Valuation Office agency visits?

modomojo

Hi all, I'm having terrible trouble with this agency. They are telling me that I have provided no evidence of structural walls within my business premises. I have no idea how I can do that on paper. I have asked them to just come and visit my premises so they can see for themselves. They say they don't do that but I know of two other business people who have insisted on visits and got them. My question is, can you insist on a visit and if you can, how do you go about doing that? I'm pretty desperate as they have have recorded the whole of my premises as retail when only half of it is.
Thanks in advance.

lincroft1710

Have you appealed your 2017 Non-Domestic Rating Assessment? If so they will likely visit at some point in the proceedings. To qualify as a structural wall it will often be a wall which goes from the ground floor through to the ceiling of the 1st floor or higher. If the wall can be knocked down without endangering the stability of the building, it is not structural.

So if you can demonstrate the wall in question doesn't stop at the ceiling of the ground floor, this should be enough and quite easy to do with accurate photography.

Unless you have legal rights or are an empowered body, you cannot insist on anything

daveyjp

The VOA used to be a reasonable organisation who understood their role and assisted their paymasters.

They have now become a 'computer says no' organisation and you may be at the point where you need professional advice.