# Woohoo!! Business Rates Relief Ahoy.



## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Happy days! Just received a letter from the Scottish Assessors Office regarding the rates valuation on our premises. We put in an appeal as it was valued at only £400 over the Small Business Rates Relief 100% threshold. Today's letter confirms it has been revalued and is now eligible for 100% relief!! That very nice man just saved us thousands of pounds of hard earned money every year







)))


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## cjbailey1 (Jan 17, 2011)

That's fantastic news! Shows that it's worth challenging these things


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## ObsidianSage (Jan 30, 2012)

Mike, do you mean you will pay no rates at all? Is this a Scottish thing?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

The Small Business Rates Relief Scheme is a nationwide (not just Scotland) tax relief available to businesses based upon the rateable value of their premises, on a sliding scale. I understand that there is also a London-specific version which acknowledges the fact that rateable values are higher there. In my location properties tend to have lower rent and rates, which was one of the reasons we chose it, and since we're under the threshold we, like our neighbours, won't pay business rates. This is a scheme that every new cafe owner should know about.


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## bdt (Sep 13, 2011)

Good work Mike.

Out of interest, what was the basis of your appeal? The property we're looking at has a rateable value of £11,000 p/a which qualifies for 50% rate relief but if I can negotiate it down £1000 then we'll qualify for 100% rate relief. When comparing to similar sized properties on the same street, it appears ours is certainly at the top end and I'm pretty sure it's higher than a lot of neighbouring properties on a "square foot basis"

Also, how long did the appeal process take? I understand you've to put in an appeal within 6 months of taking a property on


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Yeah, good point. I didn't want to just throw in an appeal without some sort of justification. They won't negotiate just to get you under the threshold, and it has to be based on what they deem to be the sqm of zones A, B, C etc. I took my own measurements and had my own calculations for those figures, which I believed took me just under the threshold. There is an area which I think could be argued to be zone B rather than zone A, which brings down the overall total. After a chat on the phone and an online appeal form the assessor came out and took measurements. 2-3 weeks later the good news letter arrived. We took on the property on 1 May - yeah... it has to be within the first six months I believe otherwise you lose the right to make an appeal.


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## bdt (Sep 13, 2011)

Cheers. Am planning to put an appeal in but have based our cashflow on having to pay the rates @ 50% relief only. In our case, they appear to have based the rateable value on the square footage of the ground floor but have not taken into account the basement which, despite being a bit rough and of very limited use, it actually doubles the floorspace we have available to us. Will need to look more closely at the floorspaces and rateable values of our neighbours but we certainly appear to be rated at the upper end for the street. Certainly worth an appeal anyway.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

I wouldnt mention the basement. That will increase your overall sqft. There are probably websites devoted to this sort of thing. Worth a google.


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