A tenant ceased trading from a property during the term of the lease. The lease was not surrendered or forfeited and the tenant claimed empty property rates relief. The lease has now ended. Can the landlord claim further empty rates relief?

Please see our Practice Note: Business rates—empty property, which states that empty property relief applies for the first three months that retail premises are unoccupied (six months in the case of industrial premises). This relief however, attaches to the property rather than the owner so a developer can sell or lease a qualifying property with the benefit of the remaining period of the relief.

If the full period of relief has been claimed by the tenant, there is no scope for the landlord to claim further relief. For this reason, commercial leases often include provisions requiring the tenant to indemnify