Services

Rating

As your long-term strategic partner, we use our in-depth technical knowledge of rating law and practice to proactively seek out opportunities to limit your liabilities and save your business money. 

Forensically focused on always achieving the best results, we act for investors, developers and major industrial and corporate clients, with a particular focus on multi-asset UK licensed leisure occupiers and landlord portfolios. 

We never outsource our work, use our own in-depth proprietary data and underpin everything we do with the highest levels of due diligence and compliance that you would expect from a team that is part of a major banking group. Our clients fully trust our approach which can be seen by our many long-term client relationships.  

Rates Mitigation

With recent changes to Empty Rates Relief Regulations, active management of vacant and under-used property is key in minimising your liabilities.

Through proactive and continuous monitoring of client portfolios our aim is to reduce your business rates liabilities outside of the traditional appeal process. We get results by ensuring that changes are quickly identified and reflected in your liabilities and new incentives, legislation and case law are correctly interpreted and applied by councils and the Valuation Office Agency. 

Historic Rates Audit

Through our historic rates audits process, using our proprietary databases, we investigate and interrogate all your rating liabilities, even ones where your property interest has been disposed of.   

From searching for missed opportunities and securing overpayments to reviewing changes to the rating list and portfolio, we forensically review, verify and reconcile each assessment across multiple error types, ensuring legislative changes and case law have been correctly applied.   With no minimum threshold and all work done inhouse no stone is left unturned, and every opportunity identified on your behalf. 

Rating Appeals

Appeal strategies can differ from portfolio to portfolio. Whether you are focused on cash flow or mitigating future increases, want to be cautious or to challenge, we align our service to your strategic goals.  

Working with you to develop and present the strongest tactical case for minimising your business rates liabilities at appeal, our aim is not for the quickest but for the best results. 

Rates Management

Our Rates Payment Management team (RPM) is a vital part of our appeal and mitigation services.  Unlike many competitor teams, our RPM team acts not only as Administrators, but use their full visibility to proactively interrogate all rating issues. Information is shared with the wider team and is used to manage each rate payment for the benefit of your business. 

Intermittent occupation

If you have properties vacant for over three months, or six for industrial, intermittent occupation is a good way to mitigate business rates. We introduce a temporary occupier for a minimum 42-day period and after they have vacated your relief entitlement is then reset.  We repeat this process until your interest is disposed of or the property re-let. 
 

Consultancy

We offer a wider strategic consultancy service to deal with one-off special projects, government consultations, completion notices and managing new build and refurbished projects.  We can also support with draft list representations - the 2023 draft list will be published in December 2022.  

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