Lothian Valuation
Appeal Panel
Guidance Notes
Lothian Valuation Appeal Panel
1 - INTRODUCTION
The purpose of these notes is to help you
to prepare your appeal for presentation before the Valuation Appeal Committee
on the date set for
its hearing and to explain the hearing procedures.
The notes are not a statement of the actual
law, and are meant simply to be a guide to the appeal system in plain language.
If, after reading them,
you still have any questions, please telephone the Assessor's office (0131
344 2500) and tell the receptionist the date of the hearing shown on the
citation and the reference number of your case. You will be put in touch
with the assistant dealing with your appeal at the hearing arranged and he
or she will advise you. Alternatively you may use the direct dial number
contained in the letter which will follow this formal citation in a few days
time.
The
full text of the law relating to the conduct of appeals before the Committee
may be found using the following link -
Valuation Appeal Committee (Procedure in Appeals under the Valuation Acts)(Scotland)
Regulations 1995
It is quite common for appellants to be represented
professionally at a hearing and you may wish to consider taking the advice
of a solicitor
or surveyor.
2 - ARRANGING A MEETING BEFORE THE HEARING
You
may already have been in contact with staff in the Assessor’s
office but if you have not and you are intending to carry on with the appeal
you should arrange a meeting as soon as possible using the procedure already
described.
It is important to note that the majority
of appeals are resolved by informal discussions of this nature.
If you are able to reach agreement, the value
or entry in the Valuation Roll will either be changed or maintained at
the original figure and no further
action by you will be necessary. If you cannot agree, the appeal will be
heard, as already arranged, by the Committee.
3 - THE VALUATION APPEAL COMMITTEE
The Committee which will hear and decide on
your appeal will have a Chairman and a maximum of five other members.
They have been chosen from a panel of local
people appointed by the Sheriff Principal. They are unpaid and entirely
independent of the Assessor
and the local authority. The Committee is assisted by a paid Secretary who
is usually a solicitor.
4 -THE LANDS TRIBUNAL FOR SCOTLAND
Most
appeals are heard by the local Valuation Appeal Committee and the notes
in Section 14 relate to procedure before
that body. However, if
you consider your appeal is complex, highly technical or raises major questions
of principle or law, you may apply to the Committee asking it to refer your
appeal to the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. The full text of the law relating
to the procedure for taking appeals to the Lands Tribunal for Scotland may
be found using the following link -
5 - NOTICE OF HEARING
The citation which accompanies this leaflet
sets out the date and place of the hearing. If you have strong reasons
for wanting to change the
date you should write to the Secretary as soon as possible giving your reasons
for requesting the postponement. A postponement will be granted only if the
Committee considers that you have a good reason for asking for one. The Committee
can postpone or adjourn a hearing at any time, but if it does so it will
give you as much notice as possible.
6 - EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION PRIOR TO A HEARING
Two kinds of information may be exchanged
with the Assessor prior to a hearing - grounds of appeal against valuation
and a list of comparisons
with other properties.
Grounds of appeal against valuation
At least 35 days before the hearing you must send to the Assessor a written statement of the grounds of your appeal; that is, you must state clearly all your reasons for thinking that the entry in the Valuation Roll is wrong. You must also specify an alternative valuation which you believe to be correct. This may, of course, have been done when you wrote lodging your appeal in the first place. Within 14 days of receiving your statement, the Assessor must send to you, in return, a statement of the grounds on which the entry for your property in the Valuation Roll is arrived at.
List of comparisons with other properties
If you propose to tell the Committee that the Assessor’s valuation of your property does not compare fairly with the values of other properties, you should send a list of such properties to the Assessor at least 21 days before the hearing and, at the same time, you can require the Assessor to send you a list of any properties which he proposes to use in support of his valuation at the hearing. If you ask for such a list, the Assessor must send it to you within 7 days.
Similarly, if the Assessor sends you his list of properties first (again at least 21 days before the hearing) and asks you for a list of your comparison properties, you must send it to him within 7 days. You should be careful to list all the properties which you wish to tell the Committee about because a property added later may be used as evidence only if the parties (usually yourself and the Assessor) agree, or if the Committee permits.
Please therefore make sure that by the appropriate
date, you send the Assessor a statement of all your grounds of appeal and
a list of all
the properties with which you may wish to compare your property.
7 - NOTICE OF INTENTION TO PROCEED WITH APPEAL
At the same time that the Assessor replies
to your grounds of appeal, he may ask you to confirm in writing by way
of a return notice, that you
intend to proceed with your appeal before the Committee.
This notice must be returned by the date stated
thereon and failure to reply by this date may mean that the Assessor will
ask the Committee to
dismiss the appeal.
8 - DISPOSAL BY WRITTEN REPRESENTATIONS
If both you and the Assessor agree that your
appeal can be dealt with by written representations then a joint request
must be made in writing
to the Secretary 14 days before the date of the hearing.
9 - INFORMATION TO BE SUPPLIED BY THE ASSESSOR
At any time up to 56 days before the date
set for the appeal you may ask the Assessor for a list of all plant and
machinery included in the
valuation.
The Assessor must provide such a list 35 days
before the hearing date or a statement that no plant and machinery is included
in the valuation.
10 - PRESENTATION AT THE HEARING
You may appear before the Committee in person
or you may be represented by an advocate or solicitor or, with the Committee's
permission, by a surveyor,
valuer, accountant or any other person.
It
is not possible in this short note to explain all issues of law affecting
valuation for rating purposes. However, in
appeals where the amount
of value is the issue, the aim is to determine what the Rateable Value of
the subject should be in terms of Section 6(8) of the Valuation and Rating
(Scotland) Act 1956. The full text is available using the following link
-
Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956
The value to be determined is the annual rental
value of the subject of appeal and the 1956 Act and its various amendments
lay down the principles
by which this is achieved.
A common concern is the level of profitability
of the business carried out in the property. This is generally not a relevant
consideration although
turnover may be relevant in the case of licensed premises and some other
specialised trading concerns.
A
useful précis of the law and practice
of valuation for rating purposes may be found in Armour on Valuation for
Rating which may
be consulted in law libraries.
11 - LEGAL ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE SCHEME
If your financial means are modest you may
be eligible for help under the Legal Advice and Assistance Scheme. The
Scheme does not provide
for a solicitor to speak for you at the Committee hearing but a solicitor
can help you to prepare your case. Legal help under the Scheme is given either
free or on payment of a contribution assessed according to your means.
Full
details of the Scheme are available from any Citizens' Advice Bureau or
from local legal aid offices and by using
the following link -
12 - RECORD OF EVIDENCE
As a matter of course all hearings in the
City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian before the
Valuation Appeal Committee
are recorded and if any case is to be referred for the opinion of the Lands
Valuation Appeal Court (see Section 16 of these notes) the Committee will
require a transcript of the record and the parties will each be provided
with a copy.
13 - FAILURE TO APPEAR
If you fail to appear or to be represented
at the hearing your appeal may be dismissed. However, if you have a good
reason for your absence you
may, within 14 days of the Committee's notifying you of the dismissal of
your appeal, write to the Secretary asking the Committee to re-instate your
appeal and hear the case at a later date.
14 - AT THE HEARING
The hearing will normally be public. If, however,
one of the parties gives a good reason why not, then the Committee may
decide that it should
be held in private.
The Chairman of the Committee is in charge
of the hearing. He will tell you when to speak and when you may question
the Assessor or any witnesses
if you wish. Do not be reluctant to ask the Chairman for guidance.
At the hearing you will normally be heard
first, before the Assessor, and these notes assume that you will be. The
Committee may however alter
the order if that is shown to be appropriate.
The Chairman will ask if you wish to give
evidence yourself. You may be put on oath or be asked to affirm.
It is important to appreciate that the Committee
has no prior knowledge of your appeal or of any meetings or correspondence
that may have passed
between you and the Assessor. You must therefore present all the facts to
the Committee members on the day and you must decide for yourself what type
of evidence will best support your case. This evidence should be confined
to matters that, in your opinion, affect value.
If you wish to refer to photographs, plans,
leases, rental information or other documentation (generally called productions)
then these should be
presented at the start of your evidence, with at least four additional copies
available, so that the members of the Committee and the Assessor can refer
to this material as your evidence is being given.
After you have given your evidence you may
be questioned by the Assessor or his legal representative and any member
of the Committee may
question you.
If you wish to call witnesses, you may call
them in turn to give evidence. You examine a witness by questioning him
so that his answers bring
out the facts which you wish to establish relating to your appeal.
The Assessor in turn may question your witness
and so may members of the Committee.
After
you and/or your witnesses have been heard, the Assessor will be called
upon to respond and is likely to introduce a member of his staff
as a witness. The Assessor may provide his own set of productions and you
will be allowed time to consider these. You may then, if you wish, question
the Assessor’s witness about your case. Members of the Committee may
also question the Assessor’s witness.
Finally, if you wish, you may summarise your
case to the Committee and the Assessor will summarise his case.
The Committee will then consider the matter
and may announce its decision there and then, or announce it at a later
date. If the Committee
does not give an immediate decision, it will (a) tell you when it will do
so, or (b) notify you of its decision in writing, or (c) give you at least
7 days notice of the date of the sitting of the Committee at which the decision
will be announced. The Committee must also inform you of its decision in
writing within 3 days of announcing it.
If you are dissatisfied with the Committee's
decision on your appeal you may, within 14 days from the date of the decision,
apply in writing to
the Committee for a statement of the reasons for its decision.
15 - APPEALS AGAINST THE COMMITTEE'S DECISION
The Lands Valuation Appeal Court, which consists
of three judges of the Court of Session, is responsible for hearing appeals
from ratepayers
and Assessors who are dissatisfied with decisions of Valuation Appeal Committees
or the Lands Tribunal for Scotland. There is no further right of appeal against
its decision.
16 - APPEALING TO THE LANDS VALUATION APPEAL COURT
If you are dissatisfied with the decision
of the Valuation Appeal Committee (or the Lands Tribunal for Scotland)
then you may in certain circumstances
be able to appeal to the Lands Valuation Appeal Court. This is a complex
process and strict timescales apply to the preliminary procedures. If you
are considering an appeal to the Lands Valuation Appeal Court you would be
well advised to seek legal advice.
Full legal aid, including representation at
the hearing, may be available for those who qualify. You do, however, have
the right to appear
before the Lands Valuation Appeal Court yourself in which case you will personally
have to ensure that the preliminary procedures prescribed by the Court are
satisfied.
The
full text of the law relating to the procedure for taking appeals to the
Lands Valuation Appeal Court is available using
the following link -
The Act of Sederunt - 21 October 1982.
17 - CONTACTING THE VALUATION APPEAL COMMITTEE
All communications to the Valuation Appeal
Committee should be addressed to the Secretary, Lothian Valuation Appeal
Panel, 3 Coates Crescent, Edinburgh,
EH3 7AL.
Tel 0131 225 2121
Fax 0131 225 8659
18 - CONTACTING THE ASSESSOR
All
written communications to the Assessor should be addressed to -
The
Assessor,
Lothian Valuation Joint Board,
17A South Gyle Crescent,
Edinburgh EH12 9FL.
19 - TRANSLATION
This document can be made available in a different format or language if
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