The Client
Hudsons Bar and Grill - Bath
Hudsons restaurant is a long established steak house specialising in well sourced dry aged top quality steak. The building is beautiful, traditional bath stone and the restaurant is simple and elegant. What they do, they do well and have a great name for quality.
The Instruction
The client who ran a successful restaurant business felt aggrieved in that his assessment appeared far higher than other licenced premises in the area. We were recommended to him by another surveying firm as the best Business Rates agents in the area.
The Result
All assessments are based on what the Valuation Office feel the hypothetical tenant would pay in rent for a property, vacant to let, as at the valuation date which is 01/04/2015.
The issue here was that there is a tendency for the Valuation office to assess the value of the business in the premises and not the value of the premises empty and available to let. This often results in poorly run businesses having low assessments and successful businesses such as our client having ever higher assessments.
Rating principles and case law are clear in that we are not valuing the business, just the premises.
On that front a check and then challenge appeal were raised with supporting evidence to show that the client's assessment was out of line with other licenced properties. The Valuation Office after protracted negotiations agreed to reduce the assessment from the £69,500 to £48,500… A 30% reduction.
Due to retail relief this resulted in a saving/refund to the client of over £37,625.
