The Challenge:

• Corporate relocation from three buildings located in the south east England into a single new 110,000 sq ft HQ office building.
• Phased occupation coinciding with the commencement of the 2017 rating list.
• We were instructed by our client, an international electrical systems company, to provide advice on minimising business rates liability for this new facility.

Our Solution:

Using our rating expertise and local Thames Valley market knowledge, we devised the following three stage strategy to achieve maximum savings on business rates for our client:

1. Proactively agreed that the building should be assessed on the last day of the 2010 rating list to take advantage of significant transitional relief
2. Agreed with the council that the liability should start part way through the phased occupation and not at the beginning
3. Secured reductions at both the Check and Challenge stages of the 2017 List appeal

The Results: 

• Our clear and proactive plan of action enable us to provide total savings in business rates from the three stage strategy in the order of £775,000.
• We are providing ongoing advice for potential additional savings due to a material change of circumstances during 2020.
• We continue to provide business rates advice to this client on all its UK occupational properties.