Rating Service

WHR specialises in the provision of rating advice and has considerable experience throughout the country acting on behalf of owners and occupiers. We pride ourselves on being at the leading edge in the provision of advice, solving and providing solutions to our clients' rating issues. We represent our clients in discussions with the Valuation Office and Billing Authorities as may be appropriate.

On receiving instructions from our clients, we will meet with them, inspect the property as appropriate and thereafter, design and implement a solution to reduce our clients' liability.

Rates are a tax that are paid by the occupier of a property or, in the case of empty properties, the company entitled to occupy the property. Each property is assessed to its Rateable Value and, broadly speaking, represents the rent that would have been paid for the property on 1st April 2008. These values came into effect on 1st April 2010 and are used to calculate the liability attributable to individual properties.

Based upon these values, Billing Authorities will send our rate demands on an annual basis.

These assessments may be challenged at any time or following a change to the property or the locality. Examples of these would include the demolition of part of the property, building works that are affecting the property either internally or externally, or other factors such as roadworks, bypass works, that affect the notional rent that we must assume.

The range of advice that we provide may be categorised as follows:-

1. Advice upon the Rateable Value attributable to individual properties.
2. Lodging appeals against individual assessments and negotiating with the Valuation Office.
3. Representing clients before the Valuation Tribunal and Lands Tribunal where appropriate.
4. Negotiating refunds with the Billing Authority.
5. Providing budgetary advice in relation to annual liabilities or in the case of a proposed new build, the potential liability that will be attributable to it.
6. Checking rate demands and advising upon their payment.
7. Advice upon the payment of empty rates and the design of strategies to reduce the liability.

We provide advice to occupiers and owners alike. Owners of the property are entitled to make appeals even where they are not in occupation and the property may be subject to tenancy.

Gareth Buckley is a committee member of the Rating Surveyors Association which engages with the Valuation Office and CLG over rating issues and which is regularly consulted over changes in legislation and the Government's thinking in the field of rating. This allows WHR to keep our clients advised on the Government's approach to rating issues.

Empty Rates

Following a change to the legislation, full rates are now payable in relation to empty properties. There are certain exemptions that may be applied and strategies that may be available to reduce in part or entirely the clients' liability.

Following the vacation of a property, in the case of an industrial or storage property, 6 months relief is allowed and thereafter, full rates become payable. In the case of all other properties, 3 months relief is allowed following which full rates become payable unless an exemption is applicable.

It should be possible to design a strategy to reduce an empty rate liability between 77% and 65% depending upon the property involved.