About partly occupied property relief

Business rates are payable whether a property is wholly or only partly occupied.

Where a property is partly occupied for a short period of time we have discretion to award relief in respect of the unoccupied part of the property. A council officer will visit the premises to look at how the property is being used.

Relief will be awarded where the council is satisfied that:

  • there is a partial occupation of an office, warehouse, factory or commercial premises to facilitate relocation of the company into or out of the Stockport area, or where the company is looking to move between premises within the borough; or
  • the occupier can demonstrate that it is experiencing short term trading difficulties which mean that it does not require the use of the entire hereditament for a short period. In such circumstances, consideration should be given to the future trading position of the company, and the impact on the local economy, should relief not be awarded; or
  • fire, flood, or a similar disaster prevents full use of the premises for a short period of time
  • where a property has been empty for a prolonged period, the standard empty exemptions have ended

The amount of relief allowed will be linked to standard empty property exemptions:

  • commercial properties: exemption from rates based on the RV for the unoccupied part, for the first 3 months it is empty
  • industrial properties: an exemption from rates based on the RV for the unoccupied part, for the first 6 months it is empty

After the exemption period has expired, Business Rates will become payable on the whole of the property.

Applications for relief will not normally be considered where:

  • the owner is subletting part of the premises on a commercial basis
  • the time taken to either occupy or vacate the premises is like to exceed 3 or 6 months
  • there is evidence to suggest no reasonable efforts are being taken to let, sell, or occupy the empty part of the premises
  • the type of business indicates that occupation will either be on a seasonal or cyclical basis

It is unlikely that any retrospective application for more than 6 months ago will be successful and would need to be supported by significant evidence that the circumstances presented, existed at that time. Similarly, requests will not be considered for consecutive periods unless there has been a change in circumstances since the original award.

You can find out more information regarding partly occupied relief in section 14 of our discretionary relief policy.