Five things to consider when your new rates bill arrives

If you have not already received your Business Rates bill for 2024/25 you will soon. It will be slightly more than last year, but the exact calculations depend on a number of variables. 

The Council may have got these calculations correct but if you don’t want to rely on their expertise alone or you think it has been miscalculated, we can help to check your bill for you if you send us your new rate bill.

With this in mind, here are five tips to consider when your rate bill arrives.

1) Do not accept what you have been told by the council or Valuation Office at face value.

Is the floor area correct? Is the rate per square meter appropriate? Are you being disturbed by building work or refurbishing part of your space?  All these things affect your Rates liability.

2) Do not assume that liability dates are correct.

Councils don’t always know when you occupied a building and the lease dates might be misleading.  Ideally you don’t want to pay Rates till you have “bums on seats”.

3) Do not assume that the Rateable Value (RV) is correct.

If your Ratable Value is more than the average rent you pay over the lease there might well be reason to Challenge the RV.

4) Plan ahead and look out for opportunities.

An often-overlooked fact is that 1 April 2024 is the valuation date for the Rates which will be payable on your property in 2026-2030. That means that any deal you, or your neighbours, do with the landlord in the next 6 months or so will be used as evidence to set the new Rateable Value.

If you are negotiating a rent now you have a doubly good reason to make it a good deal. A landlord of multi occupied buildings might even see the benefit of giving a lower rent to a tenant with a lease event close to 1 April 2024 so that it reduces Rateable Values for the whole building making it more attractive to tenants.  
 
Plan ahead and seek advice now, rather than realise you have missed an opportunity later.

5) Seek professional advice.

If you do need help in understanding your new rates bill or how to structure rental deals to minimise their value in the eyes of the Valuation Office then seek professional advice from qualified rating surveyors, such as ourselves at Allsop.

visit our Business Rates Page for more information or to contact one of our specialists