In response to measures announced by the Prime Minister and First Minister this week, Brian Rogan, Head of Rating for CBRE Scotland, comments:
“The UK and Scottish Government’s announcements last night impact all sectors of commerce across Scotland, and business owners the length and breadth of the country wake up today to an alien economic landscape. In any reasonable persons eyes this would be a ‘material change of circumstances’ but if Section 13 of the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act is enacted, businesses would be told otherwise by Assessors, in terms of their statutory valuations.
“COVID-19 starkly illustrates the need to retain, in the non-domestic rating legislation, a mechanism to allow material changes of circumstances predicated on changing economic conditions as a route to immediate rate relief for those affected by those changing economic conditions, and in light of Covid-19 it clearly shows why Section 13 of the Act should be binned and consigned to a legislative lockdown of its own.
“We await the Cabinet Secretary confirming what she will do in response to our letter.”