The Government’s plan to delay the 2015 Business Rate Revaluation to 2017 will hit Bristol shops and businesses just when they most need support, according to leading property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle.
The Government’s announcement, included within The Growth and Infrastructure Bill published last week, proposes an annual business rates charge continuing until 2017, using 2008 values, rather than the intended 2015 Revaluation which would use 2013 values.
The proposal has been met with considerable surprise in the property industry, as values have dropped in many sectors due to the recession, and postponing the revaluation will mean businesses will continue to be charged based on 2008 values.
Jeremy Richards, head of the Bristol office of Jones Lang LaSalle said:
“The ministerial statement accompanying the announcement said the decision ‘will avoid local firms and local shops facing unexpected hikes in their business rates bills over the next five years.
“This is completely misleading. Preliminary research from Jones Lang LaSalle suggests that ‘local firms’ and ‘local shops’ in Bristol could have benefitted from a business rate cut as a result of the drop in their property value.
“Deferring the revaluation to 2017 effectively prohibits any opportunity for business rates to readjust to market values for another two years. For many businesses the result will be two more years of hardship for the very companies that should have benefitted from the revaluation process. Realistically it’s going to be the smaller, local businesses operating in secondary retail properties and in most need of help that will suffer, rather than the major brands in prime locations.”
