2017 Business Rate Revaluation

April 2017 Business Rates Revaluation
The draft revaluations for the upcoming April 2017 Business Rates were released on 30th September 2016. If you own or occupy a Business Premises the chances are that this well effect you, whether you occupy a shop, office, restaurant or industrial unit. Early indications are that the majority of commercial properties outside of London are valued the same, or in many cases less than they were on 1st April 2008 (the valuation date for the 2010 revaluation).
This is due in no small part to the fact that despite the market crashing in September 2007, and the subsequent recession, the ripple effect of this financial crisis was still at an early stage by the last revaluation in April 2008 and the rents in many places were still at their highest for many years, with tenants also committed to long commercial leases. Fast forward 9 years and the Commercial property landscape has recovered in some areas, such as London in particular, and also the likes of South Manchester and Manchester City Centre, but many less economically stable areas have struggled to maintain rental levels to those at 1st April 2008.

Will you see a Business Rates Reduction?
Don’t panic though, the Rateable Value (RV) is not what you will pay, it is just the valuation that the VOA have attributed to your Commercial Property. What you will pay, ignoring for a moment any Business Rate relief that you may be eligible for, is arrived at by applying the government’s multiplier. The 2017/18 multiplier that these new Rates will apply to have yet to be released but going off the 2016/17 multiplier it would be reasonable to suggest that this will be in the region of £0.467p/£.
So if your Commercial Property has a Rateable Value of £10,000 and you apply the above estimated multiplier of £0.467p/£ the rates payable would be £4,670 per year, ignoring any reliefs that you may be eligible for depending on your individual circumstances. If however this was your only business premises then as of April 2017 you would qualify for 100% Business Rate relief under the governments confirmed amendments to small business rate relief in the 2016 Budget. I will though cover in some detail the various rate reliefs that are available in future blogs – so watch this space!
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