The new 2017 Rating List is now live and as you have no doubt seen, and perhaps experienced first-hand, significant increases have occurred in many locations. The 2010 Revaluation List is now closed leaving some 300,000 plus appeals still to be settled.
The 2017 List seeks to rebase Rateable Values which were set at pre-recession levels in April 2008.
The new List assesses rental value at 1st April 2015 and therefore shows higher rental levels reflecting the rental growth in that period.
Consequently, many occupiers have seen significant increases in their Rateable Value and subsequently their rate liability.
The new UBR (rate poundage) has been set at £0.479p for large businesses and £0.466p for Small businesses, with the City of London being set at £0.471p and £0.484p. Crossrail supplement is also applied in Greater London at a rate of £0.02p for businesses with a Rateable Value over RV £70,000 for the duration of the intended five year term of the revaluation.
Transitional provisions have now been confirmed and the table below shows the percentage caps for those with increasing bills. These will apply until March 2022, where appropriate.
There are similar limits on downward bills but sadly those are remote as a result of the revaluation.
Maximum increases:
| Rateable Value | 2017–2018 | 2018–2019 | 2019–2020 | 2020–2021 | 2021–2022 |
|
Up to £20,000 (£28,000 in London) |
5% | 7.5% | 10% | 15% | 15% |
|
Up to £20,001 (£28,001 in London) to £99,999 |
12.5% | 17.5% | 20% | 25% | 25% |
|
Over £100,000 |
42% | 32% | 49% | 16% | 6% |
The Valuation Office Agency has also introduced a new appeal system called Check, Challenge and Appeal. The system is intended on agreeing the factual errors through the ‘Check’ stage which can take up to 12 months to complete and, if accepted, ‘Challenge’ can then be made at a cost to the appellant. The Check stage is mandatory and a Challenge cannot be made until this stage is completed. This has been implemented to prohibit the blanket appeals of the last Revaluation and make sure true cases are heard.
In addition, all applications are now required through the Government Gateway so data verification is now mandatory.
