The non-domestic rates, or business rates, collected by local councils are the means by which businesses and others who occupy non-domestic property make a contribution towards the cost of local services... More about non-domestic rates.
Rateable Value
Apart from properties that are exempt from Business Rates, each non-domestic property has a Rateable Value which is normally set by the Valuation Officers of the Valuation Office Agency... More about rateable value.
The National Non-Domestic Rating Multiplier
The local council works out the Business Rates bill by multiplying the Rateable Value of the property by the Multiplier (rate per £ of Rateable Value) which the Government sets from 1 April each year for the whole of England... More about the National non-domestic rating multiplier.
Transitional Arrangements
Property values normally change a good deal between each revaluation. Transitional arrangements help to phase in the effects of these changes by limiting the amount by which a bill may rise following a revaluation... More about transitional arrangements.
Unoccupied Property Rating
In general, there will be no Business Rates to pay for the first three months that a property is empty. After that, an Empty Property Rate of 50 per cent of the bill that would have been due on the occupied property will become payable... More about empty property rates.
