PROXIMITY LONDON
CLIENT BRIEFOn the face of it, this business rates appeal had no obvious chance of success for us and our client. Despite the 2008 lease rent being set some way…
CLIENT BRIEFOn the face of it, this business rates appeal had no obvious chance of success for us and our client. Despite the 2008 lease rent being set some way above the 2010 Rating List rateable value (the broadly equivalent open-market rental hypothesis used for property taxation) we put our property tax specialists into action to re-examine the evidence and appeal the rateable value set by the Valuation Office, which had used ‘comparable’ settled assessments of other buildings locally.
The Proximity building, about 20,000sq ft of offices over 5 floors in Marylebone Road, London, was quite distinct (in our opinion) from the comparables used by the Valuation Officer to justify the tax assessment applied – and which he refused to reduce, necessitating a full-scale Valuation Tribunal to resolve (2 years after lodging our appeal case).
OUR PROFESSIONAL APPROACHThe case for Tribunal (the appeal court for business rates appeals disputes) was centred on how credible the actual lease rent was, and whether it should be taken as the best evidence of rateable value under the hypothetical rent theory which is the basis of rating valuation. Unpicking the lease rents, comparing with other rents, comparing Proximity’s building with other local offices etc. all took a great deal of patient analysis and focused specialist work.
We then wrote and presented our case, assisted by our specialist lawyers, to the Tribunal. The result was 100% success for the client – we were awarded the valuation for which we had argued. Whilst one always believes in one’s case put forward, this was an outstandingly good result, especially in light of the unpromising outset appraisal which, on its face, strongly suggested that no reduction at all would be possible!
THE SUCCESS STORYThis unexpectedly good result yielded approximately £280,000 of savings were delivered back to a delighted client! £280k straight into the bottom line. Our expected savings had been £100k but we smashed that (as they say on X Factor) by nearly 200% on top! This fantastic achievement was an unexpected and welcome surprise following other agents unsuccessful appeals locally on their buildings.
At Ask-re, our specialists never lose focus, never give up and always get a result for the client – even if we have to go through Valuation Tribunals and Arbitrations to get there! But even so, local London management at Proximity and Omnicom Group Europe were very quick to praise our efforts.
The Ask “difference” is results and track record borne out of effective performance, specialist experience and professional client service – we look forward to adding to it.