private sector possibly?