Are you a winner or a loser in the Government’s new business rates review? There’s a mixed picture across Shropshire and Mid Wales, according to agents.
Many individual retailers in the county could see the average rateable value actually decrease in 2017 under the fresh calculations from the Valuation Office Agency – but some small town centre shops face a sharp rise.
Shropshire companies can check how the new rules impact on them by logging onto the Valuation Office Agency website and entering their postcode or street address.
The agency says: “We recently revalued all 1.96 million non-domestic properties in England and Wales. These new rateable values are based on the rental value of properties on 1 April 2015, and will be used to calculate business rate bills from 1 April 2017.
“We have also updated our online service, based on detailed research into what ratepayers want and need. Two-thirds of the UK are now using smartphones or tablets to access the web.
“The new service allows ratepayers to use it at a time and in a way that suits them. Ratepayers involved in testing have it found it straight-forward, jargon-free and useful.”
Charles Howell of Cooper Green Pooks in Shrewsbury, says: “Whilst the large increases in rateable values proposed for shops in the West End of London have been well publicised, in Shropshire and Mid Wales there is a mixed picture.
“Looking at a range of provisional assessments in the area reveals that, for example, a shop in Pride Hill, Shrewsbury currently has a rateable value of £100,000, but a reduction to £80,500 is proposed whereas a small shop in Wyle Cop - popular with small independent retailers - could see an increase from £9,300 to £14,000.
“For factory units, in Telford a typical unit at Halesfield could see an increase from £45,500 Rateable Value to £53,500 whereas a similar property at Mochdre Industrial Estate, Newtown could see a reduction from £38,750 to £34,750.
“Offices show similar variations. A large building at Shrewsbury Business Park could see a reduction from £185,000 to £138,000, but in Claremont Bank in the town centre the assessment remains the same at £6,700.
“With such a wide variation in assessments, owners and occupiers should check the proposed assessment and take appropriate professional advice from a chartered surveyor or other commercial property specialist.”
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