Rates Mitigation and Recovery

Our rates mitigation strategy incorporates formal appeal action (where appropriate), relief claims and forensic auditing, along with the creative application of technical savings angles that explore a less conventional route.

There can be many reasons why your rating assessment and overall liability may be incorrect. These matters cover:

Rating List Appeals

  • Floor areas
  • Value applied (per sq m)
  • Internal configuration
  • Comparisons with others
  • Mergers/Splits
  • Case Law

Material Changes

  • External:
    • Adjacent building works
    • Road schemes
    • New developments
    • Oversupply
  • Internal:
    • Physical alterations
    • Change of use
Reliefs

  • Under-utilised space
  • Empty property
  • Small business relief
  • Mandatory relief
  • Charitable relief
  • Other

Historic Auditing

  • Overpayments
  • Billing errors
  • Credits on former properties
  • Certification
  • Unclaimed relief
  • Legislative changes

The significant change being introduced from April 2017 is a new ‘Check, Challenge, Appeal’ regime. The major difference with the 2010 rating list appeal system is that a ‘proposal’ will need to set out the substantive reasons at the Challenge stage, along with an alternative valuation backed by supporting evidence.

With the April 2015 valuation date behind us, draft 2017 Rating List published this Autumn and a complex appeal system ahead, forward planning is essential to a rates mitigation game-plan.