Coronavirus Small Business Grant and Rating List problem

Cookieraider_2

I wasn't invited to the Coronavirus Small Business Grant due to not being on the Rating list. 

I'm a self-employed, sole trader working part-time from a home business. I converted my garage to a beauty salon back in 2012. I got planning permission granted for ‘change of use’, to enable me to run a business from home. I have a license with my LA to practice. Have regular health and safety visits. My business has been registered with HMRC since 2012.

I assumed I was on the Rating list and automatically getting ‘small business rates relief’, being so small. My salon is 17ft by 10ft (the space includes a bathroom).

I’m wondering whether to ask my Council for a review of my eligibility for the grant? Or to contact The Valuation Officer first to raise an assessment back to 2017 (last Rate calculation)? then I would be on the list pre-March 11th and subsequently possibly qualify for the small business grant and apply.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t entitled to the SEISS either because my earnings are too low (I claim Carers Allowance for my disabled child at £65 a week and this was just higher than my self-employed income).

[Deleted User]

I would be very careful with getting part of a domestic property rated, it will lead to all sorts of complications when you sell, not only in relation to actually being able to sell but also capital gains, insurance, maintenance and certification etc.

Also retrospective ratings, valuations and changes to business rates and SBRR will not make you eligible for the grant so you will not be able to claim regardless and all you will find in adding a business rates listing to part of your home is problems in the future. 

Cookieraider_2

MadMattUK said:

I would be very careful with getting part of a domestic property rated, it will lead to all sorts of complications when you sell, not only in relation to actually being able to sell but also capital gains, insurance, maintenance and certification etc.

Also retrospective ratings, valuations and changes to business rates and SBRR will not make you eligible for the grant so you will not be able to claim regardless and all you will find in adding a business rates listing to part of your home is problems in the future. 

I see thanks, wondering if I should get some advice first on business rates in a domestic property, any suggestions on who to contact for advice? If I changed the salon back to residential use it may not affect the sell of the house? Its a very small business not earning too much.

If,  after getting some rate advise, and it looks ok to add it to the rating list, I  could ask my LA if they are prepared to award the grant if I am assessed to be on the rating list prior to March 11th? they may or may not agree. 

Jeremy535897

These grants have already been distributed. The only people who could get the grant were those on the rating list at 11 March 2020, but where there was a manifest error, the council had discretion to give the grant anyway. You have no chance at all of getting the grant even if you apply for the garage to be rated. It will just complicate a sale, and cause other problems as identified by Matt (although technically if you use the converted garage for exclusively business purposes, you have the capital gains tax issue anyway).

There is a discretionary top up scheme, but I think this has also been allocated, and is probably not aimed at the circumstances you describe. See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/top-up-to-local-business-grant-funds-scheme

Airwolf1

If you garage is commercial use only, then it should be in the rating list irrelevant of any situation. The chances are that you would get 100% rates relief given the size of it. You can request this go back to 1 April 2017. If you were to send the Valuation Office a plan of the property with a photo or 2 through the Check Challenge Appeal process, they should be able to do this work from the desk (without coming out to see you). Just ensure you give them enough information to go on. As far as I understand, there hasn't been an 'end date' to these business rate grants as yet, so you could re-apply once the property is in the rating list. 
Moving on, if you decide to sell in 5 years time etc, all you need to do is to contact the Valuation Office a few months before you move and you have to prove that the garage is now part of the domestic property, i.e., put normal 'garage stuff' in there. If there have been any fancy alterations taken place to the garage to make it a salon, you may need to undo these. If you have planning permission for commercial use, this should be picked up by solicitors anyway. 

Jeremy535897

They may backdate the entry, but the grant will not be forthcoming:
"40. Any changes to the rating list (rateable value or to the hereditament) after the 11 March 2020 including changes which have been backdated to this date should be ignored for the purposes of eligibility. 41. Local Authorities are not required to adjust, pay or recover grants where the rating list is subsequently amended retrospectively to the 11 March 2020."

From https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/881040/business_support_grants-local_authorities_guidance.pdf

Robin9

Jeremy -  I'm waiting for the Valuations Office to assess a building ready for the Retail, Hospitality Grant which the local council has confirmed I will get.  The hitch is the VOA who apparently need to visit the building.

Jeremy535897

Robin9 said:

Jeremy -  I'm waiting for the Valuations Office to assess a building ready for the Retail, Hospitality Grant which the local council has confirmed I will get.  The hitch is the VOA who apparently need to visit the building.

It sounds like they are being very generous, given the guidance I quoted above.
EDIT: Were you in the process of getting rated before 11 March 2020? That is more understandable. Having said that, as OP should get the garage commercially rated anyway, there is nothing to be lost in asking.

Cookieraider_2

Airwolf1 said:

If you garage is commercial use only, then it should be in the rating list irrelevant of any situation. The chances are that you would get 100% rates relief given the size of it. You can request this go back to 1 April 2017. If you were to send the Valuation Office a plan of the property with a photo or 2 through the Check Challenge Appeal process, they should be able to do this work from the desk (without coming out to see you). Just ensure you give them enough information to go on. As far as I understand, there hasn't been an 'end date' to these business rate grants as yet, so you could re-apply once the property is in the rating list. 
Moving on, if you decide to sell in 5 years time etc, all you need to do is to contact the Valuation Office a few months before you move and you have to prove that the garage is now part of the domestic property, i.e., put normal 'garage stuff' in there. If there have been any fancy alterations taken place to the garage to make it a salon, you may need to undo these. If you have planning permission for commercial use, this should be picked up by solicitors anyway. 

Thanks! Are the business rates team at my local council the same as the 'valuation office'? 

We physically changed the garage to a room (we removed the garage door and replaced with a window, raised the floor, followed all planning requirements, the room is accessed from the hallway of our house). We would have done this anyway as never used the garage before. On my planning permission it says 'Change of use of part of garage for beauty treatments and residential use'.  Thinking ahead when we sell the property it will just be classed as a second reception room or 4th bedroom with ensuite. Assuming I wouldn't have to physically change it back to a garage putting a garage door back on and undo all that work?!  Could it lead to all sorts of complications when I sell the house, for example, capital gains, insurance, maintenance and certification that MadMattUK mentioned? 

Should I go straight to the rates team or check with the council grants dept. first? Initially I was thinking of emailing my council first, something like:

Dear...

I have run a business from part of my residential property since 2012, I am registered with HMRC. Planning permission was granted for conversion of my garage to a Beauty Salon. The business premises are registered and hold a practice license with my Council  and are subject to regular health and safety inspections.  

I am not currently entered in the Rating List. On looking at the Valuation Officer’s web site and speaking with a rates consultant I believe the area used should be entered in the Rating List and I am considering whether I should approach them to request that an assessment be raised. I think I would qualify as a small business and be entitled to receive the 100% relief.

I would therefore be a qualifying small business as at 11/03/20. In these circumstances would you be prepared to award the requisite small business grant?

Jeremy535897

The phrase "change of use ...for beauty treatments and residential use" would probably mean that it would not be subject to business rates (I suspect that was one reason why the application was expressed in that way, another being the avoidance of the capital gains tax issue). I think you would have to explain in your letter why it was only used for commercial purposes (assuming this is the case) when the planning envisaged mixed use. I still think it will be very unlikely that the council will give you the grant, but who knows? You could be opening a can of worms here, if it was arguably rateable all the way back to 2012. It may be that you really should talk to a rates consultant. Maybe @lincroft1710 might have some useful input. 

Jeremy535897

Thanks! Are the business rates team at my local council the same as the 'valuation office'? 

No they aren't.