Business Rates: Completion notices
The council has a duty to tell the Valuation Office Agency about all new buildings and any buildings that have been substantially altered. We will work out the date when the building was complete for the purpose of entering it into the Valuation List.
There's no legal definition of 'complete', the law says that the property need only be 'structurally sound and fit for habitation'.
The Process
As National Non-Domestic Rates can only be levied on a property once it is shown in the Valuation List, it is the financial regulations say that we must ensure that:
- all rateable properties are shown in the list
- properties are included the earliest date possible
In order for us to consider and issue a Completion Notice, we must:
- Know who owns the newly erected building or;
- Know who owns a building that has been altered from an existing building.
We will serve a Completion Notice on the owner of the building (unless the Listing Officer gives written instruction otherwise) if we think that;
- a new building has been or appears to be completed or;
- any remaining work could reasonably be completed within the next three months
Date of completion
Following service of a Completion Notice, the date of completion will be:
- the date shown on the Notice, if the owner does not appeal within 28 days
- a date the authority and the owner mutually agree on
- the date fixed by a Valuation Tribunal after a successful appeal.
Property is complete but unoccupied?
New properties, whether newly constructed or created by conversion, which are unoccupied and substantially unfurnished are exempt from national Non-Domestic Rates. This is for up to 3 or 6 months, depending on their classification. After this, full rates are payable.
The exempt period begins on the date of completion given on the Completion Notice.
The right to appeal
Appeals must be made in writing to the Valuation Tribunal within 28 days of the date the Completion Notice was issued. However, we would advise owners to contact us first in case we can agree a new date.
A copy of the Completion Notice and a statement of the grounds for appeal must accompany any appeal to the Valuation Tribunal
Further details can be found by visiting the Valuation Tribunal Website.
If you make an appeal, you will still have to pay rates while the appeal is considered.
Contacts
The council tax/ business rates & awards service will only be taking calls between the hours of 9am till 1pm. We aim to have a full complement of staff during these hours to help improve call response times.Feedback about a page here