The Non-Domestic Rates (Levying and Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2024

Amount payable as rates – newly re-occupied lands and heritages with rateable value of £100,000 or less

7.—(1) Subject to paragraph (4), no rates are payable in respect of lands and heritages on any day in the relevant year where the conditions set out in paragraph (3) are met.

(2) The relevant year for the purposes of this regulation is the financial year 2024-2025.

(3) The conditions referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a) the lands and heritages have a rateable value of £100,000 or less,

(b) the lands and heritages were unoccupied but became re-occupied on a date on or after 1 April 2023,

(c) the lands and heritages were continuously unoccupied for a period of six months or more immediately prior to becoming re-occupied,

(d) no more than 12 months have elapsed since the date on which the lands and heritages became re-occupied, and

(e) an application for relief has been made in accordance with paragraph (5), unless relief was granted under regulation 7 of the Non-Domestic Rates (Levying and Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023(1).

(4) No rate relief is granted in consequence of paragraph (1) in respect of lands and heritages which are—

(a) unoccupied, or

(b) used wholly or mainly for payday lending.

(5) An application for relief under this regulation must—

(a) be signed by the ratepayer or a person authorised to sign on behalf of the ratepayer,

(b) specify the date on or after 1 April 2023 on which the lands and heritages became reoccupied, and

(c) be made to the rating authority in whose valuation roll the entry for the lands and heritages appears by—

(i) addressing it to that authority, and

(ii) delivering it to that authority’s office or sending it to that authority by electronic communication.

(6) For the purposes of paragraph (5)—

“electronic communication” has the meaning given to it by section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 (2)(“the 2000 Act”),

“person authorised to sign on behalf of the ratepayer” means, where the ratepayer is—

(a)

a partnership, a partner of that partnership or any other person authorised by it,

(b)

a trust, a trustee of that trust or any other person authorised by it,

(c)

a body corporate, a director of that body or any other person authorised by it, and

“sign or signed”, in relation to an application made by electronic communication, means an electronic signature as defined in section 7(2)(3) of the 2000 Act.

(1)

S.S.I. 2023/30.

(2)

2000 c. 7. Section 15(1) was amended by paragraph 158 of schedule 17 of the Communications Act 2003 (c. 21).

(3)

Section 7(2) was amended by S.I. 2016/696.