AQW 9543/17-22

Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 02/11/2020
Answered On Date: 13/11/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance what assessment he has made of the role that the Rating System can play to disincentivise owners of properties from letting them fall into a state of dereliction.

Answer:

There are a number of pre-existing features of the rating system that aim to help prevent properties falling into a state of dereliction. The policies of non-domestic vacant rating at 50% of the occupied liability, and the rating of empty homes at 100% of occupied liability, both operate with the express policy rationale of encouraging occupation of properties rather than letting them rest as vacant.

My Department also has statutory enabling powers that can be used to prevent so called ‘deliberate dereliction’ of empty domestic property in order to avoid rates in that sector, where there is a higher risk of dereliction being used as an avoidance step. Likewise the Back in Business scheme (which the Executive have agreed will be reinstated once Covid measures expire), acts alongside non domestic vacant rating to incentivise new business occupiers of long term vacant property to provide a 50% reduction on their first year’s rates bill.

In terms of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the business sector, and to help reduce the likelihood of businesses vacating their property, the Executive has provided an unprecedented £300 million plus in rates support packages for over 25,000 businesses, as well as tailored and sectoral support provision outside the rates system. These policy interventions, alongside other methods to mitigate dereliction or underuse of property remain the subject of ongoing review, in particular within the rating system which is dependent upon rateable property to finance local and central government functions.