VOA: Office or a Warehouse

[Ricky Anand]

I am renting a warehouse space. That is what is says on my rental agreement.

The VOA has stated it is an office and therefore the rateable value is higher than we think it should be. We completed a check case which has been decided against us.

'This is an office acting as a warehouse with the area being used for storage. The property will stay on an office based valuation scheme and will not be changed to a warehouse.'

Is there a set process to determine if a property is a warehouse? For example does there need to be a certain ceiling height?

 

[Porky]

Have no specialist area of knowledge regarding theVOA youcould use one of the many no win/ fee rate reduction brokers out there and let them have a go for you BUT if you have already lost a check case I put your chances of success very low.

Acid test for me would be what are you using the space for? If you are shipping goods in and out all the time and your business is involved in logistics then it’s being used as a warehouse.

If you are an office based business and the unit just contains a bit of bric a brac not goods onwards or inwards then it sounds like the council assessment that you are an office with storage is about right.

 

[kulture]

If you have already lost your case then it is unlikely that you can fix this. I would strongly suggest that you avoid th eno win no fee "experts" as so many are cowboys.

First, what planning use does the property have, and can you get a change of use to warehouse? Ask your local district council.

Second are there any similar properties in the area and if so what category does the VOA have for them. If office then you loose. If warehouse then it may be time to spend money and hire a professional.

 

[estwig]

First, what planning use does the property have, and can you get a change of use to warehouse? Ask your local district council.

This, find out what class usage the property has, I doubt you'd get permission for change of use, but if planning class it as a warehouse, I assume that gives a lot of leverage against the VOA.

 

[Ricky Anand]

Have no specialist area of knowledge regarding theVOA youcould use one of the many no win/ fee rate reduction brokers out there and let them have a go for you BUT if you have already lost a check case I put your chances of success very low.

Acid test for me would be what are you using the space for? If you are shipping goods in and out all the time and your business is involved in logistics then it’s being used as a warehouse.

If you are an office based business and the unit just contains a bit of bric a brac not goods onwards or inwards then it sounds like the council assessment that you are an office with storage is about right.

Thanks for your input.

We store, pick and pack amazon/ebay parcels on a daily basis on behalf of a 3rd party amazon/ebay seller.

Even if they suspect we are just storing a sensible person would ask more questions rather than reject without further thought.

 

[Ricky Anand]

If you have already lost your case then it is unlikely that you can fix this. I would strongly suggest that you avoid th eno win no fee "experts" as so many are cowboys.

First, what planning use does the property have, and can you get a change of use to warehouse? Ask your local district council.

Second are there any similar properties in the area and if so what category does the VOA have for them. If office then you loose. If warehouse then it may be time to spend money and hire a professional.

I can't see how to find planning use on Hillingdon council website. Will check with them.

VOA have it down as offices which I believe it was used as previously. If the building was empty I would from an objective view point say yes its an office but seeing the business operating its clearly being used as a warehouse.

Do we have any comeback on our landlord given our rental agreement clearly states warehouse use?

 

[Gyumri]

Do we have any comeback on our landlord given our rental agreement clearly states warehouse use?

If the permitted use is warehouse then perhaps you should have checked whether that is a lawful use from the councils point of view?
On the other hand one would think that if the "permitted" use was as a butchers shop that the landlord had already obtained such use for the premises.

As a butcher however I would have checked the legalities before signing up.

 

[Ricky Anand]

To clarify the VOA have changed class to warehouse but designated 100% of the space as office space.

That makes zero sense.

 

[WaveJumper]

Something clearly does not add up have you challenged them over the details above if so what did they say. You could also try calling the RICS enquiry line for some advice I believe they don't charge for the first 30 minutes may give you some pointers.

RICS enquiry line
Telephone: 024 7686 8555

 

[Ricky Anand]

Something clearly does not add up have you challenged them over the details above if so what did they say. You could also try calling the RICS enquiry line for some advice I believe they don't charge for the first 30 minutes may give you some pointers.

RICS enquiry line
Telephone: 024 7686 8555

Yes I will try them. Thanks!

 

[Porky]

@Ricky Anand
Based on what you write you are clearly goods inwards and outwards so your trade fits just the VOA deem it / charging you differently as an office and you obviously need the council to change their view. Not so easy with the failed check case and knowing what “Jobsworths” they are at the council.

What you could try is your local MP, tell them trading is tough, you are warehouse and the council are rating you as an office with higher rates and do they have a contact at the council that could review this and try and resolve it for you

Our local MPs are often in bed with the councillors, although most of them are next to useless, look up who yours is and email them, you have nothing to lose, I think you will need someone senior at the top there to get this overturned - worth a shot - otherwise you are just dealing with the normal office plebs that won’t do anything to help.

If that draws a blank not sure what else to suggest, feel your frustration it’s all money for nothing.

 

[kulture]

The problem is, as so often happens, we only have half the picture. We do not know where the property is. We do not know if it is similar to neighbouring offices or neighbouring warehouses. We do not know if it has lots of windows, like a typical office, or no windows like a warehouse. we do not know how big it is , nor what facilities there are inside the unit.

When you start to look at taking on a lease for a unit, you should do due diligence to find out what the other costs are. It should not come as a surprise. Further, if you’re only renting a unit, the landlord is likely to be unwilling to allow you to put in for a change of use planning permission.

We have also not asked what the rateable value is. If it is less than 10,000 then you simply apply for small business rate relief end up paying nothing.

 

[jfrm]

When you have a problem with rates, it's like dealing with a dysfunctional family of idiots. I put a new building in the back of my yard and informed the council but the person who passed the data to the VOA made a typo, putting the start date a year early. I was then presented for a bill of more than £6K for a year in which the building didn't exist. Fair enough mistakes happen and the error couldn't be more obvious and straightforward so I raised a check case with the VOA. Immediately rejected by their system without human involvment. I raised a full case but it turns out there is not a field in the VOA form or indeed any official way to inform them that the date is wrong. I did my best providing the proof and putting the info in the notes. A couple of months later, rejected. I tried again a different way and asked the local council to inform them too. More months, rejected again. The form and the case system works only based on use and area and anything does not compute. By this time, I had identified the lady in the council who had made the typo who was willing to send emails to the VOA but couldn't do anything more than that and I had also managed to get the mobile number and email of someone at the VOA who seemed helpful. A combination of getting someone in both organisations on my side and completing the form in a way that went against how it was supposed to work but fooled their system eventually worked.