The 2010 Rating List

www.dunlopheywood.com July 2010

Roots : Shoots : Opportunity?

Stuart Hicks BSc (Hons) MRICS IRRV (Hons)Director, Dunlop Heywood

stuart.hicks@dunlopheywood.com 0161 602 3374

Member 1992 : Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Member: Institute of Revenues Rating & Valuation

Member : Rating Surveyors Association

Who am I ?

Member : Rating Surveyors Association

Member : Chartered Management Institute

Former Chairman : British Retail Consortium Rating Panel (NW)

Recognised as a leading rating advisor across the UK in respect of various categories of

specialist property and empty rates liability.

Specialist in creating strategic solutions for commercial property

in a business rates context

The turmoil of recent times presents the Valuation Office Agency with real challenges in establishing the correct level of value for commercial properties entered in the 2010 Rating List . The valuation date employed is 1 April 2008. It is easy to forget the panic that surrounded the banks and the general economy at that time – what is the correct level of value?

2010 Rating List – Valuation Date 1 April 2008

Is the ball going up or down?

Like the photo, the valuation date is a snap shot. For those undertaking valuations preparing the 2010 Rating List the work was very difficult to undertake. Only now with the benefit of hindsight are we able to understand what the likely pressures on commercial property values were at 1 April 2008.

Some statistics since the UK recession beganSource : The Times 29 August 2009 and Estates Gazette 5 September 2009

• 34,718 businesses have gone bust

• 807,000 extra people are now unemployed

• 176,090 people have declared themselves insolvent

• 55,600 homes have been repossessed

• £19,684 fall in value, average home

andand

• 78% drop in aggregate worth of AIM property sector shares (March 2009)

The Valuation Date: Market evidence v Valuation Office Agency view…

VOA

Valuation Date – 1 April 2008

VOA

The Valuation Office Agency believes that the tipping point of the recession was after 1 April2008 – the valuation date. But available evidence suggests that values were falling wellbefore this date. This is not generally reflected in the 2010 Rating List.

Things

To

Consider

Know your market Understand the

operational business

Assess the

opportunity

Act decisively

Empty Property Rates Strategy

Manage the appeal

process effectively

Challenge

convention

Consider

Target the right individualwithin the VOA

Negotiate firm

but fair

Act decisively

RISKSThink creatively

Results…

Clarence Dock, LeedsActing for Lend Lease Retail – 40% reductions for vacancy

Genting Casinos UKAllowances secured across the UK as a result of the smoking ban.

Peel PortsSecured significant 8 figure savings overtwo rating lists.

reductions for vacancy

Roadchef MotorwaysSecured significant 6 figure refunds in 8 weeks

Sellafield LtdNew valuation methodology being advanced in respect of single assessment of RV £67,500,000.

Cost Saving

Opportunities

There are real opportunities to reduce occupational costs for commercial property occupiers and owners through taking carefully considered advice from professional consultants.

‘Complex problems often have quick,

easy to understand, wrong answers’

stuart.hicks@dunlopheywood.com Tel: 0161 602 3374

Don’t get it wrong; rateable values can go up as well as down!