ABSTRACT
While the Local Government Finance Act 1988 provides for a non-domestic rate to be payable by owners of unoccupied property, this does not mean liability arises whenever a property becomes empty. The Regulations provide various rules to prevent owners getting around the Regulations by briefly re-occupying and then vacating or re-arranging the property into different hereditaments. Whilst empty property rating strictly applies only to hereditaments that are completely unoccupied, billing authorities are given discretion to apply the empty property rate provisions to part of a hereditament if the part is likely to be vacant for a short time only. Since the date they have been brought within the ambit of the empty property rate but are given an extra three months void period compared to other properties. The valuation officer can then enter the notionally completed hereditament into the rating list.
