How to Mitigate Business Rates

on Empty Commercial Property  

We understand that owning a vacant commercial property can feel like a financial drain, especially when you’re still footing the bill for business rates, despite having no rental income.

The harsh reality is that empty commercial buildings cost money.

Empty while you wait for planning permission or empty while you search for the right tenant, it makes no difference. If a commercial building sits vacant, you’re paying out: business rates, security, and deterioration from lack of use, it all adds up.

That’s where charitable occupation comes in: a practical, proven way to reduce your liability while contributing to meaningful social impact.

The Starting Out Charity helps commercial property owners turn empty spaces into opportunities whilst offering significant savings on business rates.

Our approach is fully compliant, low-risk, and has helped generate tens of millions in business rate savings since the 1990s without relying on questionable loophole-based schemes.

How Empty Property Relief Works

Government legislation allows commercial property owners to claim periods of rates relief if followed by periods of genuine charitable occupation. 

This has given rise to questionable practices, such as ‘box-moving’ schemes. Companies offer to turn vacant property into fake places of worship or even pop-up snail farms in an attempt to claim agricultural exemption. 

These tactics may work briefly, but they’re increasingly being challenged in the courts. Councils have up to six years to challenge and reassess rates bills and demand retroactive repayment. Increasingly, loophole-exploiting owners face huge backdated bills for properties they’ve long since sold or demolished.

Charitable occupation offers a smarter, more sustainable path. It’s fully compliant with business rates legislation and widely recognised as an ethical alternative to other business rates loopholes.

Most importantly, it creates real value not just for you as a landlord, but for the communities we serve.

Reduce Business Rates with Charitable Occupation

Charitable occupation is a clear, proven alternative based on established legislation from the 1980s. At The Starting Out Charity, we’ve been delivering this model since 1997 with a 100% success rate; zero owner complaints, zero council challenges; zero buildings handed back late or damaged.

It works because it’s genuine; we are not a special-purpose mitigation entity, we are a real charity, seeking genuine owners who want to do some good and save money at the same time. That means:

• Rates Relief that won’t backfire
• Massive savings on security, maintenance and insurance
• A positive community presence welcomed by local councils and neighbours
• Experienced charity partners working with owners every step of the way

We offer a hands-on, one-to-one relationship with every landlord we work with. There are no gimmicks or grey areas; just guaranteed savings and real social value delivered by a trusted charity with decades of experience.

Want to reduce costs the right way?

  How to lower business rates

on your empty commercial property

We can start generating savings for property owners in as little as one week; it rarely takes longer than a month. Partnering with The Starting Out Charity is a smooth, hassle-free, and personalised process.

You will be paired with one of our Senior Project Managers, who will serve as your main point of contact throughout your relationship with Starting Out. They will take personal responsibility for every aspect of the process and be on hand to answer questions and troubleshoot issues. 

STEP ONE  – YOUR SAVINGS PLAN
Send us the full address of your empty property (or properties) and a brief description of the current situation: for example, whether it is awaiting planning permission or between tenants.

We may follow up with a few clarifying questions before providing an in-principle savings plan. 80% of savings plans are delivered within five working days of first contact.

If a property isn’t suitable for us, we’ll do our best to refer you to a suitable UK-registered charity in our network.

STEP TWO – VIEWING & FINALISATION
Once you approve the savings plan in principle, we’ll arrange a site visit and confirm the final details.
To activate the savings, Starting Out will become the legal tenant of your empty property. The lease terms, including duration and notice period, are tailored to suit your needs.
We also sign a statutory declaration to place the tenancy outside the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954, ensuring no security of tenure.

STEP THREE – CHARITY OCCUPATION BEGINS
From the moment the lease is signed, your savings begin. All agreed-upon terms are implemented immediately.

STEP FOUR – DURING OCCUPATION
While Starting Out is the leaseholder, we secure the property, manage utilities, and deliver award-winning charity projects, while significantly reducing your business rates liability. We will ensure that full access is granted to anyone who needs it, potential new paying tenants, surveyors and so on.

STEP FIVE – VACANT POSSESSION WHEN NEEDED
When you need your building back, we vacate promptly, leave the property tidy, and return the keys—no hassle, no delays.

STEP SIX – REPEAT

95% of property owners who work with us choose to do so again for future projects.

  Other Business Rates Loopholes & Relief Options

While we specialise in charitable occupation, other strategies exist for example: 

Short-term reoccupation 

Under the Local Government Finance Act 1988, if a commercial property is occupied for at least six weeks, it qualifies for empty property relief when vacated, 183 days for industrial/warehouse properties and 91 days for other commercial types.

The short occupation periods can be difficult to arrange legitimately, leading many owners to consider questionable temporary lets; several of the more creative ones are currently being challenged in court. Once the relief period ends, full business rates apply, even if the property remains vacant, often creating significant holding costs and discouraging investment or redevelopment. The disparity in relief duration between property types can feel unfair, and the ongoing financial pressure often forces owners to accept suboptimal tenants or undervalue leases. Managing these requirements also adds administrative complexity, making it harder for owners to plan long-term or maintain profitability in weak market areas.

Property reclassification

Under the Local Government Finance Act 1988, commercial properties reclassified as places for public worship by recognised faith groups can be zero-rated for business rates. This requires genuine religious use and confirmation from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).

Under the Local Government Finance Act 1988, properties used solely for farming, such as crop production or livestock, are exempt from business rates. This must be confirmed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).

However, these exemptions come with strict criteria and potential risks. Properties must be used exclusively for qualifying purposes, and any mixed or temporary use can lead to disqualification. The application process can be slow, with unclear definitions and terms like “recognised faith group” or “sole agricultural use.” These issues can deter investment, restrict property use, and add administrative pressure. 

In some cases, attempts to misuse exemptions have backfired, for example, in 2024, Faithful Global Group faced legal action after reclassifying multiple commercial units as places of worship without clear evidence of genuine religious use. Councils such as Bradford and Dover successfully challenged these claims, resulting in large unpaid rates and greater scrutiny of the system. Owners were faced with a backdated unmitigated rates bill, so in the end they didn’t save a single penny.

   Reduce Your Empty Property Business Rates

If your commercial property is sitting vacant, there’s no need to let business rates eat into your bottom line. Through charitable occupation, we offer a compliant, ethical, and hassle-free way to significantly reduce your liability whilst creating social value and community impact.

Whether you own one property or manage a portfolio, we’re here to guide you every step of the way.