How can I mitigate my vacant office's business rates?

Paying business rates on your office premises is one of the biggest expenses business owners face, but it can be an especially frustrating outgoing if your office building is not currently in use. With the covid-19 pandemic resulting in many people having to work from home, a lot of offices are now sitting unused and vacant. Not only does this put the security of the office building at risk, it means that the property owner may still have to pay business rates despite the property being unoccupied.

The government offered one year of business rate relief for the 2020/2021 tax year, where businesses that had to close their premises due to the pandemic were still counted as occupied and therefore able to mitigate their business rates. This will continue until June 2021, after which a 66% reduction is being offered until March 2022. But with many businesses still unable to open their doors, property owners are seeking ways of mitigating or reducing their business rates in the long term until they are able to return to normal. The Live-in Guardians model can help by keeping empty offices occupied, and therefore negating business rates.

If you have an empty office building that is currently vacant and unused, having your property occupied by our carefully selected vacant property Guardians could help to keep your property safe as well as offering business rate relief. We will transform the interior of your property into a fully compliant living space, and once our chosen Guardians are safely and legally occupying the building you can avoid paying business rates while your property isn’t being used as a business premises. Protecting your property with Guardians also comes at a significantly lower cost than hiring traditional cleaning, maintenance and security services. Guardians provide a 24-hour security service simply by living in your property, and perform vital cleaning and maintenance tasks to keep your property in top working condition. Our Guardian service is also flexible to suit your needs and the ever-changing business climate. If things return to normal and you require full use of your office building again, we will return it to you as it was given to us and within a relatively short notice period. If you’re unsure what the future may hold for your office property, Live-in Guardians can help to offer quick business rate relief in the short term until you can find a long term solution or until you can return to business as normal again.

We offer affordable property protection services that can save you up to thousands when compared to traditional security options. Gain invaluable peace of mind and avoid paying empty business rates on your vacant property by choosing Live-in Guardians to protect your investment. All of our Guardians are vetted by our team and are reliable young professionals that will keep your property safe and looked after in exchange for a greatly reduced rent cost. If you have a vacant office building in London or Manchester, we can conduct a free survey on your property within 24 hours of you making a query and have your property occupied with suitable Guardians as soon as possible.