Swindon & Wiltshire News
Business rates discount does not go far enough – expert
The 100 percent rate relief granted to qualifying commercial premises in the Budget earlier this month should be extended to professional services occupiers, according to leading commercial property agent Andrew Kilpatrick.
On March 11, chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak said tens of thousands of retail, leisure and hospitality firms will not be asked to pay any business rates in the coming year under a scheme called Expanded Retail Rates Relief.
Qualifying properties include all shops, restaurants, cafes, cinemas, hotels, guest and boarding houses, and self-catering accommodation.
It also includes hairdressers, nail bars, beauty salons and tanning shops, as well as markets, petrol stations, and garden centres.
The move was broadly welcomed at a time when customers were – by personal choice or under the advice of the government – staying away.
“Unfortunately the relief does not apply to financial or professional service occupiers, nor medical services and so betting shops, estate agents, letting agents, employment agencies, dentists, doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors, insurance brokers, etc. are unable to claim,” said Andrew.
This doesn’t seem fair, particularly as, for example, betting shops have no business with horse racing having been closed down for at least the next six weeks and the social distancing the Government is advocating is having a distinct effect on chiropractors.
“We have a couple of such occupiers in our management portfolio and their operations are just incompatible with social distancing and need rates help now.”
Any businesses who has already received a rates bill for 2020/21 and thinks they should qualify for the Expanded Retail Rates Relief should apply to their local billing authority for an adjusted bill, said Andrew, noting that expanded rates relief applies to companies having more than one property and unlike Retail Rates Relief does not have any rateable value ceiling, but applies to all qualifying properties, regardless of their rateable value.
For professional advice on business rates, please contact Andrew at post@kilpatrick-cpc.co.uk
