{"id":8685,"date":"2014-10-04T17:31:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-04T16:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=8685"},"modified":"2014-10-04T17:31:25","modified_gmt":"2014-10-04T16:31:25","slug":"opportunities-for-empty-properties-in-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=8685","title":{"rendered":"Opportunities for empty properties in Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Welsh Government have issued a reminder that there is only six months left to apply for the \u2018Open for Business\u2019 programme, which presents opportunities for business rate relief upon bringing properties back into use<\/span>.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Welsh Government writes<\/span>:<br \/>\nThe Open for Business rates relief scheme is funded by the Welsh Government and administered by every local authority in Wales. It provides up to 50% relief on business rates for a year for businesses that move into properties that have been empty for twelve months or longer.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses only have six months to take advantage of this scheme as the cut off date is March 31 2015. Eligible applicants need to have taken occupation of their new premises before or by March 31 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Economy Minister Edwina Hart said:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u00a0The Open for Business programme can provide a real financial boost for businesses thinking of moving into long term \u00a0vacant retail premises while also providing a safety net to help \u00a0small business start- ups in their \u00a0first year of trading.\u00a0 The Welsh Government initiative \u00a0is specifically geared to support business in Wales\u2019s town centres and shopping areas and forms part of a wider package of support to help develop vibrant and sustainable shopping areas in our cities, towns and villages in both urban and rural areas of Wales.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There is a six month window for businesses to apply for relief and I would encourage interested businesses and those thinking of starting a new business to contact their local authorities for more detailed information in order to take advantage of this rates reduction.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The scheme is open to a wide range of businesses \u2013 those that are moving into smaller properties that were previously used for retail and that have been vacant for 12 months or more.\u00a0 In addition businesses may also be eligible to apply for the Wales Retail Relief Scheme where retail, food and drink premises can apply for \u00a31000 off their business rates bill.<\/p>\n<p>Business should contact their local authority to apply for the rate relief or contact the Business Wales hotline for more information Tel 03000 60 3000.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/wales.gov.uk\/topics\/localgovernment\/finandfunding\/publications\/openbizz\/?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\">Welsh Gov publications\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/wales.gov.uk\/newsroom\/businessandeconomy\/2014\/140929-open-for-business-and-cut-business-rates-bill-by-half\/?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\">press release<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?s=vacant\" target=\"_blank\">IHBC newsblogs on vacant properties<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Welsh Government have issued a reminder that there is only six months left to apply for the \u2018Open for Business\u2019 programme, which presents opportunities for business rate relief upon bringing properties back into use.\u00a0 The Welsh Government writes: The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=8685\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8686,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8685\/revisions\/8686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}