All Rates Revaluations took place in April 2017 across England, Wales & Scotland, placing new Rateable Values on business properties, but having been originally planned for 2015. This 2 year delay has meant that many businesses are facing substantial increases on the amounts they are called upon to pay. Whether your property is owned freehold or you are the tenant of the premises, your Rateable Value is an estimate of the amount that it might rent for assuming it was put on the market at 1 April 2015.

Business Rates are a hefty burden to any business and as a property tax they rank the highest in the developed world. Here’s why (2017/18 data for England Wales and Scotland).

Business Rates Net Collection (after all reliefs)	£27 billion
	(£23.9 billion just in England)
Council Tax Collection (after all reliefs)	£32 billion
Corporation tax	£56 billion

England introduced a new system for the current rating list (commencing 1st April, 2017) called Check, Challenge and Appeal (CCA). At the time this was a radical step to streamline the inordinate volume of appeals lodged in the previous rating list. The bulk of those appeals drove no positive change for the rate payer at all. In practice the changes in this list have added numerous layers of complexity. If you’re reading this, the chances are you have an interest in identifying potential savings for your company. Achieving a reduction in your current Rateable Value to realise those savings is where it becomes complicated.

Only one challenge can be made, on the same grounds as you navigate this complex process, so choosing the right expert team to represent you is crucial. Get it wrong at any stage and the opportunity to maximise business rate savings are greatly reduced. There is a solution: the GN RV Appeal Service. This expert service will guide and represent you through all stages of Check, Challenge and Appeal.

After an initial consultation with Goodman Nash the first stage for any rate payer is to register all commercial properties on the HMRC portal and confirm the appointment of your agent.

Once you have completed the above, we will begin detailed proceedings to CHECK and CHALLENGE your Rateable Value. Finally, where necessary and only once we have agreed with you the best course of action, there may be a requirement to APPEAL the valuation office decisions.

The CHECK stage ordinarily requires you to agree, amongst other matters, the floor areas of your properties. This is no simple exercise at all. You may have detailed drawings, measurements of the commercial property you occupy? If yes, these can prove helpful. If no, then we may need to conduct a survey to provide such accuracy in readiness for evidence. False disclosure of the total floor areas can lead to civil penalties so precision is required.

Once the Valuation Office agrees the facts presented, you have 4 months to submit a CHALLENGE. Here starts the process which is hugely biased against a ratepayer. The challenge must contain all points of evidence you will ever wish to present. The collation and presentation of evidence will need to include rental details on similar properties in the locality; without such details most challenges will fail. The valuation officer does not need to disclose his information upfront, and only in basic summary when replying with a Decision Notice.

With our expertise and wealth of national property data we would expect in most occurrences to deliver success for you as the rate payer at the CHECK or CHALLENGE stage. On occasion we may advise you to APPEAL the decision the valuation officer reached against your property. There are costs involved in the submission of an appeal, which are recoverable if successful.

To get this right every step of the way, we think you truly need the professional help from the expert team at GN. A free consultation to determine the validity of any appeal on your behalf and to support you further, our fees are offered on a success based outcome, with small one-off charges if we need to carry out a measured survey to complete the CHECK stage. These Survey fees are reimbursed where we have managed to secure rateable value reductions.

The system in Scotland differs from that in England & Wales. The general right to Appeal against your Rateable Value up to 30 September 2017 has long passed. However there are still opportunities to appeal as follows:

(a) Within 6 months of becoming a new owner or tenant of business property
(b) Within 6 months of a material change occurring

Wales currently has a different system to England & Scotland, having made a decision not to follow the Check Challenge and Appeal system introduced in England.

The right to make an appeal at any time during the Rating List remains, but you may only make it on the same ground once.