Have you missed the deadline for serving appeals against the 2010 Rating List in order to reduce the cost of your business rates?
Cian O’Carroll, Associate Director in DTZ’s National Rating team based in Leeds explains that all may not be lost:
“The Government announced in the Autumn Statement on the 3 December 2014 that any appeals that were lodged against the Rateable Value of a property after 1 April 2015 would not, if they were successful, have the savings backdated to the start of the list – 1 April 2010, as has been the case previously, but they would be limited to 1 April 2015. The Government would basically admit on the one hand that you had been overcharged, but would be keeping five years’ worth of your refund, leaving just two years benefit up until 31 March 2017.
This deadline has now passed, so any owners/occupiers who have not already lodged appeals look likely to miss out on the majority of any savings that may be achieved.
This does not of course mean that appeals should not now be served – if the Rateable Value is excessive, it is important for a business to address this in order to reduce their costs as much as possible. There could still be savings made for the next two years, and, as a result of Transitional Arrangements, savings made on the 2010 List can result in lower bills for the 2017 List as well.
So what should you do? Bearing in mind the Rateable Value of a property can increase as well as decrease, it is vital to fully understand the position before doing anything. The old saying “look before you leap” springs to mind. A Chartered Surveyor with experience of the Rating system would usually be able to tell fairly quickly if a property was significantly under, or over, assessed, and reputable firms would be able to provide impartial advice.
There are also various reliefs and allowances that an occupier might be entitled to, which again might have been overlooked. Retail relief for example can be obtained for occupiers of warehouses and other types of property depending on the type of occupation, is it not simply limited to the high street. Empty Rates remains a particularly sore point with occupiers and owners, however, this cost can also be minimised with careful planning.
In some instances, even though the deadline for serving appeals has passed, it may still be possible for surveyors to obtain savings going back to 1 April 2010. All is therefore not lost, and rate payers can still reduce their ongoing occupational costs and plan for the future.”