(This note is not part of the Regulations)
Under Article 25A of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977, as amended, rates are payable on unoccupied properties that fall within a class prescribed by regulations. The Non-Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (“the 2004 Regulations”) prescribed a class consisting of all non-domestic buildings or parts of buildings except those which complied with any of the conditions set out in regulation 3(2) of those Regulations.
These Regulations revoke and re-enact the 2004 Regulations. In addition to drafting amendments, they make the following changes—
(a) they take account of the introduction of the NAV valuation list for non-domestic properties (regulation 3);
(b) they provide that a property unoccupied for not more than twelve months does not give rise to a charge to the unoccupied property rate if the person entitled to possession of the property throughout the period is a company limited by guarantee which provides accommodation and support services for a trade or business and is funded in respect of its capital costs, in whole or in part, by a public body (paragraph 2 of the Schedule).