6. Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief
General principles
During the Autumn Statement, 17 November 2022, the Government announced that it will provide a 75% relief to all occupied retail,hospitality and leisure properties for financial year 2023/24 only, subject, subject to a cash cap of £110,000 per business.
During the Autumn Statement, 22 November 2023, the Government extended the scheme for financial year 2024/25.
6.1 Key criteria
- 75% relief, subject to a maximum £110,000 cash cap per business
And;
- The Property must be occupied
- There is no rateable value limit
- The Property must be used wholly or mainly as:
- a shop, restaurant, café, drinking establishment, cinema or live music venue;
- for assembly and leisure; or
- a hotel, guest or boarding premises, or self-catering accommodation
- The eligible ratepayer has not refused the discount. (The eligible ratepayer cannot withdraw their refusal for either all or part of the financial year)
- Subsidy Control limits
6.2 Eligible businesses
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has issued guidance outlining what they consider eligible property uses to mean, including
Shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues:
- Hereditaments that are being used for the sale of goods to visiting members of the public:
- Shops (such as florists, bakers, butchers, grocers, greengrocers, jewellers, stationers, off licences, chemists, newsagents, hardware stores, supermarkets, etc)
- Charity shops
- Opticians
- Post offices
- Furnishing shops/display rooms (such as: carpet shops, double glazing, garage doors)
- Car/caravan showroom
- Secondhand car lots
- Markets
- Petrol stations
- Garden centres
- Art galleries (where art is for sale/hire)
- Hereditaments that are being used for the provision of the following services to visiting members of the public:
- Hair and beauty services (such as: hairdressers, nail bars, beauty salons, tanning shops, etc)
- Shoe repairs/key cutting
- Travel agents
- Ticket offices eg: for theatre
- Dry cleaners
- Launderettes
- PC/TV/domestic appliance repair
- Funeral directors
- Photo processing
- Tool hire
- Care hire
- Hereditaments that are being used for the sale of food and/or drink to visiting members of the public:
- Restaurants
- Takeaways
- Sandwich shops
- Coffee shops
- Pubs
- Bars
- Hereditaments which are being used as cinemas
- Hereditaments that are being used as live music venues:
- live music venues are hereditaments wholly or mainly used for the performance of live music for the purpose of entertaining an audience. Hereditaments cannot be considered a live music venue for the purpose of business rates relief where a venue is wholly or mainly used as a nightclub or a theatre, for the purposes of the Town and Country planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended).
- hereditaments can be a live music venue even if used for other activities, but only if those other activities (i) are merely ancillary or incidental to the performance of live music (e.g. the sale/supply of alcohol to audience members) or (ii) do not affect the fact that the primary activity for the premises is the performance of live music (e.g. because those other activities are insufficiently regular or frequent, such as a polling station or a fortnightly community event).
- There may be circumstances in which it is difficult to tell whether an activity is a performance of live music or, instead, the playing of recorded music. Although we would expect this to be clear in most circumstances, guidance on this may be found in Chapter 16 of the statutory guidance issued in April 2018 under Section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003.
For assembly and leisure:
- Hereditaments that are being used for the provision of sport, leisure and facilities to visiting members of the public (including for the viewing of such activities):
- Sports grounds and clubs
- Museums and art galleries
- Nightclubs
- Sport and leisure facilities
- Stately homes and historic houses
- Theatres
- Tourist attractions
- Gyms
- Wellness centres, spas, massage parlours
- Casinos, gambling clubs and bingo halls
- Hereditaments that are being used for the assembly of visiting members of the public:
- Public halls
- Clubhouses, clubs and institutions
Hotels, guest & boarding premises and self-catering accommodation:
- Hereditaments where the non-domestic part is being used for the provision of living accommodation as a business
- Hotels, guest and boarding houses
- Holiday homes
- Caravan parks and sites
This guidance is not exhaustive and it is for Authorities to determine whether particular properties not listed in the guidance notes are broadly similar in nature and if so, to consider them for relief. Conversely, properties that are not broadly similar in nature to those listed should not be eligible for the discount.
Ratepayers that occupy more than one property will be entitled to a discount for each of their eligible properties.
6.3 Exclusions
The Government does not consider the following types of use to be retail use for the purposes of this discount:
- Hereditaments that are being used for the provision of the following services to visiting members of the public:
- Financial services (eg: banks, building societies, cash points, bureaux de change, short-term loan providers, betting shops)
- Medical services (eg: vets, dentists, doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors)
- Professional services (eg: solicitors, accountants, insurance agents/financial advisors, employment agencies, estate agents, letting agents)
- Post office sorting offices
- Hereditaments that are not reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public 6.4 Claiming Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief
6.4 Claiming Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief
New applicants are required to complete an online application form.
6.5 Maximum award
The total amount of Government funded discount available for each property under this scheme for financial year 2023/24 and 2024/25 is 75% of the bill after all mandatory and discretionary reliefs have been applied but before discretionary reliefs granted under Section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act, for example Hardship Relief and Discretionary rate relief for charity and not for profit organisations.
The maximum discount awarded will not exceed the net liability.
6.6 Notification
Where the application is successful, a revised bill will be issued. Where the application is not successful, the notification will provide full reasons for the decision and confirm the applicant’s right to request a review of the decision.
6.7 Requirement to make payment of amounts falling due
Ratepayers’ must continue to pay any amount of business rate that fall due pending the outcome of an application. The Council may apply its normal recovery procedures in cases where payments are not received.