Business rates are a tax on most non-domestic property, such as shops, offices and warehouses, billed each year to the occupier by the local council. GOV.UK puts it simply: you’ll probably have to pay them “if you use a building or part of a building for non-domestic purposes.”
At Wigwam
If you rent an indoor unit with us, you don’t pay business rates on it, even if you’re storing business stock. The rates on our storage buildings are our bill, and there’s no separate rates charge in your fees.
That’s because rates follow whoever occupies a property. The guidance valuation officers use treats a whole self storage building as one property, occupied by the storage company that runs it. You rent space to store your things; we run and manage the building.
A few spaces work a little differently, so have a quick word with us first if you’re taking an outdoor container or one of our larger warehouse spaces for your business. At Chipping Norton, our prices for units up to 1,000 sq ft include business rates.
A unit or a lock-up of your own?
With your own lock-up or small warehouse, you’re normally the occupier, so the council sends the rates bill to you. Small business rate relief can bring it down to nothing on a property with a rateable value of £12,000 or less, if it’s the only property your business uses. A storage unit takes that question off the table, which is one reason it suits small businesses well. We’ve written more on how storage can cut business costs. Just remember a unit is for storing things, not for trading from or using as an office.
For a price, get a quote online or call us on 0800 2545585.
Related terms
Related questions
Further reading
- GOV.UK: Business rates
- GOV.UK: Self storage hereditaments (Rating Manual)
- GOV.UK: Small business rate relief