Before any appeals are lodged we first evaluate the accuracy of your existing Rateable Value and advise on whether an appeal is merited.
It is important to remember that a property’s Rateable Value can go up as well as down after an appeal is lodged. Therefore a comprehensive review of the property is required before we advise. Our process can be summarised as follows :
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1. The client must first register with the Valuation Office, we provide assistance during this process.
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2. Our surveyor then inspects your property and reconciles the facts against the Valuation Office’s existing valuation.
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3. Following this an evaluation of your tenure and local market evidence is undertaken to determine the accuracy of your valuation.
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4. At this stage a recommendation will be made as to whether to proceed and lodge a proposal.
If a decision is made to proceed a formal proposal will be lodged with the Valuation Office Agency.
The first stage of an appeal involves submitting a Check where we can establish the facts in relation to the property e.g. confirming areas.
The second step involves submitting a Challenge where we can put forward our opinion on the level of value applied to your business rates assessment.
If the Valuation Officer agrees with our proposed Rateable Value at the Challenge stage the proposal is 'Well Founded'.
Alternatively we may enter discussions with the Valuation Office Agency and a decision may be made to withdraw or agree the proposal.
Ultimately, if no agreement with the Valuation Office Agency can be reached and the Valuation Officer issues a Decision Notice then the appeal can progress to Tribunal.
James Burkitt MSc MRICS
