Seismic changes to business rates imminent
BUSINESS owners across the North West are bracing themselves for the largest changes to business rates for a generation – bigger than Brexit, according to Colliers International, the global commercial real estate agency and consultancy.
Draft rateable values are published today (Friday September 30) by the Valuation Office Agency, giving every business its latest base figure with which they can calculate their business rates bill.
In recent days, the Government has published other data (transitional relief and multipliers) that enables ratepayers to calculate their business rates liability from next April.
Owing to an administrative website error by the VOA on Tuesday, tens of thousands of ratepayers new rateable values were accidentally made live on the VOA website for a brief period.
All regions of the country except London can expect business rates reductions. Specific rateable values seen by Colliers International show some North East reductions of 65%.
However, the best shopping streets in London can expect unprecedented rates rises. Bond Street will climb by more than 100% with Westfield White City braced for 62% rises. Colliers is also able to reveal 50% rateable value increases for some of the floors in The Shard.
London Regent’s Street can expect close to 40% increases for the prime retail locations whereas Euston Tower can expect between 30 and 40% increases in rateable value.
Adam Burke director and head of rating at the North West offices of Colliers International in Manchester and Liverpool, said: “The government is making it clear that three out of four business rates bills will stay the same or fall.
“But they are not falling enough. Some depressed parts of the UK should be expecting 40% reductions in business rates: these latest proposals mean they will only see a fall of two per cent next year. Likewise, we were expecting increases in London, but our models didn’t include three-digit increases in two years for some parts of central London.
“By limiting the downward transition for much of the country, depressed areas already buckling under their business rates’ bills will struggle to see the much-vaunted government ‘fairness’ in these business rates figures.”
