Transitional relief

Certain non-domestic property used wholly or mainly for one or more specified purposes (listed below) may be entitled to a rates reduction for, referred to as 'transitional relief'. In such cases, transitional relief limits the rates bill increase following the property revaluation that took effect on 1 April 2017, to 12.5% in real terms. This relief has now been extended to include the 2018/19 to 2022/23 financial years. From 1 April 2018 the property must have a rateable value no greater than £1,500,000.

To be eligible for relief, a property must on the day in question in the financial year be wholly or mainly used for a specified purpose and must also have been so used as at 31 March 2017 (or, if unoccupied on that date, so used when last occupied). A property that is unoccupied at a particular time is not eligible for this relief at that time. However a previously unoccupied property can be eligible once occupied. A property can continue to be eligible for this relief following a change of ratepayer provided application is made. A property that is subject to a split, merger or re-organization on or after 2 April 2017 is not eligible for this relief.

Please note that this relief cannot be backdated prior to the start of the year in which application is made.

The specified purposes are:

• Class 1 Bed and breakfast accommodation
  • Use as bed and breakfast accommodation.
• Class 2 Camping site
  • Use as a camping site
• Class 3 Caravan
  • Use as a caravan (within the meaning of Part 1 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960).
• Class 4 Caravan site
  • Use as a caravan site (within the meaning of Part 1 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960).
• Class 5 Chalet and holiday hut
  • Use as a chalet or holiday hut
• Class 6 Guest house, hotel and hostels
  • Use as a guest house, hotel or hostel, where no significant element of care is provided.
• Class 7 Public house
  • Use as a public house or nightclub where the following conditions are satisfied—
    1. a premises licence authorising the sale of alcohol for consumption both on and off the premises, has been issued by a licensing board under section 26 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005;
    2. the premises are used for such sales to members of the public, principally for consumption on the premises, in accordance with the operating plan contained in the premises licence; and
    3. the operating plan contained in the premises licence does not include any provision that such sales are made subject to those members of the public residing at, or consuming food on, the premises.
• Class 8 Restaurants
  • Use for the sale of food or refreshments to members of the public for consumption on those premises, including any café, coffee shop, bistro, fast food restaurant or snack bar that is so used.
• Class 9 Renewable energy generation
  • Use for the generation of renewable heat or power (or both) from water (including waves and tides but excluding production from the pumped storage of water) having a total installed capacity of up to 1 megawatt.
• Class 10 Self-catering holiday accommodation
  • Use as self-catering holiday accommodation.
• Class 11 Timeshare accommodation
  • Use as timeshare accommodation.

An application to the council from, or on behalf of, the ratepayer is required - download an ndr_transitionalreliefappnform2022 (Word doc, 107 KB).

Further information on transitional relief, including worked examples, is available at: www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/local-government/17999/11203/ndrtransrelief. Transitional relief could be considered as a subsidy and therefore subject to the provisions on subsidy control set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) agreed between the UK and European Union, effective from 1 January 2021. Further information on these provisions is available at: www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/State-Aid.