EVANS & PAYNE LLP

Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors founded in 1979. The firm’s main specialisation is in undertaking Rating Appeals of virtually all classes of commercial property. OVER 175 YEARS COMBINED EXPERIENCE We have the Business Rates know-how to succeed With us “No win” really does mean “No fees” Business Rates Retail Restaurant Office Industrial Dealing with Business Rates liabilities has always been at the heart of our business and Evans & Payne was one of the first firms to offer a solely performance-related service. With us “no win” really does mean “no fee”. Business Rates are no more than a property tax and whilst they may be difficult to avoid they can often be reduced. You only get one opportunity at reducing / Challenging your Rates liability in every Rating List and it is vital that it is done properly. Evans & Payne have the knowledge and experience to take maximum advantage of that one opportunity. Temporary reductions can also be obtained - Empty Rates, allowances for nearby building / road works, and don’t forget - demolitions, along with other material changes that can also result in successful reductions.

Terms and Conditions Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors established since 1979 TERMS & CONDITIONS CHECK . CHALLENGE . APPEAL THE NEW BUSINESS RATES APPEAL SYSTEM The material and information contained on this website is for general information only and does not constitute any form of offer for sale, create a contractual relationship or form advice or recommendations by Evans & Payne LLP. Evans & Payne LLP does not warrant or represent and excludes all warranties or representations that the material and information, including advertising material, on the Website is accurate, true or complete or that it is free of viruses or that it does not contain any material which is defamatory, obscene or illegal in any way. Any prospective purchaser must satisfy themselves by inspection or otherwise as to the correctness of each of the statements contained in the property details or on the particulars. In no circumstances will Evans & Payne LLP be liable to you or any other third parties for any loss or damage (whether direct or indirect, including loss of profits, loss of opportunity or any consequential loss) resulting from or in any way connected with your use of the Website or its content, whether caused by negligence, misrepresentation, breach of any statutory duty, or breach of contract or otherwise. You may access other websites via hypertext links from the Website. You use such links and other websites entirely at your own risk. Such websites are provided by independent third parties and Evans & Payne LLP accepts no responsibility for the availability, content or use of such websites or information contained on them. Evans & Payne LLP | Registered in England & Wales under company registration number OC404567 | VAT registration number: 333 2485 71 Registered address: 2nd Floor, Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, W1J 6BD Tel:020 7486 9597 Fax: 020 7224 2208

Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors founded in 1979. The firm’s main specialisation is in undertaking Rating Appeals of virtually all classes of commercial property. CHECK challenge appeal What is Check Challenge & Appeal? As part of the reformed business rates system, the Department for Communities and Local Government has introduced a new three stage system known as 'Check. Challenge. Appeal.' (CCA) for the 2017 List. The CCA system is intended to manage the flow of cases through the system in a structured and transparent way, and each step must be fully completed in sequence to submit an Appeal. Check The Check stage sees the business ratepayer or agent confirming the specifics of the property and the physical facts that the Valuation Office have relied on in reaching their valuation. Any revised information is submitted as a formal declaration. This process requires a detailed knowledge of the premises. Some cases will be resolved at this stage and requires the Valuation Office and the ratepayer or agent to validate relevant facts, such as floor area. We cannot proceed to the Challenge stage until the Check has been completed – the intention being a property can remain in Check stage for up to 12 months although it is hoped that the majority of these cases can be resolved within a much shorter period. Challenge The Challenge stage must be instigated by the ratepayer or agent within 4 months of the conclusion of the Check stage. A further 18 months is allowed to conclude the Challenge. The business ratepayer or agent must prepare a substantive case detailing why the valuation provided by the Valuation Office is inaccurate, which is a far more detailed process than the previous Appeals system. It must include the grounds for the Challenge, reasons for the Challenge and detailed evidence to support the alternative valuation. All data would need to be entered manually. This stage will involve a far more detailed case and require a substantive amount of research evidence to substantiate a reduced Rateable Value, detailed discussions on the level of value and will, amongst other things, consider the evidence being adopted. Appeal Once the decision notice from the Challenge has been received, the business ratepayer or agent will have a further 4 months to decide whether to lodge an Appeal. Most cases will hopefully be dealt with during the initial two stages. If the case is to be progressed to the appeal stage, then we have to submit another full evidence bundle to the Valuation Tribunal. In addition, a fee of £150 to a small property and £300 of any other property is payable by the Ratepayer for submitting the appeal. If successful, the fee will be refunded in full or in part (in part if decided without an oral hearing).

Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors founded in 1979. The firm’s main specialisation is in undertaking Rating Appeals of virtually all classes of commercial property. " We make it as simple as 1-2-3 " CHECK . CHALLENGE . APPEAL THE NEW BUSINESS RATES APPEAL SYSTEM How to Register Your Property on the HMRC / Valuation Office website It is important that you complete this registration. Evans & Payne will not be able to deal with your instructions to appeal your Rateable Value until you register. Please click on “Don’t have a Government Gateway ID and Password” to create a ID and password to access the Valuation Office Agency website. Please click below to Register your property (ies) click here 1 - 6 Steps below to Complete your Registration on the HMRC / VO website 1. Register your yourself and your company details - *Note ! : HMRC will ask for your personal details to verify who you are before allowing you access to them. Anyone can register on behalf of your company. 2. Register your company details - registered address of company. 3. Once successfully completed, and you are in Manage Properties , click on the “My Properties” tab. 4. In this tab, click "Add Property" and follow the instructions (You will need a copy of your latest Rates Bill scanned and ready as a PDF to upload when asked in this next step. Note down the reference number. 5. Once you have added your properties, go back into “My Properties” tab, and click on "Appoint Agent ". 6. Appoint Evans & Payne as your Agent – use our agent code: 40812 and click "Yes" to Check and Challenge and then accept. Once you have completed the above, we will then be sent a request from HMRC / VO to our Evans & Payne Manage Properties Dashboard - where we will accept your request. By confirming your request, we will now be linked to your dashboard and properties claimed and allows us to continue the Check Challenge Appeal process, as your appointed agents. Please let us know by email or phone once you have fully completed the registration and appointed Evans & Payne as agents. click here If you need guidance on this process, please either call us or email us and we will be happy to assist you. 020 7486 9597

Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors founded in 1979. The firm’s main specialisation is in undertaking Rating Appeals of virtually all classes of commercial property. For any enquiries, please call or email us. Alternatively you can fi ll in the following contact form . 020 7486 9597 2nd Flr, Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, W1J 6BD Company Reg. No: OC404567 VAT No: 333 2485 71 Send Us A Message Send Success! Message received. Your Business Rates Specialist

Check Challenge Appeal Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 appeal An appeal can be made to the Valuation Tribunal for England (VTE) within 4 months of the VOA decision notice or after 18 months have elapsed from the date of the Challenge. The Ratepayer (or their advisor) has to submit the full bundle of evidence and correspondence to the VTE. In addition, a fee of £150 for a small property and £300 for any other property, is payable by the ratepayer for submitting an Appeal. If successful, the fee will be refunded in full or in part (in part if decided without an oral hearing). Let us check your Business Rates

Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors founded in 1979. The firm’s main specialisation is in undertaking Rating Appeals of virtually all classes of commercial property. A walk in the park REGISTRATION MADE EASY FOR YOU The New business rates appeals process for properties in England - The Long Road Ahead - Step 1 - Organisation Government Gateway Account If you already have a Government Gateway Account for your business then this can be used for the CCA registration purposes. If your company does not have an Organisation Government Gateway Account then it can be set up as part of the sign in process on the VOA Portal. The VOA Portal can be accessed from www.gov.uk/correct-your-business-rates

Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors founded in 1979. The firm’s main specialisation is in undertaking Rating Appeals of virtually all classes of commercial property. Empty Rates and Mitigation Strategies Empty Rates can be a complex issue, but our dedicated team of experts can help clarify your position and help you reduce or remove liability on your wholly or partially empty properties. Commercial property throughout the U.K is subject to Business Rates, which is a tax on occupation and paid by the occupier. However, when a commercial property becomes vacant this liability still exists in the form of Empty Property Rates. There is now little difference in rates liability between vacant and occupied property. Despite these changes most ratepayers pay more in property rates than they have to. An initial period of 3 months relief is applied on empty properties once they first become vacant which is granted by Local Authorities. This is extended to 6 months if the property is industrial in nature. After this period, the ratepayer can become liable to pay these rates again, even if the premises remain unoccupied. Every new commercial development, proposed refurbishment scheme or vacant premises facing a rates liability, requires a detailed understanding of the property circumstances, allied to a specific mitigation strategy. We understand the legislation and how local authorities operate, making us ideally positioned to offer you the best mitigation solutions. By drawing on our significant experience, our team will develop strategies to mitigate, or in some cases, fully remove liability for rates on unoccupied premises. Our empty property rates solutions cover all property types and range from a single property to large portfolios throughout the UK. Examples of some of the routes available to mitigate your empty rates bills include: Intermittent occupation schemes Section 44a applications for partially occupied premises Splitting and merging Rateable Values Occupation prohibited by law, such as owing to presence of asbestos Proving Buildings are incapable of beneficial occupation Proving Buildings are uneconomic to repair Challenging invalid completion notices Delaying the assessment of new buildings If you have properties in your portfolio that are currently or soon-to-be vacant, we would encourage you to get in touch to find out how we can help you mitigate your business rate liability.

Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors founded in 1979. The firm’s main specialisation is in undertaking Rating Appeals of virtually all classes of commercial property. CHECK . CHALLENGE . APPEAL THE NEW BUSINESS RATES APPEAL SYSTEM Business Rates Review - Call For Evidence The government committed to conduct a fundamental review of business rates and published the terms of reference for the review at the Spring Budget. This call for evidence seeks views on how the business rates system currently works, issues to be addressed, ideas for change and a number of alternative taxes. The government is aware that many businesses and stakeholders may need extra time to engage fully with all of the issues in the call for evidence and so is seeking responses in two phases. We welcome views on the multiplier and reliefs sections, by 18 September, to inform an interim report in the Autumn. Responses on all other sections are invited by 31 October, ahead of the review’s conclusion in Spring 2021. For further information on this, please click on the Government link 'Respond Online' on their website, where you can begin to respond to the Government Call for Review: HM Treasury fundamental review of business rates: call for evidence Click below to read PDF of the Government document on Business Rates Review - Call for Evidence Call for evidence document If you need further information on this, please either call us or email us and we will be happy to assist you. 020 7486 9597

Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors founded in 1979. The firm’s main specialisation is in undertaking Business Rates Appeals on virtually all classes of commercial property. ESTABLISHED SINCE 1979 CHARTERED SURVEYORS Evans & Payne We provide specialist Business Rates and Lease Advisory advice to small, medium and large organisations with commercial property holdings on all property types across the UK. As an independent firm of Chartered Surveyors, Evans & Payne's objective is to provide the very best service and high quality professional Rating advice based on our considerable experience and knowledge of the commercial property market. With over 175 years’ combined experience, we have a specialist team of experts analyzing, challenging and reducing your Business Rates from the initial instruction to a final Tribunal Hearing. Our expertise and experience extends throughout the UK on the appraisal of Business Rates across all commercial property types, acting on behalf of a wide range of small businesses to major corporations. We continue to develop and expand our business model based on the needs and requirements of our clients and have remained at the forefront of the market place by continually re-evaluating the quality of our services. We operate across the UK from our Central London office and our flexible approach allows us to quickly adapt to cover any local markets, but with a regional perspective. We maintain strong relationships between our departments and our clients, ensuring the communication and information flow is seamless. We provide a quality of service which our clients can be proud of. The number of recommendations we receive is testiment to this. WHAT CLIENTS SAY “We are extremely happy to be a long standing client of Evans & Payne and we would not hesitate to recommend them to any company wishing to reduce their Business Rates.” Farroakh Parekh, Company Secretary TATA Ltd

Privacy Statement Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors established since 1979 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) CHECK . CHALLENGE . APPEAL THE NEW BUSINESS RATES APPEAL SYSTEM The new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on 25 May 2018 (including in the UK regardless of its decision to leave the EU) and will impact every organisation which holds or processes personal data. It introduces new responsibilities, including the need to demonstrate compliance, more stringent enforcement and substantially increased penalties than the current Data Protection Act (DPA) which it will supersede. Evans & Payne is committed to high standards of information security, privacy and transparency. We place a high priority on protecting and managing data. The company complies with applicable GDPR regulations effective from 25 May 2018, including as a data processor, while also working closely with our customers and partners to meet contractual obligations for our procedures, products and services. Our team of experienced business analysts, consultants and digital specialists will also help to support Evans & Payne in meeting their obligations through the provision of expert services and value-adding solutions. The company has three main areas of focus in preparing for GDPR overseen by an internal cross-functional team: Building on existing security and business continuity management systems and certifications, including to ensure our own compliance Product programmes to support compliance for users of our software applications including solutions to streamline the process and drive greater efficiency Provision of services and solutions which help customers to understand and prepare for GDPR, develop compliance plans and build a stronger platform for the future by taking control of their data It is important to recognise that compliance is a shared responsibility and all organisations will need to adapt business processes and data management practices. Compliance Evans & Payne has a robust Management System and in order to ensure compliance will implement additional or augmented company-wide controls to meet GDPR requirements using internal and external advisors. Compliance will be supported by a review of existing contracts with data controllers, the use of sub-contractors and any data export arrangements. Evans & Payne Data Protection Officers will inform, advise and monitor compliance. The company will implement tools as appropriate that support the process, provide necessary security and ongoing delivery of objectives. In many areas the hosted services provided by Evans & Payne already conform. As data processor, the company is undertaking risk assessments to include more detailed consideration of the data types we hold and a data protection impact analysis of personal information stored and processed. Policies such as incident response plans and backup data retention will be reviewed and updated. 2. Evans & Payne software applications Evans & Payne broad range of software applications are used to provide efficient and high quality services. As such the company is committed to providing technology solutions to support customers’ GDPR obligations, whether through standard features or added value solutions or toolkits. All organisations will need to be confident, for example, that personal and transactional data can be located and anonymised or erased, in order to respond to requests to delete, rectify, transfer, access or restrict the processing of data. Customers should contact their account manager to understand what features are available to enable this, from data cleansing and subject access reports to specific data retrieval and disposal tools which create efficiencies by allowing organisations to locate, anonymise and remove data with minimal administrative effort and to enable a quick and efficient response to information requests. 3. Helping customers adapt to change The volume of data handled by organisations is growing and is captured, processed and stored on an increasing number of devices and networks. Requirements such as data protection impact assessments, active mitigation of risks and evidence of risk management measures will require organisations to develop a more disciplined approach to customer data, especially those with personal data spread across many locations and/or systems with varying levels of personal data quality and ownership. Furthermore, investing in the management of consent presents an opportunity to build trust and provide increasingly useful services.

Privacy Statement Evans & Payne is a specialist firm of Chartered Surveyors established since 1979 Privacy Statement CHECK . CHALLENGE . APPEAL THE NEW BUSINESS RATES APPEAL SYSTEM We are aware that you may have concerns over disclosing information about yourself to us. This Privacy Statement explains, amongst other things, what information we collect about you on this website and the reasons for this. Our primary aim in collecting information is to provide you with a customised experience on our website (aiming to show you information that is relevant to you) and to provide you with information you have asked for e.g. Business Rates information. We also collect information for statistical purposes and, where agreed by you, to offer you our services that may be of interest to you. Information we collect Log file information, including IP addresses. You can visit public areas of the site without identifying yourself or providing any personal information Tracking IP addresses (the computer's internet address) Monitoring how long a user spends on the site and which pages he/she visits - this helps us evaluate the use of different parts of the website As a rule, we don't link IP addresses to anything that can identify you personally, ensuring you can remain anonymous. Nevertheless, we will attempt to use IP addresses to identify a user when we feel it is necessary to protect our services and other users. Personal data Any personal data relating to you gathered by us in the registration process or during your use of the service will be recorded and only be used in accordance with our Data Protection Policy The website uses various order and registration forms to enable you to request information, products and services. In some cases you will need to provide us with information such as your name, company details, e-mail address, phone numbers . Any personal data we collect during registration or otherwise is designed to allow us to: to provide you with, the right kinds of information related to your enquiry enable us to compile statistical information for regulatory or business purposes send, or call you about our services that may be of interest to you. (We will only provide you with such marketing information with your prior agreement) If you register, request further information or contact us we may keep a record of that correspondence and incorporate the information it contains into our database(s), which we will keep secure in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. We will not transfer your personal data to any third parties unless: we have your consent to do so the third party is our subcontractor or a member of our group of companies, who is processing personal data on our behalf securely and in accordance with our instructions or it is otherwise authorised under the Data Protection Act Internet security The webserver that hosts this site is not used to store personal information of any kind. Any personal information that you do provide is stored on a separate and secure database server within the company's firewall. There is no direct link between this database server and the internet and access is strictly limited to Evans & Payne LLP and staff and authorised site administrators only. Whilst we do not directly track or record your usage of this website, in the event that we become aware that site security has been compromised as a result of external activity (including but not limited to external security attacks) we shall take reasonable measures which we deem appropriate. This includes but is not limited to internal investigation and reporting, and notification to and cooperation with law enforcement authorities. This privacy policy may not apply to you if we believe you are misusing the website or if we are required to disclose information by a court of law or other relevant body. Third party sites Please be aware that some of the websites to which we provide links may collect personally identifiable information about you. We do not control these sites and are not responsible for the content or practices of third party websites. This privacy policy does not cover such sites. Enquiries on Data Protection policy may be addressed to the Evans & Payne Compliance Team. Evans & Payne LLP | Registered in England & Wales under company registration number OC404567 | VAT registration number: 333 2485 71 Registered address: 2nd Floor, Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, W1J 6BD Tel:020 7486 9597 Fax: 020 7224 2208