Town centre blame lies elsewhere

May 8 2008

I read last week’s letter in the Advertiser, ‘Town centre is changing for the worse’, from a ‘Chartered Surveyor’ with particular interest.

I agreed wholeheartedly with the thrust of the article and would add that the points were well made. The article highlighted Hamilton’s downward spiral as a retail centre.

I did note that the debacle of having to pay for car parking in a declining centre was raised, and again I wholeheartedly agree. However, the article later focused on the Rating System and suggested that the Assessor should immediately take account of a downturn in business levels.

As a fellow chartered surveyor I was surprised, as this suggests a complete lack of understanding of how the Rating System works. The Assessor will acknowledge declining levels of rents but it is the rental level which is the important factor in determining rateable value.

The Assessor must by statute reflect the rents paid. It therefore can take some time for rental levels to drop and I must say that rental levels in Hamilton have remained fairly stable. Furthermore, many parties are on ‘upward only’ rent review provision in their lease, so the prospect of a decline in rental levels will not be a reality.

I am writing this as someone who frequently acts on behalf of the ratepayer in rating appeals and have huge sympathy for the retail sector in Hamilton. However, I don’t blame the Assessor for something that he has no control over. I believe that there are other issues which merit more of a rallying cry.

Finally, it should be remembered that what the ratepayer pays is the rateable value multiplied by the Rate in the Pound (Uniform Business Rate) and therefore it is up to the council, not the Assessor, to review the burden faced by the commercial property sector. So if there is any lobbying to be done, it is down to the council.

Scott M. Duguid, chartered surveyor