The Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) National Ratepayers Forum has agreed to set up a working party to consider ways of building up confidence in the VOA rating list.
Last week, members of the forum, which includes representatives from the British Property Federation, Communities and Local Government, the British Council for Offices, the Association of Town Centre Managers, the CBI and the British Retail Consortium, agreed to set up a working party in an effort to reduce unnecessary and costly appeals.
Charles Partridge, director of rating at Lambert Smith Hampton, will meet with Niall Walsh, director of operations at the VOA, to agree the next steps in setting up the working party.
In an article for Estates Gazette following VOA’s fifth modern rating revaluation, Partridge said that it was important for the VOA to build trust in its rating lists. It had worked hard at improving the accuracy of the list by way of better-trained and experienced valuers; improved property records; increasingly sophisticated IT support; and enhanced data capture.
However, he said that despite this, “the rating system is creaking at the seams. Many would say that it is no longer fit for purpose. Businesses, local councils, rating surveyors, including many working in the VOA, recognise its shortcomings and its failure to meet the needs and expectations of its customers – ratepayers, billing authorities, Communities and Local Government and the Welsh Assembly.”
Following the forum’s decision, Partridge said that he was “very pleased” but that matters were still at a “very preliminary stage”.
