Business Rates

The current rateable value is intended to be an estimate of the annual rent that a property would have received at 1st April 2008.If rents have fallen since then because of the economic situation the rateable value will not necessarily be reduced as well. The next revaluation, effective from 1st April 2015, will be based on the rent passing as at 1st April 2013, so any reduction in rents will be reflected then. Further information on how the rateable value has been calculated is available on the Valuation Office website.

Valuation Office Agency website

Relief of up to approximately £55,000 per year is available for any business which locates in the Aire Valley Enterprise Zone before 1st April 2015. The relief can be awarded for up to five years. Relief from rates is considered to be State Aid and is subject to the on such aid (currently 200,000 Euros over a three year period. For further information contact the Business Rates team

Yes. Rates are payable based on the rateable value which appears in the current Rating List and if you do not pay as shown on your bill, further action will have to be taken, even though an appeal may be outstanding. If your appeal is successful and your rates are reduced, interest may be payable on any overpayment.

Your rates are not a payment for specific services but are a contribution from businesses towards all of the services provided by the Council for the community, such as local transport, education and housing, all of which indirectly benefit businesses in the area.

Under Rating law, we must issue a bill to the occupier of a property regardless of any agreement which may exist between the occupier and the landlord. You may wish to contact your landlord either to arrange that he/she will pay direct to this office on your behalf, or to renegotiate your rent agreement to remove the rate element. However, either way, if the account is not kept up to date, action will have to be taken against you, not your landlord, because you are the person who is liable.