Improvement relief

Improvement relief aims to support your business when you have invested in your property.

How your business premises can qualify

You will be entitled to improvement relief, if you have made improvements to your business premises and:

• The completed works finished after 1 April 2024 and either increased the area or improved the physical state of any building
• The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has issued you a certificate and it has not been withdrawn or ceased to have effect
• The same ratepayer has been in occupation since the works started

It is up to us to verify that you qualify for this relief. We also need to confirm that your business premises were occupied throughout the period of the works.

You cannot have improvement relief for:

• A newly constructed building
• A refurbished building that had left the rating list during the works
• A change of use alone
• The addition of land

How to get the business rates relief

Once you have let the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) know of the changes to your property, they will issue you with a certificate. This certificate explains how the improvements affect the rateable value and when any qualifying periods end. We also receive a copy of this certificate.

We apply this relief automatically to your business rates bill.

You cannot appeal against the values in the certificate. However, you should let the Valuation Office Agency know if you think there is something wrong.

If you do not have a business rates valuation account from the VOA, you can also contact us with all the details of the changes.