Savills in Cornwall is urging farmers and landowners to seek advice on their business rate liability, following an announcement that the way the payments are processed will change.

From April 2013, local authorities will be able to keep half of any growth in business rates in their area and reduce their dependency on central government grant funding.   This will provide a direct link between business rates growth and the amount of money councils have to spend on local people and local services.

According to Mike Pennington from Savills Truro, this change will incentivise local councils to re-evaluate properties and seek out those which have not been rated previously, in order to maximise revenue.  This in turn could impact on farmers and landowners, particularly those who have diversified into non-agricultural uses.

Mike Pennington comments, “This could potentially have a significant impact on farm businesses which have diversified in an effort to subsidise falling incomes and anyone affected would be well advised to seek professional advice at an early stage”

For further information on Business Rates liability, please contact Savills in Truro on +44 (0) 1392 455 710.