Business Rates (BR) - Do you pay if your rateable value is under £7,000

[Arehman99]

Hi

Hope everyone is well. I was in the process of leasing a small retail unit with no business rates but the deal collapsed so I have started my search for a new retail unit again.

I am a startup and looking for a small shop to start off with and want to avoid business rates as I want to keep my initial expenses as low/minimum as I possibly can.

I have read in a few places that usually there are no business rates if the property has a rateable value below £12,000. Having said that, I have received property information from estate agents which mentions rateable value of i.e below £7,000 on those properties which has confused me.

My question is, is one except from business rates where the rateable value is below £12,000 or not? I don’t want to invest my time on retail units where I May have to pay business rates.

Thank you!

 

[jimbof]

The estate agents have to be careful about leading people on about Small Business Rates Relief as not everyone is entitled to it, and there is no guarantee it will stick around (though in reality it is unlikely to go anywhere). Notably if you have other business premises things get more complicated and you may not be able to claim.

Note it's not that there is no business rates, it's that you get a relief that results in you paying no rates.

If it is your only property and you're not part of a larger company with other properties then you should I believe get the rate relief.

More info here:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief/small-business-rate-relief

Interestingly, having rate relief in place has been used in recent time by the Govt to dish out no-strings COVID funds. While it may not be likely to happen again in future (hopefully), it shows one of the advantages of getting property that is on the rateable register and entitled to SBRR, as opposed to a property where the part of the property you will occupy hasn't been added a a separate property and instead the landlord lets you on the basis of "Rates included".

It is always worth contacting the council to check for sure the correct rateable value and eligibility before signing on the dotted line.