Michael McGrath, Business Rates expert at West Midlands Commercial Property Specialists Wiggins Lockett Thompson, highlights the practical and possibly urgent ramifications of the latest Business Rates news for commercial business occupiers and property owners.
“The 2010 rating list was originally scheduled to be replaced in 2015 and owners/occupiers could have lodged an appeal at any time while the list existed. However, the Government announced that a replacement list would not be produced until 2017 and before Christmas the Valuation announced that any appeals submitted after1 April 2015 would only be backdated to that date, this has now been confirmed. I do not think that it is surprising to find that it has been announced that rating appeals lodged after 1st April 2015 will only be backdated to that date. Effectively the Government are saying occupiers had five years to make an appeal, which would have been backdated potentially five years if successful, and if they did not lodge the appeal within that timescale they cannot expect to benefit by submitting appeals after the original intended deadline”.
Michael believes this is a wakeup call to all owner occupiers in that they have only 7 weeks to lodge appeals against the 2010 rating list if they want them backdated to 1st April 2010 or the date when the property was occupied or changed hands after that date.