Empty Rate Relief Periods — Standard and Industrial
Standard commercial properties (shops, offices) receive 3 months of 100% empty rate relief from the date of vacant entry in the rating list. Industrial and warehouse properties receive 6 months. After the relief period expires, the full business rates charge applies at the standard non-domestic multiplier. Genuine reoccupation for 6 continuous weeks resets the clock for the next vacancy. The chargeable person is the freeholder or leaseholder with 6+ months remaining on their lease.
Statutory Exemptions from Empty Rates
Exempt properties: listed buildings (automatic; indefinite; all grades); charities (where the next use will be charitable); community amateur sports clubs; properties with rateable value below £2,900 (SBRR threshold); properties where occupation is prohibited by law; and properties in genuine insolvency (administration; liquidation; receivership). Artificial schemes to access the insolvency exemption are challenged by billing authorities (Makro [2012]).
Mitigation Strategies and the Risk of Avoidance Schemes
Legitimate mitigation: 6-week occupation reset (genuine rateable occupation for 6 continuous weeks — including genuine charitable occupation); property subdivision to bring units below the £2,900 exemption threshold. Not legitimate: artificial charity occupation purely to reset the clock; Makro-style stripping schemes (removing services to render property unoccupiable) — billing authorities challenge aggressively. Marketed rates mitigation company schemes attract HMRC investigation and promoter penalties.
The Check, Challenge, Appeal (CCA) Process
The three-stage CCA process (England): Check (factual accuracy on the VOA rating list) → Challenge (formal rateable value dispute) → Appeal (Valuation Tribunal for England). Grounds: RV too high relative to comparables; material change of circumstances (flooding; market downturn; new access restriction); property description error. Successful appeals are backdated to the effective date; overpaid rates refunded with interest. Transitional relief phases in large RV changes — both increases and decreases.