Beverley McDougall, Director of Business Rates at Lambert Smith Hampton, said: “The ramifications of the Mazars ruling are far reaching. Essentially, it boils down to there being one rating list entry for several floors of an occupiers’ accommodation and access can only be made between each floor by going through a common part. For example, a common stairwell or lift – this means that each floor has to be individually entered into the rating list. Consequently, any allowance for size that would be within the single assessment would be lost, resulting in increased cumulative values for the separately-rated floors and increased rates bills. 

"This is not an easy task for the already overstretched VOA. They have to examine almost every valuation if the circumstances apply and, in some cases, its records will be insufficient to determine whether it does or doesn’t apply. However, it doesn’t just apply to offices – it can affect occupiers of other types of property as well.” 

Fortunately, there are restrictions in England on how far back the VOA can split individual rateable values – but this doesn’t apply in Wales. For England, the earliest a split can now occur is 1 April 2015. However in Wales, it can go back to 1 April 2010. What ratepayers will find even more frustrating is that the VOA currently has until 31 March 2018 to complete this exercise. This could result in ratepayers facing large retrospective bills for increases in liability, even if they have vacated the property. More notably, the VOA will have until 2023 to take action on the 2017 Rating List. 

Beverley added: “Implementing the Supreme Court’s landmark decision will not only increase the number of rating assessments for many tenants and landlords, it will also increase their rates bills.  

“However, we are noticing that there are mistakes being made when splits take place. If you occupy more than one floor or property either vertically or horizontally, we would urge every ratepayer who thinks they are affected to seek advice now.”