Check your rates

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Roger Messenger of the rating consultants Wilks, Head & Eve, is advising those heading up large Lottery funded projects to check their rates payments, as they may be eligible for a reduction.
Many Lottery funded buildings are rated on the ‘contractors’ basis’, a valuation methodology based on an adjusted rebuilding cost and used to value unusual commercial properties for which there is no ready market comparison. The calculation is done by the Valuation Office Agency of the Inland Revenue.
Case law since the seventies has apparently established that the value of any third-party capital grants towards the building (such as Lottery grants) may be deducted from the rebuilding cost, thereby reducing the rateable value and rates payable. In practice, Messenger warns, the VOA is unlikely to have taken the grant contribution into account in making its calculation, so the ratepayer will need to appeal for a reassessment. And those affected will also need to fight their corner over the level of discount applied, as the VOA may not automatically grant a pound-for-pound reduction. Messenger says this issue has become of increasing significance since the Lottery began, because of the increase in capital grants made for ‘unusual’ premises, such as sports facilities, museums and even the Dome. It may be worth contacting the relevant professionals if you think the discount could apply to your property.

For further information contact Roger Messenger at Wilks, Head & Eve on 020 7637 8471 or e-mail rmessenger@wilks-head.co.uk