The EU has now approved the Retail Rate Relief scheme that the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 17 March.
This is the scheme that applies to occupied (and those closed due to COVID-19) retail, leisure and hospitality premises. Councils may apply discretionary relief from business rates from 1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021.
As we reported recently, non-retail businesses are aggrieved and we have been inundated with queries as to whether or not offices and warehouses that are closed due to COVID-19 can claim empty rates. The correct position is premises that contain filing, work in progress, stock-in-trade, raw materials, lit IT etc but are free of personnel, are considered to be occupied from a rating viewpoint. A properly considered empty rates application ought not succeed, although BNPPRE is awaiting a legal opinion to confirm this.
BNPPRE has also indirectly lobbied government seeking a rates holiday for the duration of the emergency. Should Government be minded to relax the current position then an update could be towards the end of this month, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer is expected to announce an economic briefing and before councils are due to collect May’s instalments. For now the advice to non-retail businesses who have merely closed their premises is that there are no grounds to withhold payment, for the time being at least.
We have produced a table summarising the current business rates as of 8 April 2020 which can be downloaded here.
