The Enterprise Act 2016 has received the Royal Assent. The provisions of this Act pave the way for a major shake-up of the business rates appeals system. The changes will be put into place from 1 April 2017 and will impose significant new burdens on ratepayers. ...Read More

The Government has announced the rate that will be used to value specialist properties, for which there is no general market, for the forthcoming 2017 Rating Revaluation. This rate will continue to be prescribed and, for 2017, the rate used for most properties will be 4.4% in England, with a reduced rate of 2.6% for educational, healthcare and defence properties. This rather technical announcement may sound like a paradise for rating nerds but it is a matter that will affect the liabilities of all ratepayers. ...Read More

As part of its review of the administration of the business rates system the Government has published a consultation paper seeking views on whether it should carry out more frequent revaluations of property for business rates. At present revaluations should be carried out every five years, although the next revaluation, which will come into effect on 1 April 2017, was postponed for two years from 2015 to 2017. Revaluations are the means of keeping the tax base up to date. Each revaluation will give "winners" and "losers" but, in principle, it must make sense to keep the tax base as up to date as possible. ...Read More

The Chancellor's Budget 2016 business rates announcements seem likely to disappoint ratepayers who were hoping for some major reform of the business rates regime. The structural review that was described as aiming to make the tax "fit for the twenty-first century" appears to have delivered little or no fundamental change, and has come down to the introduction of e-billing and an "aim" to carry out more frequent revaluations. The more immediate measures announced in the budget focus very heavily on rate relief for smaller businesses and small properties and will not change the UK's position as the top of the league for highest property taxes. ...Read More

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has dismissed an appeal by the Valuation Officer and has determined that the valuations of three independent schools in North London should be arrived at on a contractor's test basis, because the rental evidence referred to by the Valuation Officer was not sufficient to provide a reliable basis of valuation. ...Read More