The commercial real estate agency and consultancy says claims that early teething problems have been ironed out are ‘delusional’ after a freedom of information (FOI) request to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) revealed that 88% of the 2085 respondents in the period April 2017 to March 2018 said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (17% and 71% respectively) with the new system and only 2.7% were very satisfied.

CCA came into force on 1 April 2017 and requires ratepayers to check the information held on the property by the VOA as the first step in the process. Multiple properties held in a portfolio must each be claimed separately, and the identity of the ratepayer must be proven with supporting documentation, which Colliers International argues makes the process cumbersome.

It says the FOI request shows nearly 600 different respondents felt strongly enough to elaborate on their concerns about the system, complaining about lack of simplicity and clarity, calling for information on previous valuations, the search system to work properly, greater speed and the need for guidance notes about how the whole process worked.

There were repeated calls for a simpler method of contacting the agency and the opportunity to put forward the reason for challenging the business rates assessment as part of their online filing. Colliers International said the new rating appeals system also fails to provide provision for an agent to submit appeals on behalf of the property owners.

The firm says the ability to appeal against the new rateable values seems now to have become an issue with latest figures revealed in February showing that only around 12,000 properties have begun to be check and challenge their rating assessments and only one has reached appeals stage.

John Webber, head of business rates at Colliers International, said: ‘Reading through the responses it is obvious that businesses are confused and frustrated by this new system, which is clearly restricting business owners' rights to appeal.

‘The fact that nearly 90% of over 2000 respondents have registered their dissatisfaction speaks volumes. It is as if ratepayers are being penalised for exercising their right to question their business rates by making it more difficult and expensive.

‘Ratepayers want personal contacts to explain their issues to- yet at the same time the VOA is less and less resourced with lay-offs and further closures of regional offices on the horizon.’

Colliers is urging the government to increase funding for VOA in order to deal with existing appeals’ backlog and the introduction of a register of appeals professionals, and also wants to see a root and branch reform of current business rates exemptions and reliefs.

Report by Pat Sweet