Law Firm Sees Reduction For Both 2023 and 2026 rating lists.
Case study:
Property Law Firm | North London
Law firm with three properties acorss Barnet, North London, focusing on conveyancing, commercial and residential property.
KEY
FACTS
£15,718.50
TOTAL SAVINGS
Office
PROPERTY TYPE
May ’26
REVIEW COMPLETED
The Client
With three locations across the London Borough of Barnet, North London, our client is a well-established law firm specialising in property law including residential conveyancing, commercial property and lease extensions, as well as will and probate services.
The firm assigned RVA Surveyors to review the business rates for its three properties while we were in the 2023 rating list. During an inspection of the firm’s head office, our surveyor identified an opportunity to secure a significant reduction in both the 2023 and 2026 rating lists.
The Problem
The premises sits within a modern office building and had been assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) with a rateable value (RV) of £29,500. However, during the inspection our findings revealed that the property had been valued as retail space rather than office space.
To help determine a commercial property’s rateable value, the VOA will place it in a valuation scheme alongside comparable properties in the area to build a ‘fair’ assessment of the premises. The scheme will look at factors such as property type, use, size, and other deciding features to establish its price per square metre (m2).
In this case, the property had been included within a retail scheme covering shops in the London Borough of Barnet, where the base rate ranged from £375 to £625 per m². However, as our client’s premises was an office, the assessment did not accurately reflect the property leading to an incorrect tone and a higher valuation.
The Solution
Following a detailed inspection, an expert surveyor from RVA gathered evidence and submitted a Challenge to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).
Supporting information included photographs, floor plans, measurements, the lease agreement and a marketing brochure solely for the office building. Both the lease and brochure clearly confirmed the premises intention and use as office space.
Our surveyor also requested that the property be moved into a valuation scheme that accurately reflected the property and included comparable properties to ensure fair and accurate liabilities for the client.
The Outcome
RVA Surveyors successfully secured a change in the valuation scheme on behalf of the client, reducing the property’s tone from £375 per m² to £190 per m² and lowered the rateable value from £29,500 to £20,000 leading to £15,718.50 in savings.
Although the VOA’s decision was issued after the start of the new Rating List on 1st April, the Challenge had been submitted before the effective date. This meant the reduction was applied to both the 2023 and 2026 Rating Lists, delivering substantial and ongoing savings for the client.
