Non-domestic rates - money off your bill

Subsidy control rules under Subsidy Control Act 2022

The following reliefs will be subject to the subsidy rules under the above regulations -

• Rural relief
• Transitional relief for properties in parks
• Transitional relief for small businesses
• Day nursery relief
• District heating relief
• Renewable energy relief
• Hospitality relief

These reliefs may be offered as a Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA) subsidy under the Subsidy Control Act 2022.  MFA is capped at a maximum of £315,000 over a three-period – cumulated over the current and previous two financial years.  

To ensure that we comply with the subsidy regime, we may be required to cap relief at the MFA maximum limit. This may depend on:

• the level of other public sector assistance received by your entity
• whether or not you have an interest in any business with other properties, is in receipt, or eligible, for one of the existing rate relief schemes

You must consider whether you have already received support from any public sector body in the current financial year and the two financial years immediately preceding this.  We will determine this from the completed Subsidy Information Declaration Form that is part of your application.

A written record must be kept for at least three years beginning with the date on which the MFA was given. This will enable you to respond to future requests from public authorities on how much MFA you have received and whether you have reached the cumulative threshold.

Further information on this is available on the Scottish Government website.

Hospitality Relief

The Scottish Government have introduced a new relief for small hospitality businesses from 1 April 2025.

To qualify for 40% hospitality relief the property must be used wholly or mainly for a purpose set out in The Non-Domestic Rates (Hospitality Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2025, listed below, and the rateable value must be £51,000 or less. If your business does not meet both these criteria, you will not qualify for this relief and should not complete the application.

• Bed and breakfast accommodation
• Camping site
• Caravan
• Caravan site
• Chalet, holiday hut and bothy
• Guest house, hotel and hostel
• Public house
• Restaurant (including café, bistro, coffee shop, snack bar)
• Self-catering holiday accommodation
• Small music venue (capacity up to 1,500 persons)
• Timeshare accommodation

This relief can be awarded in conjunction with other reliefs up to a maximum of 100% combined relief.

If your property is currently vacant then you will not qualify for this relief and should not apply for it.

If your business occupies more than one qualifying property, then you must make a separate application for each property. If any of these properties are outwith South Lanarkshire please apply to the appropriate council. You must ensure that the total amount claimed does not exceed £110,000 across all your properties.