8
Under reference to item 8 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 26 May 2023, there was submitted a report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to progress on the disposal of 2017 Revaluation appeals and 2017 Running Roll appeals and providing information on the two-stage Proposal and Appeal process which came into effect on 1 April 2023.
The report intimated that following publication of the 2023 Revaluation Roll, proprietors, tenants and occupiers of subjects in the Valuation Roll had until 31 July 2023 to submit a proposal if they were unhappy with the Revaluation. This deadline had subsequently been extended to 31 August 2023 and just under 1,000 Proposals had been received.
The report advised that the total number of Revaluation Appeals received for 2017 was 3,832 which related to 3,542 subjects with a cumulative value of £324,294,285 and Appendix 1 to the report detailed the number received, disposed of and outstanding by constituent authority and the Joint Board area as of 30 June 2023. The report noted that 3,519 Appeals had been disposed of, equating to 99.35% of the number of subjects under appeal.
The report further advised that in relation to Running Roll Proposals/Appeals, that following a Revaluation, new values would generally remain unchanged until the next Revaluation unless the property had been altered or other changes had taken place. Running Roll Proposals could now be lodged by ratepayers or their agents at least once in any one financial year and required to be disposed of in line with the prescribed statutory timetable. With effect from 1 April 2023, if the proposer remained dissatisfied with the outcome of their Proposal, they could appeal to the First Tier Tribunal and, in some circumstances, the Upper Tribunal. The report noted that 6,249 2017 Revaluation Material Change of Circumstances (MCC) Appeals had been received and that 2,712 Appeals remained outstanding. Appendix 2 to the report detailed the number of 2017 Running Roll Appeals received on or after 1 March 2020, outlining those disposed of in each constituent authority and the Joint Board area as of 30 June 2023.
The report noted that for the 2017 Revaluation highly complex cases could be referred to the Lands Tribunal for Scotland, which transferred to the Upper Tribunal for Scotland on 1 April 2023. Further, that there were a number of cases from both the 2005 and 2010 Revaluations which would now be dealt with by the Upper Tribunal for Scotland. Currently two Appeals remained outstanding from the 2005 Revaluation in relation to two subjects; seven Appeals remained outstanding from the 2010 Revaluation in relation to two subjects; and 32 Appeals remained outstanding from the 2017 Revaluation in relation to 25 subjects. The disposal of Appeals was work that could be stressful due to the strict legislative timetables and the adversarial nature of the negotiations.
DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted.