Rating

Rates are a significant overhead for those involved with non-domestic property. Ratepayers can seek to limit their liability both by challenging the rateable value of their properties and by taking points in respect of the complex billing procedure.

Where a ratepayer is unhappy with the way in which his property is treated in the rating list, he may make a proposal for the list to be altered. If the valuation officer does not agree with the proposal, he refers the disagreement to the Valuation Tribunal (a bench of lay members). Either party can appeal from the Valuation Tribunal to the Lands Tribunal (where there is a complete rehearing). Appeals from the Lands Tribunal are to the Court of Appeal and can only be on a point of law.

Where a bill is presented but the ratepayer does not pay, the billing authority can apply to the magistrates for a liability order. Issues can arise in this forum on a range of questions which include: whether the defendant is the ratepayer, whether the hereditament is occupied or unoccupied and whether the ratepayer is entitled to charitable relief, whether the demand has been properly served.

Members of Chambers have considerable experience in advising in relation to the full range of rating matters and in appearing in Tribunals and courts on rating matters. Indeed, members have advised and appeared in almost all of the major rating cases in recent years (both in England and Wales and abroad).

These include:

• BT v. Sanderson (on the valuation of BT's core networks in England and Wales, the most recent and most complex case on the receipts and expenditure method) and the subsequent complaint to the European Commission that the settlement of the BT case involved several billion pounds worth of state aid to BT.
• Best Origin v. Commissioner for Rating & Valuation (a case about Hong Kong's Government rent which may raise important issues on the receipts and expenditure method)
• Imperial College v. Ebdon, Monsanto v. Farris and Eastbourne B.C. and Wealden D.C. v. Allen (the leading recent cases on the contractor's basis method of valuation)
• H.J. Banks v. Speight (valuation of opencast coalmines)
• Harrods v. Baker (valuation of the Knightsbridge store)
• Orange PCS v. Bradford (an important decision of the Court of Appeal on the application of the rating hypothesis)
• Coventry & Solihull Waste Disposal v. Russell (a House of Lords decision on the application of regulations concerning the assessment of combined heat and power plant)
• R. (on the application of Corus UK Ltd.) v. Valuation Office Agency (on the duty owed by the valuation officer to act fairly)
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints v. Gallagher (exemptions for buildings occupied by religious bodies)
• Encon Insulation v. Nottingham City Council (the leading case on whether a demand notice was duly served).

In addition, two of the three editors of the standard textbook, Ryde on Rating & the Council Tax, are members of Chambers.