By jbc_admin
Business rates are a large part of the cost of occupying any property and there are many examples of business’ that have run into financial difficulty because of these high charges. Business rates are assessed by the Valuation Office Agency and are collected by the local authority. The calculation is based on your properties rental…
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By jbc_admin
The Local Government Finance Act 2012 creates a new model for funding local authorities from April 2013, linking their financial revenue to the decisions they take to support local firms and local jobs. Local authorities across the country will retain a 50% local share of the business rates they collect and then keep a 50%…
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By jbc_admin
The Government’s proposals to cancel the 2015 rates revaluation will see many small struggling businesses forced to pay taxes against 2008 valuations, made near the peak of the property boom. This decision was meant to go unnoticed, slipped in without warning and without consultation, and to rub salt into the wound Ministers, somewhat unconvincingly, claim…
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By jbc_admin
The Estates Gazette has revealed that the government could review empty property rates legislation after a freedom of information request showed that the government was spending more than £50 million in tax per year on its own vacant properties, an amount which is expected to rise to £70 million for the current year 2012-2013. The…
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By jbc_admin
Fears that Scottish business and landlords would have to suffer the consequence of extra charges were realised yesterday, as controversial measure to charge Empty Rates on all commercial premises was passed by 66 votes to 20 in the Scottish Assembly. Landlords in Scotland are now the latest victims of empty rates legislation, which has seen…
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By jbc_admin
Tenant’s Rights to Buy Survive Transfer of Title A corporate landlord who tried to prevent its tenant from exercising option to purchase the property after the title to the property had been transferred to a subsidiary company (for reasons unconnected with the right to buy) found the court unsympathetic recently. The court ruled that the…
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By jbc_admin
Break Options Landlord and tenants often include break clauses in a lease which allow either or both parties to terminate the lease midway through the lease. Usually the break clause is for the benefit of the tenant who is nervous about committing to rent liabilities for a long period in one location. One issue which…
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By jbc_admin
Full business rates are due on empty commercial properties that remain unoccupied after three months, six months in the case of industrial properties. However, charities occupying commercial property qualify for a mandatory 80% discount on business rates, provided the property is used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes. Local authorities also have the discretion to…
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By jbc_admin
Most standard commercial leases have an interest rate for situations where the tenant is in some sort of default. The rate will very often be 4% which is in practice very often too low to act as an incentive for tenants to pay their rent and other sums on time. You may wish to consider…
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By jbc_admin
In these uncertain economic times many Landlords are Jumping at the opportunity offered by tenants who agree to extend their leases. Often this may take the form of a reversionary lease, a lease which is to come into effect on the expiry of the current lease at some point in the future, perhaps some years…
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