- Original Poster
- #1
Hello, new here, and not often I have to ask for advice but here goes.
I feel this really shouldn't be that complicated, but it seems I can't get a straight answer!
So, I run a small business which turns over about £50k a year, and I "licence" a couple of rooms in a large building full of serviced offices. I basically offer consultations and a few colleagues sublicence space off me and take referrals when I am not using the rooms. I've been doing this for 5 years or so, and never had a problem until recently, when I was informed that the building is no longer including business rates for new clients, and offered to keep my fees the same if I took on liability for business rates.
Being very small fry, I naturally assumed that I would get full business rates relief. However, one person in the building management told me that you can only get business rates relief on one room, and to get small business rates relief on more than one room, I would have to set up 2 separate Limited companies. My accountant said this was nonsense, and at the time I opted to stay with my business rates included in the existing deal (I don't understand why a company would cut this benefit when competition all around is including business rates but that's by the by).
Recently this came up for a second time, so I again tried to find out more. Someone else at the building company said I could still get full relief as the rateable value of both rooms put together is only £3k - much less than the £12k threshold. However the wording on the council website about "more than one property" is as clear as mud, and not very well written at all, and mentions some kind of 12 month limit. See:
Can't post links but it's Manchester City Council's small business rate relief page....
The bit that worries me is "may" get relief on a "second property" (but no mention of how this is defined - it's not like I'm running 2 big shops etc). Also I don't really understand the sentence "Businesses that qualify for small business rate relief when they occupy more than one property, can only be granted relief on the main property." So I "may" get relief on more than one property in one sentence but won't in another? Makes no sense.
The obvious thing to do is to ask the council right? So I discovered that Manchester City Council do not even have a phone number, which is fine, as I prefer email anyway - so I emailed to say I had no idea if I had to register for business rates, what I need to do, or whether I would get any relief. Three weeks later I got a reply saying I needed to send my email again with my business rates account number so they could action my enquiry. I assume they aren't able to read properly.
Obviously I don't want to take on liability for business rates if it is going to cripple my business with unexpected extra costs - but nobody seems able to clarify whether I will have to pay anything or at all, which is a pretty nonsensical state of affairs.
The cynic in me says if they take 3 weeks to reply to an email and can't even understand a basic enquiry such as "Do I need to register for business rates", then I could quite probably take the liability , carry on as normal, retire and die before they even noticed. But I kind of like to try to do things properly despite the lunatic systems I encounter making it as difficult as possible.
So TLDR - I have 2 small adjacent rooms on the same floor and the rateable value total of the rooms is £3k - how likely is it that I would have to pay any business rates and if anything how much is this likely to be?
I feel this really shouldn't be that complicated, but it seems I can't get a straight answer!
So, I run a small business which turns over about £50k a year, and I "licence" a couple of rooms in a large building full of serviced offices. I basically offer consultations and a few colleagues sublicence space off me and take referrals when I am not using the rooms. I've been doing this for 5 years or so, and never had a problem until recently, when I was informed that the building is no longer including business rates for new clients, and offered to keep my fees the same if I took on liability for business rates.
Being very small fry, I naturally assumed that I would get full business rates relief. However, one person in the building management told me that you can only get business rates relief on one room, and to get small business rates relief on more than one room, I would have to set up 2 separate Limited companies. My accountant said this was nonsense, and at the time I opted to stay with my business rates included in the existing deal (I don't understand why a company would cut this benefit when competition all around is including business rates but that's by the by).
Recently this came up for a second time, so I again tried to find out more. Someone else at the building company said I could still get full relief as the rateable value of both rooms put together is only £3k - much less than the £12k threshold. However the wording on the council website about "more than one property" is as clear as mud, and not very well written at all, and mentions some kind of 12 month limit. See:
Can't post links but it's Manchester City Council's small business rate relief page....
The bit that worries me is "may" get relief on a "second property" (but no mention of how this is defined - it's not like I'm running 2 big shops etc). Also I don't really understand the sentence "Businesses that qualify for small business rate relief when they occupy more than one property, can only be granted relief on the main property." So I "may" get relief on more than one property in one sentence but won't in another? Makes no sense.
The obvious thing to do is to ask the council right? So I discovered that Manchester City Council do not even have a phone number, which is fine, as I prefer email anyway - so I emailed to say I had no idea if I had to register for business rates, what I need to do, or whether I would get any relief. Three weeks later I got a reply saying I needed to send my email again with my business rates account number so they could action my enquiry. I assume they aren't able to read properly.
Obviously I don't want to take on liability for business rates if it is going to cripple my business with unexpected extra costs - but nobody seems able to clarify whether I will have to pay anything or at all, which is a pretty nonsensical state of affairs.
The cynic in me says if they take 3 weeks to reply to an email and can't even understand a basic enquiry such as "Do I need to register for business rates", then I could quite probably take the liability , carry on as normal, retire and die before they even noticed. But I kind of like to try to do things properly despite the lunatic systems I encounter making it as difficult as possible.
So TLDR - I have 2 small adjacent rooms on the same floor and the rateable value total of the rooms is £3k - how likely is it that I would have to pay any business rates and if anything how much is this likely to be?
