Delegating your business rate mitigation to an agent is a great way to save money and time, knowing that one of your company's largest overheads is under control.
We believe that transparency is key and that a crystal clear relationship with our clients not only helps you rest easy, but it also helps us get on with doing what we do best: saving you money.
We’ve outlined and explained our steps below. If you want to know more, feel free to get in touch.
Step 1: You’ve instructed us.
Our clients come to us for various reasons, from being handed a particularly high rates bill to hearing about a reduction from a business close by. With a quick response, our team can offer free, impartial advice tailored to your business.
It’s recommended to send a consultant out to assess your property for a better and more realistic review. It’s an opportunity for us to get a good first impression on the types of appeals we’d want to put in place, but also gives you a great feel for CPA, and who we are as a company.
Step 2: A welcome call from your account manager.
Once we’ve laid the foundations for your appeal, your account manager will give you a quick onboarding call. It’s your account manager who will be handling your case from start to finish. They’ll be your first port-of-call for any updates or questions. This is the individual that’ll be chasing local authorities for your reduction.
To speed up the appealing process, we need to be activated as your rating agent on Government Gateway. If you struggle, we will guide you through the process. This is a standard procedure and should be asked of you by any professional company you’ve instructed to investigate your business rates.
Step 3: We review your case.
Once you are all set up, we’ll start the thorough review! From here, input from you is minimal. In the background, our team of Surveyors and your account manager will collaborate their findings to define the best course of action for your appeal.
Depending on your case, you could expect a turnaround in as little as three months! Having the knowledge and resources at our fingertips is how we’re able to manage an appeal so efficiently, and allows us to take an evidence-based approach to ensure your case doesn’t get stuck at any dead ends.
On rare occasions, we may need to take your appeal further than the council, to a Valuation Tribunal. Our surveyors will liaise with the Valuation Office, giving your appeal the representation it needs to win you a reduction. Don’t worry, this doesn’t require any further input from you, and your account manager will update you in line with new information about your case.
Step 4: Revaluation, Reduction, Rebate
Good news! We’ve managed to save you some money on your business rates bill! You’ll receive confirmation of this from your council, as well as ourselves as soon as a conclusion has been made.
Step 5: Invoicing
When you’ve received confirmation of your savings, will we invoice you for our commission. You won’t pay a penny until you’ve received your rebate from your local authority!
We’ll secure you savings, going all the way back to the start of this rating period, which began on the 1st of April 2017. Anything we find historically will be debited into your account as a rebate. We’ll also aim to generate savings moving forward to the end of the rating period, on the 31st March 2023. What we believe sets us apart from our competitors, is our handling of these future savings.
At CPA, the last thing we want to do is disrupt your cash flow. So we stagger our invoice in line with your savings, leaving you to feel confident that we’ll be looking at every future opportunity available to keep your business rates down.
In the unlikely event that we’re unable to achieve a saving on your property, we’ll absorb 100% of the cost of your appeal. That’s everything we’ve covered in this article, you’ll receive free of charge if there’s no reduction possible for your business.
