Business Rates Liability
The person who is normally liable to pay Business Rates is the person “entitled to possession” or occupation of business premises. These will usually be either the owner if he/she is the occupier of the premises or the leaseholder.
If a property is empty, usually the owner or leaseholder will still pay rates but at a reduced level of 50%. In rating law, occupation of part of the property is, in most cases, deemed to be occupied as the whole of the property.
For some types of premises such as factories no rates will be payable (see Non Domestic Rate Exemptions and Reliefs)
Page updated: 26 Jan 2008