Apply for empty property relief
You do not have to pay business rates on empty buildings for three months. After this time, most businesses must pay full business rates. You can only tell us that a property will become empty six weeks in advance.
Before you start
Do not apply if your property is used for storage as this is seen to be occupied.
You will need
- Business rates account number
Uploading supporting documents
We will ask you to upload photos to show the property is empty. You can send
- Word files (.docx)
- PDF files (.pdf)
- Excel files (.xlsx)
- Text files (.txt)
- Pictures from phones or tablets - JPEG (.jpg), GIF (.gif) and PNG (.png)
As long as the file is smaller than 50MB. You cannot upload zip files.
What happens next
We may send an inspector to check that the property is empty. You do not need to be there for the visit.
We will try to give you an answer within 20 working days. It may take longer if we need to contact you for more information.
You can check My transactions for updates.
This form should take about 3 minutes to complete.