Business rates consultation causes rancour over valuations
0
Debacle: Business rates consultation
Local authority representatives are unhappy with government proposals to remove their right to challenge business rate valuations on properties other than their own.
A consultation on regulations intended to speed up the non-domestic rates appeals process was launched by government earlier this month.
It proposed removing “interested party” status from councils, removing their right to initiate a review of individual ratings list entries.
The consultation said: “Under the current system local authorities are able, in certain circumstances, to initiate an appeal through the existing proposal process, even if they are not the owner or occupier of the property, and can register an interest in an on-going appeal.
“They will retain the opportunity to use the reformed system for property they own or occupy.”
Richard Harbord, former chief executive of Boston Borough Council, and member of a steering group advising the government on its business rate retention initiative, said: “Basically we are not very happy.
“Our argument has always been that … we have a material interest in ensuring rating valuations are correct and we should have full ‘interested persons’ status — i.e. be able to appeal against list entries.
“What these amendments do is remove any rights of billing authorities to make any form of proposal at all. This is not good.”
The consultation said: “We are aware that there remain issues that need to be resolved, including the role of local authorities, and detail that still needs to be considered.”
It said the government would continue to work on the detail during the consultation and that it wanted to “keep the dialogue open”.
But Harbord added: “My concern is that to produce draft regulations for consultation without addressing the role of local authorities is absurd.
“For us to respond to the consultation, we need to know which role is being proposed.
“The current situation is that if … the billing authority role is not addressed, we will actually be heading towards 100% retention [of business rates] with fewer rights than we had when it was pooled.”
The new appeals system is due to come into effect on 1 April 2017.
Last week, a valuations expert warned that a separate proposal in the consultation risks increasing — rather than reducing — the burden on local authorities.
