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Martin Sibley, the VOA South West Group LRVF Co-ordinator, introduced the guest speakers
John Reeves the South West Group Valuation Officer was unable to attend the Plymouth meeting but did address the Taunton Forum. He spoke enthusiastically about the w ork of the local forums, saying that the mutual benefits deriving from them should, in his view, be highly valued. He has been following the activities with interest.
Kevin Sedgman (Group Revaluation Project Manager) gave us the latest news on the business rates revaluation.
Key dates
15 th March 2005 - The valuation office has to match the 2000 rating list with the 2005 list.
31 st March 2005 - This is the last date that an appeal against the 2000 rating list can be made.
1 st April 2005 - The new list comes into effect.
The new Rating List will, we anticipate, produce less appeals, although it is possible that there will be a higher number of appeals than before proceeding to the Valuation Tribunal.
Following the consultation, the ODPM confirmed the following changes:
- Only one proposal allowed for each set of circumstances
- Proposals on more than one ground allowed only where Material and Effective Dates are the same
- Removal of Effective Date limitations
- Proposal can be made at any time during the life of the Rating List
The VOA Website would be enhanced to show any special category codes relating to a property, providing a more detailed description of the property type
The website would also carry more information on appeals, showing the number of appeals currently outstanding against a particular entry, together with details of the sub-programme, the outcome of any appeal, dates of tribunal hearings etc. It will also be possible to appeal on line via a link from the rating list entry
It was confirmed by Kevin that no statistical model is used to calculate a valuation, the VOA base valuations on rent trends.
Kevin then went on to recap on methods of valuation used to arrive at rateable values.
We have been invited to speak to various local trade organisations about the revaluation and related matters as a spin off from the LRVF process and are happy to attend further meetings to address your individual memberships.
There is another revaluation taking place. Colin Lord (Group Council Tax Revaluation Team Leader) explained the basis of Council tax valuations. He then went on to give details of how the revaluation process is to be carried out. For the purposes of the revaluation, the value of a property will be considered at the 1st April 2005, and the physical circumstances at the 1st April 2007, when the revaluation will take effect. The new valuation bands have yet to be decided.
A computer-assisted process will be used taking into consideration the value of groups of about 1000 properties in a location, based on sales information, and the different attributes of each property in order to produce a banding for each one. There are 17 different attributes including the type of property, the age of the property, the number of rooms, the number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms, parking facilities, outbuildings and other factors.
Although the VOA holds a significant amount of data on domestic dwellings, there are gaps which are being filled from sources such as local authorities (for example from planning permissions and building control approvals, social housing landlords, estate agent sales details, questionnaires or property inspections).
Details of sales prices of homes will be gathered via the stamp duty office or the land registry and reviewed manually to ensure that t represents a fair market price for that property.
To calibrate the software to ensure that it provides accurate valuations, the programme will run on the data, the results will then be reviewed, the programme will be adjusted accordingly and re-run to improve the accuracy before it is used to produce valuations. It will be subject to vigorous quality control measures and sales data that does not reflect a true market value will be excluded.
It is also important to stress that the VOA will not rely solely on the software. It will inform the revaluation but the VOA will make the ultimate decision as to whether the value produced by the model is accurate r needs to be adjusted.
No decisions on the valuation bands that will apply in England have been taken by central Government. In Wales, where a revaluation took effect on 1 April, the bands were adjusted to reflect changes in house prices since 1991 and one further band was added at the top end above band H.
Quintin Dale spoke about the relationship between business rates and council tax.
A composite property is one which comprises both "domestic and non-domestic property" and is in the same occupation. eg : Flat above a shop - If the shop and the flat are let to different people or if the occupier of the shop lets out the flat to someone else then this is not a composite. However if the owner/occupier of the shop also lives in the flat then this is a composite. "Domestic property" is defined in Section 66 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.
Whether the rooms occupied by persons working from home are treated as non domestic property will be dependent on the facts of each individual case. The Valuation Office Agency have published a leaflet "Working at or from home" which is available on request and on line at:
http://www.voa.gov.uk/publications/public_fact_sheets/work_home/work_home_1.html
Common types of composite properties are public houses, hotels and guesthouses and village shops. Farms can also be composite although the non domestic part will not be rateable because agricultural land is exempt.
Whilst Plymouth did not win funding through the City Challenge its consolation prize was an award for regeneration funding.
Tim talked about the topographical and geological problems involved in reclaiming such a difficult site - which were immense.
He has agreed to come back to a future meeting to let us know the current state of the project and what the future holds and will be writing a short article which will be circulated to LRVF members.
The rateable value of a composite property represents the rent which would reasonably attach to the non domestic element if the whole (composite) property was let in 1998 from year to year on full repairing and insuring terms
The value of a composite property for Council Tax is the amount which would reasonably attach to the domestic use of the property if the whole of the property was sold on the open market on 1 April 1991.
The owner and the chef both live in a hotel and have two self-contained flats.
Both the manager's living accommodation and the chef's accommodation each require to have a band attached. This is because they comprise units of separate living accommodation and under the Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings) Order 1993 are required to be treated as individual dwellings. All of the remaining area of the hotel would comprise non domestic property and this would have a rateable value placed on it.
Cedric Sutton of Caradon District Council (Plymouth meeting) and Ruth Pearson of Sedgemoor District Council (Taunton meeting) gave presentations on billing issues. Here is a brief account of some of the points covered.
Ratepayers must apply for this relief , must do so annually and are advised to apply as soon as possible. However, for the 2005/06 financial year, the deadline for applications is 30 th September 2006.
There is no need for agents to be involved in this process.
A small business is defined as one with a Rateable value of under £15,000 (£21,500 in London) and subject to certain rules relating to the property or properties they occupy. Those businesses with a rateable value of less than £10,000 will have the relief applied and will have the benefit of the reduced multiplier, (41.5p) applied.
Those qualifying businesses with a rateable value of between £10,000 and £15,000 will not receive the rate relief but will still have the reduced multiplier applied. This is known as the buffer zone. Ratepayers must apply to the billing authorities for the reduced multiplier.
Further in formation is also available at http://www.mybusinessrates.gov.uk/
Instalment payments are usually paid over a 10 month period. This can be increased to 12 months at the ratepayer's request (at the discretion of the council). However, billing authorities will generally not extend payment periods into the next financial year. The legislation concerning the payment of business rates is the same across all billing authorities. However, if a bill is not paid, billing authorities can choose to take different courses of action.
If, whilst in the process of applying for Small Business Rate Relief, a ratepayer receives a first payment demand, the ratepayer should pay the instalment and if relief is granted adjustments will be made in respect of future instalments .
Payments can be made by debit card or cheque free of charge but direct debit is the preferred method of payment. The issue of payment by credit card is currently under discussion. It has been suggested that the use of credit cards will be charged for, however this has not yet been decided.
Mark Burstow (Group Customer Services Manager) talked about some of the work that the Revaluation Helpdesk staff have been in involved in.
Summary valuations raised two types of query: "Factual" and "Valuation"
Where a ratepayer feels that the factual information that we hold about his/her property is incorrect, for example, the areas shown for the property on the summary valuation are not accurate, ie an extension to the property has not been included. These are dealt with within 20 working days.
A "case" is created for a "referencer" (surveyor) to examine. A check is made to see if there are any outstanding appeals. The case would then be resolved via telephone or a physical inspection of the premises.
An increase in rateable value that the ratepayer is not happy with, perhaps because the ratepayer does not believe the value reflects the true market rent.
In one example a "case" was raised, the valuer discussed the issue with the ratepayer and it was agreed that the first floor was over assessed. The 2000 rating list was amended and a new 2005 case was created to amend the 2005 list rateable value. No appeal or inspection was required.
Other basic enquiries included requests for confirmation that the rateable value was not the rates bill and for conversion of areas shown in summary valuations from metric to imperial measurements
Mark Heseltine of the Devon and Cornwall Valuation Tribunal gave a short talk to the Plymouth Forum about appeal procedures.
Tony Capp was unable to attend the February meetings. His update, which is attached was given by Martin Sibley, the LRVF Co-ordinator for the South West Group.
There being no further business, Martin Sibley thanked everyone for attending and advised the members that the next meeting is likely to be held at the end of May / early June.
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