Business Premises Renovation Allowance - Updated list of 'Disadvantaged Areas'

Following the tightening the BPRA rules in the March 14 budget, an updated list of ‘Disadvantaged Areas’ has been published by the Treasury.  This new list came into force as of 1 July 2014 and Schedules 1 and 2 list the areas that are relevant for the BPRA rules.

The changes were made after lengthy consultation and were made taking into account complex EU Aid Guidelines.  Several changes have been made to the schedules although areas such as the whole of Northern Ireland remain designated as disadvantaged areas.  Other changes include certain areas/wards in Birmingham being removed, however new areas in Manchester such as the City Centre have been included.  Few changes to the designated areas in London have been made.

The full 2014 list can be found here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/en/uksi/2014/1508/contents/made

The previous 2007 schedule was accompanied by a useful postcode checker function, and this has been substantially updated through this process with a new ‘interactive map’ and postcode checker being provided.  http://www.ukassistedareasmap.com/ieindex.html

BPRA is a valuable relief and is available to help regenerate commercial property in deprived areas of the UK. Part of a broader package, BPRAs was introduced to tackle the problems associated with empty commercial property, including the restriction of business rates relief for empty property.

This 100% relief is available for the repair, refurbishment or conversion of commercial property (including factories, offices and shops, but not residential property) in a designated disadvantaged area and which has been empty for at least a year. The full cost of qualifying expenditure can be set against profits.