Creative industries could provide the solution to a commercial problem.

Amazing Space, based on Clerkenwell Road, specialises in bridging the gap between the property and creative industries. The company has dedicated the last 16 years to maximising the revenue opportunities available to commercial and residential landlords by marketing their properties for short-term hire to the creative industries.

However, landlords have recently found themselves not only enjoying income but also exempt from paying business rates!

This is due to the anomaly of the 2007 Act where the letting of an office or retail property for six weeks entitles the landlord to a three-month exemption from business rates, and the letting of an industrial property or warehouse for the same period provides the landlord with a six-month exemption

Now, in addition to setting up production bases, art studios and galleries, Amazing Space have expanded the possibilities by working with a network of national distributors who can occupy redundant vacant industrial property throughout the UK for the minimum period thus qualifying landlords for the exemption.

The success of the scheme so far has been their “belts and braces” approach whereby the local authority is contacted to inform them that a new tenant has have taken over occupancy and to be invoiced for the rates.

At the point of occupation, a full ‘site survey’ including photography of the building is also conducted and a DVD of all the images is produced and sent to both the landlord and the local authority along with a letter of insurance that either details the stored goods or the intended use of the property.

At the expiration of the short term lease the Local Authority are informed accordingly and a revised statement is obtained detailing the exemption.

Property owners are being urged by Amazing Space to be aware of the growing number of “avoidance scams” that are currently in operation. Some are illegal, and the majority are highly complex and potentially open to challenge by the rating authorities. Amazing Space, however, provides a legal scheme that offers a risk-free method by which property-owners can mitigate their exposure to the cost of empty business rates.

Richard Artus, Director of ‘Amazing Space’, commented on the company’s track record:
“Our attention to detail has meant we have been 100% successful in securing rate-exemption for our clients and provide a straightforward way for them to make substantial savings”.