Business Rates Calculations for Basements

[Creagle]

I know, it's dull.

I rent a single shop unit in Lancaster for my business which is a pizzeria and the rateable value currently is £9,900 meaning I'm under the £12,000 threshold and enjoy 100% small business rates relief. My landlord has recently floated the idea of tanking out the basement which I like. The basement is currently in a terrible condition, it's damp with water ingress the floor and walls are crumbling it's completely unusable. The current rateable value for the basement is listed as:

Basement floor internal storage

45.1

£12.50

£564

My question is if the landlord tanks the basement out into a good condition and it becomes a useable space that I use for restaurant seating how would this effect the rateable value? My consideration being if it increases the value by more than £2,100 I will loose the relief and become liable for business rates.

An additional question, I see all rates nationally were recalculated on 1st April 2023 and to my knowledge nobody visited the premises to undertake a revaluation. Therefore when changes such as those described above are made is there an onus/legal obligation for the business to report it to the rating authority or do businesses just have to wait until they undertake revaluations. If the latter, potentially they would not think to check the basement unless they have local knowledge that the business had changed it.

Thanks
Chris

 

[Bobbo]

Does changing the use of the basement to be part of the restaurant, rather than as storage, require any sort of planning consent?

I believe you are supposed to report any changes through the business rates valuation account. If they later discover you have made changes and not reported they can probably backdate any increase.

 

[WaveJumper]

I would say a planning application would defiantly need to be sort if changing from storage, building control would want to see fire risk assessment ie fire exits etc