Overview
All commercial property in England & Wales are subject of Non-Domestic Rates or Business Rates as they are more commonly referred to.
Non-Domestic Rates are often a significant overhead for commercial property occupiers and owners.
Rating law and the determination of disputes is a specialist area of legal work. We work in conjunction with specialist Chartered Surveyors in providing advice and advocacy to clients disputing their liability to pay Non-Domestic Rates.
Stuart Ward has advised on Rating matters since 1993 and acts for well-known High Street names and clients you might not necessarily expect to be engaged in such disputes.
We are regularly involved in:
- Assisting and advising Chartered Surveyors challenging Rateable Value;
- Exemptions and Reliefs in respect of occupied and unoccupied property;
- Agricultural exemptions;
- Identifying Hereditaments;
- Representation on appeals before the Local Valuation Tribunal and the Lands Chamber;
- Defending Liability Summonses in the Magistrates Courts and appeals by way of case stated to the High Court;
- Rates mitigation schemes.
Those advising clients in this area have seen an increasing emphasis on the Valuation Office Agency defending its valuations of non-domestic property. No doubt influenced by Central Government’s need to maximise revenue.
Complaints
We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure here.