Tech Development Company reduces business rates with RVA Surveyors
Case study:
Tech Development Company | Cambridge
A technology development company based in Cambridge with over 100 years of combined experience.
KEY
FACTS
£11,382
SAVINGS
Office
PROPERTY TYPE
The Client
Located in Cambridge, our client is a technology and software development company with over 100 years of combined experience, assisting businesses across the country by providing solution roadmaps, troubleshooting, and supplement existing teams.
The Problem
To ensure the client’s business rates liabilities were reflective of the property and its value, there were multiple discrepancies that needed to be rectified.
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) had the properties rateable value (RV) set at £64,000, which was higher than the rent agreed between the landlord and client and should be reflective of the properties value if on the market.
It was also found that the property was set within the incorrect scheme and did not match with similar properties in the vicinity. This not only inflated the clients’ RV but increased their tone to £300m2.
The Solution
Once an expert surveyor visited the property to conduct a thorough inspection, a Challenge was submitted under the Check Challenge Appeal (CCA) process on the grounds of the property RV and scheme not reflecting the property and the surveyors’ findings.
By moving to the correct scheme, this will ensure the property matches with comparable properties in the area, and in turn reduce the overall tone/m2 and bring the rateable value more in line with the rent.
The Outcome
RVA Surveyors were successful in the Challenge to move the client’s property onto the correct scheme, leading to overall reductions in rateable value from £64,000 to £56,000 and tone from £300/m2 to £165/m2.
With the success of this case, our client was able to save over £11,300 backdated to April 2023 (start of current ratings list) and now ensures that their business rates liabilities are correct.
