Searching questions for Cardiff’s business rate payers
Peter Hurn
01I10I09
The Revaluation of Business Rates
and opening of St David’s 2 pose interesting questions for the rest
of Cardiff’s Business Rate Payers.
On 1st October details
of the 2010 rating revaluation will be made available by the
Valuation Office Agency, the ratings arm of HM Revenue and
Customs. On that day, business occupiers all over England and
Wales will be able to check their new business rating, which is due
to come into effect in 2010.
Such revaluations take
place every five years, but seldom has the timing been more
critical for business. This revaluation, based on rental
values from April 2008, comes at a time of unprecedented economic
pressure and significantly, just before the next general
election.
The Government therefore
finds itself in the unenviable position of potentially setting
higher business rates just at the point when most businesses are
seeking concessions from the Treasury, not more bad news. At the
same time, Wales is on the cusp of the official opening of its
long-awaited St Davids 2 Development – arguably the most
significant retail, public space and residential development in the
UK today.
With the launch of the
new state-of-the-art shopping centre in the heart of Cardiff’s city
centre, the experience of retailers on London’s Kensington High
Street springs to mind after the opening of the retail and leisure
mammouth, Westfields, in London.
Occupiers of Kensington High Street
applied in their droves to the Valuation Office Agency to revalue
their properties after Westfields opened its doors. They
demanded that the VOA take account of the reduction in footfall
caused by Westfields and the consequent affect on their rental
values.
It will be interesting to
see if Cardiff’s existing retail occupiers will have a similar
claim against the Valuation Office Agency for a reduction in their
rates based on a reduction in footfall following the opening of St
David’s 2.
In any event, businesses
are advised to take a careful look at their business rates position
this autumn.
For further information
contact:
Peter Hurn, Partner peter.hurn@hughjames.com on
029 2022 4871
Huw Roberts, Solicitor huw.roberts@hughjames.com on
029 2022 4871