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On 1 April 2005 a general revaluation for rating purposes will take place. Although it is two years away the Valuation Office is already committing a large number of its valuers to the task. The rateable values will be based upon rents being paid for properties at or around 1 April 2003.
The Valuation Office has commenced the task of sending out forms requiring the disclosure of information on rents being paid for shops, offices, factories and warehouses; and business turnover in respect of public houses and other classes of property, whose assessments are determined by the level of trade which is deemed to be reasonably maintainable.
There has been talk of decriminalising the non-return of these forms and the substitution of a fining system starting with a penalty of £100 if a form is not completed and returned within 56 days of issue. A further daily penalty would then apply (in much the same way as the Inland Revenue operates for taxation purposes). However this regime is not yet in force, but may well feature in a Local Government Act this summer.
In the past, transitional relief, or phasing, was incorporated into rate bills to reduce the impact of large increases or decreases in assessments from one revaluation to the next. Apart from making many bills difficult to understand, it has led to a huge raft of additional rules which artificially manipulate the size of the final bill, particularly where an assessment changes during the five year lifetime of a rating list. The Government has committed itself to continuing this process for the 2005 rating lists.
As soon as details emerge of the scheme to be imposed we will publish further information on the matter.
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