Rating

The surveyors who comprise Hughes Ellard’s rating team have approaching 80 years of combined experience in both public and private sector organisations, including experience within the Valuation Office of the Inland Revenue.

Whilst rating is an assessment of rental value as at a given date, presently 1 April 2003 in relation to the 2005 Rating List, it is also an exercise in achieving equity between ratepayers and their properties.

Hughes Ellard’s detailed transactional databases provide an excellent foundation for providing proper considered advice as to the rental value as at the appropriate date, which is supplemented by the detailed knowledge of case law and practical experience of handling rating appeals through to Valuation Tribunal or Lands Tribunal.

If all this sounds simple, then bear in mind that the best rating surveyors need to synthesise accurate and detailed rental evidence from the real world with the hypothetical constructs introduced by rating legislation and case law. It is often a detailed understanding of the latter and its impact on the property or particular circumstances that produce the real meat of savings for occupiers.