05 Dec 19 by Nicola Murrish
Vickery Holman are delighted to announce the successful negotiation of an empty office building undergoing refurbishment from £162,000 Rateable Value (RV) to £0 RV, resulting in a total of £35,000 in business rates savings over the 5 month programme of works.
Acting on behalf of PKF Francis Clark: Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers, Vickery Holman have successfully negotiated a significant business rates reduction and saving on their premises in Exeter. The modern two story office building was undergoing substantial refurbishment works over a period of 5 months, rendering the whole property incapable of “beneficial occupation”. Where works are being undertaken to such an extent, whether such works are structural or not, may justify a proposal to alter the rating list.
Lewis Banfield, Partner at PKF Francis Clark commented “Inevitably any property move involves significant cost and being able to mitigate some of these is very helpful. Vickery Holman identified the opportunity for us to reduce our business rates costs while our new property was empty and under refurbishment and dealt with the relevant paperwork and submissions on our behalf, resulting significant saving of business rates. From our perspective, the process was smooth, and required little direct input from us.”
Nicola Murrish, Chartered Rating Surveyor in the Truro office commented “whether a property is capable of beneficiation occupation, in repair or is being redeveloped has been subject to much legal scrutiny for rating purposes. In this case there was a clear and structured programme of works, which were being undertaken whilst negotiations took place. We were able to provide evidence of this to support our case and the assessment was successfully reduced to £0 for the 5 month refurbishment period. The revised assessment has been back dated to the start of the works and a rebate issued to our client.”
Vickery Holman have a dedicated team of chartered surveyors who have the knowledge and expertise to help and advise on all areas of business rates consultancy. If you require any assistance with a business rates appeal, an empty commercial property, or a property undergoing refurbishment, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the business rates team.
