Flooded NI businesses given information on rate relief eligibility

Flooded NI businesses have been given more information on the emergency rate relief available to them.

Heavy rain in counties Down and Armagh left hundreds of businesses impacted by floods, with some in the worst affected areas of Newry, Downpatrick and Portadown being under several feet of water.

This week the Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris announced that £15 million would be reallocated from existing Stormont monies to be used for emergency relief.

A rate-relief scheme and a one-off grant of £7,500 are part of the measures to be covered in that £15 million sum.

The rate relief measures will include 100% relief for non-domestic rates on flooded properties as well as support to help businesses temporarily relocate.

On Friday Land & Property Services (LPS) published further information on the rate relief businesses may be eligible for.

Businesses can receive the 100% rate relief for the period between 1 November 2023 and 31 March 2024 if:

• The relevant district council has confirmed that the property was flooded; and

• The property was valued for non-domestic rates on the rating system on the date of the flooding incident; and

• Either, the business was trading from the flooded property and liable for non-domestic rates on the date of the flooding incident;

• Or the property was listed as vacant with LPS and the owner was liable for vacant rates on the date of the flooding incident.

LPS has said that ratepayers impacted by flooding do not have to make an application for the relief, but those who are temporarily relocating will have to make a formal application.

The local Council will provide a list of flooded properties in their area and LPS will automatically apply the relief to the rate account.

Ratepayers who have already paid their rates for the current year in full will receive a refund and public sector properties are excluded from the emergency rate relief.

The 100% rate relief will be available up to 31 March 2024 for alternative business premises temporarily occupied by businesses that had been operating from properties that were flooded.

This relief is only available when the business relocates to a property that was recorded as vacant on the rating system on the date of the flooding incident.

To get rate relief for relocation businesses should apply with LPS.

A number of business owners have said the support being offered is not enough, with many citing loss of stock and earnings in the tens or hundreds of thousands.

A Newry business group has estimated it would take upwards of £30 million in that town alone to repair the damages.

On Thursday, the permanent secretary for the Department of Finance said that the announced funding was not the end of the story and that a tailored response would need to be put in place.