Council Tax Legal Services

This Practice Note covers liability for business rates for unoccupied property, including common exemptions (often known as ‘empty rates relief’). The common exemptions include an exemption for the initial period (either three months or six months), insolvency exemptions, exemptions for charities and the discretion of the local authority to grant further relief. The Practice Note also covers a landlord’s liability at the end of a lease, landlord’s empty rates schemes and the six-week period required to trigger a new initial exemption. It can assist when considering if a landlord is entitled to relief on business rates for empty premises.

This Practice Note summarises all aspects of council tax. It explains the role of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), outlining the council tax valuation bands and possible appeals against them. This Practice Note also highlights the exemptions and discounts that can be applied, and the process for billing and appeals.

This Practice Note outlines the statutory requirements for enforcing payment of council tax. It sets out the statutory requirements for demanding sums owed, the process of issuing a summons for a debtor to appear at the magistrates’ court together with methods of enforcement such as attachment of earnings, charging of property and, in very extreme cases, committal to prison.

This Practice Note covers who is liable for business rates, the three categories of taxpayer identified by the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (occupiers, owners and persons named in central rating lists), the definition of ‘hereditament’, rateable occupation and the position regarding tenant’s fit out works.

This Practice Note is one of a series of Practice Notes covering national non-domestic rates (NNDR). This Practice Note covers the legislative framework for billing and recovery, the collection fund, transitional reliefs and exemptions from the operation of the system.

This Practice Note is one of a series of notes covering National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR). It covers business improvement districts (BIDs), explaining what they are, how they are created and funded. It also covers business rates supplements and retention of NNDR by local authorities.

This Practice Note is an introduction to the system of non-domestic rates (or business rates) for non-domestic (NNDR) properties in England and Wales. It outlines the background to the operation of the scheme and provides detail on how the valuation process works. It explains how to check, challenge and, if necessary, make a proposal to amend a local list or appeal against decisions that have been made.

This Q&A examines whether a liability order is invalid in circumstances where the Council accepts that part of the liability is owed by a third party and issues a fresh demand and the impact of that decision on validity of the liability order.

This Q&A looks at the validity of a national non domestic rates liability order obtained by a billing authority in circumstances where a tenant of a hereditament admits that they are liable for at least part of the debt. In consequence the billing authority amends the sums due.

This Q&A considers the mechanism for recovery of Non-Domestic National Rates (NNDR) from the estate of a deceased taxpayer.

This Q & A considers non-statutory means of appealing a decision to refuse a reduction request on business rates made under section 49 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 other than formal judicial review.