Owners of empty units have a rates bill coming

Will, Founder of Locarum. 16 October 2026.

An empty commercial unit in England pays no business rates for three months, or six if it is industrial, such as a warehouse. After that the owner pays the full bill on a space that earns nothing. If you sell fit-out, repairs, lighting, cleaning, security or energy work, those owners are your customers. They have a reason to spend and a date to spend by.

Most of what has been written about empty rates is for owners, about how to claim the relief and cut the bill. This guide is for the people who sell to them.

Why the free months matter

The free months start on the day the unit goes empty. When they end the owner pays at the same rate as an occupied unit. A floor of offices with a rateable value of £120,000 costs about £4,800 a month in rates from then on, before service charge, insurance and security. An empty shop loses more than its tenant: the lower rate for shops, pubs and restaurants from April 2026 is only for units that are in use. Once its free months end, an empty shop pays the standard rate.

So an owner with an empty unit wants it let before the bill starts, or soon after. To let it they need an energy certificate before they can market it, and since 2018 a new letting needs a rating of at least E. Many will also repair, redecorate or refit to win a tenant. That work is bought in the weeks after a unit goes empty. In my view the best time to get in touch is early in the free months, while the owner is still deciding what to do.

The shortcut that closed

For years some owners avoided the bill by having a company store boxes in the empty unit for six weeks. The law counted that as using the building, so the free months started again. Since April 2024 a unit has to be used for 13 weeks to start them again, which made the trick dearer.

On 29 July 2026 the Court of Appeal went further. It held that storing boxes only to cut the rates bill isn’t using a building at all. It said the purpose of empty rates is to encourage owners “to bring those premises back into genuine use”. The ruling may still be appealed. For now, an owner with an empty unit can pay the bill or find a tenant, and finding a tenant usually means spending money.

Who to contact

The law says the “owner” pays the empty rates, and the owner is whoever is entitled to possession of the unit. Often that is the landlord. But a tenant who has moved out and still has years left on their lease is entitled to possession too, so they get the bill. They want to sublet the space or hand it back, and a landlord will often only take it back in good repair.

So the name on an empty unit is the party with the problem. Before you write, find out whether they own the building or lease it, because what they will pay for is different. A landlord re-letting a floor may refit it. A tenant trying to leave will often do only what their lease makes them do.

Where to find empty units

Councils collect business rates, and some publish a list of the accounts. It usually has the name of the business that pays, the address, the rateable value, any relief, and the date the account started. Some lists also say whether each unit is occupied or empty and when it went empty. That date tells you when the free months end.

Councils don’t have to publish this list, and many don’t. Some refuse because a list of empty buildings helps squatters and thieves. Others publish it to save answering the same freedom of information request again and again. Search the council’s website for “business rates data” or look in its publication scheme. If you find nothing, its freedom of information disclosure log will show whether anyone asked and what they were told.

Every council that publishes removes the names of sole traders, because their name is a person’s name. Read each council’s terms before you use the list. Some publish under the Open Government Licence, which allows business use. Some say the list is for personal use only.

The units that can wait

Some empty units pay nothing for as long as they stay empty. These include listed buildings, units with a rateable value under £2,900 and some owned by charities, and so do companies being wound up or in administration. Their owners have no bill coming, so they are in less of a hurry. You’ll find them on the same lists. They’re worth knowing about, but they’re not where I would start.

Two lists not to use

The Valuation Office publishes the rating list for every commercial property in England and Wales, free to download. It doesn’t name who pays, and its terms limit its use to business rates purposes, such as checking your own valuation. Using it to find customers is outside those terms.

The Land Registry’s free list of property owned by companies looks like the obvious way to find who owns an empty building. Its licence forbids using it for direct marketing, and that includes using it to decide who to approach.

An example

This building is invented, but there are many like it.

It is a five-storey office building let floor by floor. On 4 August 2026 the account for the third floor changed from occupied to empty on the council’s rates list. Its rateable value is £120,000, and the business on the account is the tenant, who still has four years left on their lease. The building’s energy certificate is from 2016 and rates it D.

The third floor’s free months end on 4 November 2026. After that the tenant pays about £4,800 a month for a floor they don’t use. They will want to sublet it or agree with the landlord to give it back. Either way someone has to market the floor. The certificate runs out this year, so a new one is needed first, and a gas-heated office rated D in 2016 may well come out worse today. A seller of lighting or controls has a reason to write to the tenant now, and to the landlord, who will want the floor in good order whoever lets it.

Wales and Scotland

Wales has the same three and six months, but only for a unit that was in use for more than 26 weeks before it went empty. In Scotland each council has set its own empty rates since April 2023, so the rules differ from one council to the next.

See the signs as they happen

Locarum reads councils’ rates lists every week. A unit going empty shows up beside the building’s owner, its managing agent and the other signs at the same address, such as a new energy certificate or a planning application. Each one comes with its source and date.

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