2017 Business Rate Increase

[bmminiparts]

We have just received a letter advising of our new rates. They seem to have jumped by 30%.

We are paying more for warehouse storage than other units with showrooms and offices cheaper rates, why is this?

I have spoken to the valuation office and they have advised it is based on the rental income where we are. There are only 2 units out of 10 that are rented.

To us it just seems like daylight robbery.

Has anyone else experienced a rate rise? Our last unit has not had any rate increase!!

 

[Opinion87]

I've checked ours, the "The estimated business rates bill in 2017 for..." seems to have dropped by about £50.00 per week, which is about 18%.

 

[deniser]

Our rateable value has gone up about 7% but we are lucky in that most of our premises are on upper floors which are valued at barely anything.

Have you checked the actual breakdown per zone and compared it to other properties just in case there has been an error?

 

[bmminiparts]

We have checked it against other units on our estate and it all depends on the size, age and rental. The largest units are being charged £28/sqm, while the small unit, ours, is being charged the highest rate.

I have read further from an article, that London and the south will be going up and the rest of the country is staying very similar, some 3/4 of the country.

The zones, do you mean, warehouse, office, storage, workshop, showroom? A unit with a showroom, is slightly more than our rate cost, but their warehouse cost is £15 lower(approx.) There is no consistency across the whole development.

 

[The Byre]

We once had a rate increase and I appealed the sum and the local council had to give me a hearing, which entailed them having to pay for a motley collection of officials, experts and councillors to travel and also they had to pay for a room to hold the hearing. It cost me nothing and I got nowhere, but at least I had the satisfaction of wasting their time and money and slowing down the business of local government.

 

[bmminiparts]

This will be one of my actions when the new tax year starts

 

[ChrisRM]

The value that Business Rates are set at is assessed as the Open Market Value (what the unit would rent for in the open market if it was available) for the unit at the 1st April 2015. I am not sure when you took your lease but how does your Rateable Value compare to the amount you were actually paying at that date?

It will also consider what others nearby were renting for. If there are a lot of empty units then anecdotally you could have reason to Appeal. May be worth speaking to the other occupier about what they were paying at the time and what their Business Rates are going to be.