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Anyone Here A Commercial Surveyor


maria
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If anyone could help me I would be really graetful

I have received a call yesterday from a company claiming to be able to reduce my business rates! what a fantastic idea, now I am not sure it this is a scam or if it is possible hence asking for some free advice.

They claim to send a surveyor around to do another survey £480.00, then they will submit a claim to the council on our behalf and claim that they can reduce my rates by at least 50% and have the set until 2010.

What they say is that council's pay people to rate the property and that they are paid on a commission basis so the more they say the more they get paid!

They claim they there are a number of reasons why businesses can claim even due to someone else being in the area, now this sounds a really good idea to me but I am not sure that it will work hence asking for some advice.

They say that they work on a no win no fee basis, so they must be pretty confident that they will win, or maybe the £480 is the scam part.

Anyhow as our rates are silly money any reduction would be appreciated so all the advice I can get will be truly appreciated.

Maria

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We had a surveyor round the other day - from the Valuation Office Agency to re-assess the offices & stores. We had queried the description of use.

She spent 1/2 hour measuring up and asking questions.

Only to tell us that the use hasn't changed but the space has grown :crying: considering no walls have been moved in over 20 years (think her magic measure was broken :tomato: ) and from next year we will have to pay more.

I hate to be a sceptic but I think these people doing the deal (and charging you £480 ) :blink: are trying to make a fast buck, because as a rule if you querie anything on your business rates, they will send one of their own around to re-assess.

I would check the councils details of what your rates are based on e.g. space & description of use and make sure they are right yourself. If they are different (in your favour) then contact the council dept. and get them to re-do.

Hope this helps a bit.

If not shoot me :D

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no win no fee basis you say,,, so that means they dontget paid till you get a better rate..yes...

i would imagine the no win no fee applies to you getting a lower rate

the initial charge for the survey £480 would be payable, no matter what

a survey which consists of measuring the workspaces, the rates would be based on what the property is mainly used for.

as a guide the highest rateable value is based upon the main useage area, and all other areas attract a lower ancillary rate,

example :

area consists of three offices

each of 10 sqm

you then pay rateable value on 30 sqm

so if one of those offices was to become a store room

it would attract a lower rateable value ~(about 1/10 of price)

and you would only pay higher rate on 20 sqm

our premises is registered as a shop and an office

we enquired if we registered the shop as an office, wether it would reduce the figures and was told it would more than double it, so suffice to say its staying a shop, a shop that has never sold anything !!!

:D

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Thanks guy's for the reply's, and yes no win no fee but the £480.00 would need to paid for the surveyor, which is non refundable, this is what made me think it was a scam.

Our workshop was new in June last year, now I am sure that we have to pay total area including floor to roof area which it is quite a tall unit, other than lights and the occasional car on a ramp we have no use of this area.

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What I would like to add is that we have no street lighting, infact it is so dark at night we have to get one of the cars and move it so as we can see to lock the doors using the headlights of the vehicle.

We have no bin collections either, so I really do not know what we are paying this money for.

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Thanks guy's for the reply's, and yes no win no fee but the £480.00 would need to paid for the surveyor, which is non refundable, this is what made me think it was a scam.

so what do you get if do get cheaper rates,,

you pay the surveyer 480 quid,, do you then also have to pay additional to the company that contacted you...

so if the serveyor is a sub contracer, which would mean he gets paid no matter what, how does this compnay make any money fromthe service they provide..

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Thanks guy's for the reply's, and yes no win no fee but the £480.00 would need to paid for the surveyor, which is non refundable, this is what made me think it was a scam.

so what do you get if do get cheaper rates,,

you pay the surveyer 480 quid,, do you then also have to pay additional to the company that contacted you...

so if the serveyor is a sub contracer, which would mean he gets paid no matter what, how does this compnay make any money fromthe service they provide..

the so called surveyor could be anyone, or anyone capable of using a tape measure and perhaps the ability to determine between office, shop, workshop or toilet

mmmmm........i will do it, and only charge £479 :lol:

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