Business rates have been a cause for concern for property owners over the past year, with the 2023 rating list coming into effect in April and many businesses rateable values (RV) seeing a significant increase.
In response, the government introduced new or extended support packages including help with energy bills and business reliefs. However, this generosity has an expiration date, with the 75% RHL relief due to end on the 31st of March 2024.
Rates reliefs often have a host of eligibility criteria and the decision to grant reliefs is dependent on the local authority collecting the business rates payable (RP).
David Waldron, lead surveyor at RVA Surveyors, said: “Changes in reliefs for the 2023 rating list have been welcomed by the majority. But there are tens of thousands – if not hundreds of thousands, of businesses missing out on the support available. These reliefs could increase, decrease, or disappear altogether.”
Anthony Hughes, Managing Director of RVA Surveyors, added: “Hundreds of thousands of rates payers who receive these interim reliefs, are not aware of the ever-looming end dates and could be met with a very nasty surprise when they are removed.”
As part of the 2022 Autumn Budget, these extensions or transformations to reliefs and other support for businesses came just as anxiety of an unsustainable rates hike was hitting its peak. However, this seems to have caused an increase in apathy in business rates payers, making budgeting for the future difficult.
RHL is due to end on the 31st of March 2024 and there has been no announcement of a replacement relief to mitigate business rates payers having to pay one hundred percent of their liability from April 2024.
A spokesperson from RVA Surveyors said: “The overwhelming majority (of those benefiting from reliefs) have been propped up by different support packages and interim reliefs and are simply not aware of just how short term they are.”
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.