High Street Orpington

On the 30th January 2007, Orpington town centre saw the closure of Station Road multi-storey car park due to the redevelopment of a new Tesco store. This car park had provided 800 car-parking bays for shoppers to use. As a consequence, retailers in Orpington High Street saw their trade decrease due to customers being unable to park.

Bisset Moffatt Hill advised over 16 occupiers and appealed their rating assessments in order to secure an allowance for the loss of amenity and secondly a disturbance allowance to some occupiers, due to the Tesco construction works.

With guidance and assistance from our clients, BMH provided the Valuation Office with turnover figures proving a decrease in trade.

Additionally, negotiations with the Valuation Office led to further investigation of property transactions that took place before and after the closure of the car park; this evidence proved that rental values had been affected.

As a consequence, Bisset Moffatt Hill and the Valuation Office agreed a range of allowances (-5% to -17.5%) to reflect both the loss of car parking and disturbance caused by the redevelopment.

Danny George says, “Although negotiations with the Valuation Office have been difficult, the allowances agreed will go some way in helping these occupiers in the current recession, as the rate savings agreed will be backdated to 30th January 2007.”

So where a commercial property is affected by building works, closure of roads or loss of amenity that affects your business; call BMH to see whether there is potential to secure rate liability savings.

For further information, call Danny George (george@bmh.co.uk) at our Crawley office on 01293 440066