Service: Business Rates | Sector: Hotels | Contact: Helen Edwards / Tim Smith
The Challenge
The Harbourmaster is a well-known boutique hotel and inn situated on the West Wales coast. When the rateable value was set at £172,500 in the 2017 rating list – well above previous valuations – the owners appointed us to advise on mitigating this cost.
The Solution
We identified reasons to appeal the valuation, notably that the current operators were ‘over-trading’, and that the correct approach for the assessment would be ‘fair maintainable trade’ that a ‘reasonably efficient operator’ would achieve. We recommended appealing the 2017 valuation on this basis, and taking a similar approach with the previous agreement on the 2010 rating list.
The Result
Drawing on our long-standing experience of the hospitality sector and establishing a full understanding of our client’s business, we were able to reduce the rateable value for the 2010 list to £109,500, and the figure for the 2017 list to £112,000. In all, we achieved rates savings of £169,000 for the operators.
Gerald Eve took the time to properly understand our business, an approach that paid dividends when it came to putting the right strategy in place to reduce our liability. To secure significant reductions not just for the years ahead, but retrospectively too, went beyond our expectations.
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