Billing Authority Reports (BAR) Best Practice Guide

Billing Authority Reports (BAR) Best Practice Guide

Valuation Office Agency Billing Authority Reports (BAR) Best Practice Guide Introduction We have produced this guide to promote how billing authorities can assist us in delivering updates to their rating or valuation lists accurately and efficiently. Billing authorities (BAs) have a statutory duty to notify valuation officers (VO) and listing officers (LO) where they believe changes may be required to a rating or valuation list respectively. Information provided up front with your reports enables records to be updated to reflect additions, demolitions or other changes to a property and for rateable values (RV) or council tax bands to be altered quickly and accurately. It is important that the BA have inspected and verified details about the assessment before they send a report to us. The format that reports are sent to us and their regularity are also important factors in the timelines of our work. 2

Information we need from you Information from BAs is an essential part of VOs and LOs maintaining fair and accurate lists. Sometimes reports received by the VOA are delayed because information about the property is difficult to obtain. However information with greater detail about the property is often available at the planning and building control departments at the BA. The following table sets out what information is required and why. As it may not always be possible to supply the information required it has been grouped into two categories mandatory and desirable. Please note failure to complete a mandatory field may result in the report being no actioned. Information we need from you Why we need this information Mandatory BA Report number BA Reference number BA Reference numbers must be included for existing or proposed new assessments. A reference number should be provided for every property to be included in the Rating or Valuation list. (Reference numbers for assessments formed from splits or mergers of existing properties should be provided in the remarks column) Property address Addresses for new properties should ideally have already been agreed by the Local Authorities Address Custodian to ensure that a further report for changes is not needed. Reports for existing properties should include the address as it currently appears in the list. Reports for splits or mergers should include details of other properties involved in the remarks column. Postcode Generated by the BA this enables the BA and VOA to cross reference reports and allows reports to be tracked. The unique reference number is allocated by the BA and enables all parties to ensure that we are talking about the same property. The VOA will not clear any reports without a BA Reference number. Provision of this information means that we can be certain that we have identified the correct property to raise a report on. It also ensures new values are applied to the correct new addresses. Allows easy identification of the property. The VOA will not register any reports on our database without a full postcode. 3

Valuation Office Agency Billing Authority Reports (BAR) Best Practice Guide Information we need from you Description - (Not applicable for Council Tax) - mandatory for existing assessments. The description as shown in the Rating List for existing assessments or a potential description for new assessments. Why we need this information The description allows us to quickly identify properties which may be required to be dealt with by our specialists. A full list of descriptions is available on the BA Transfer site under the Tech Circs, appendices to Section 3. Date of change This is the effective date of the change to the property. However, when a completion notice has been served this will be the date the property has been certified as complete. This date should be the same as that given on the notice, as it identifies the effective date that the billing authority believes any alterations will be applicable. A copy of the completion notice must be sent to your local VOA unit inbox. Contact details can be found on the VOA website - www.voa.gov.uk/ corporate/contact/index.html. Coded reason for report A full list of descriptions is available on the BA Transfer site under the Tech Circs, appendices to Section 3. RV or CT Band - mandatory for existing assessments The RV or CT Band currently shown in the List. Leave blank for new properties. Occupiers name This should include occupiers for any new properties formed from splits or mergers. Where no occupier is present a name of an owner should be provided. Plan Where plans are available a copy or a link to the plans in the planning portal must be provided. This allows the VOA to know when the BA is expecting an entry to be made in the list from. Serving completion notices on properties that are complete or nearly complete is essential and provides certainty over effective dates as well as reducing the risk of subsequent deletions. The reason for report allows us to correctly differentiate between reports which may require inspection and those which are administrative in nature such as address changes. The Rateable Value or Council Tax band allows us to further ensure a report is being registered against the correct assessment. Allows us to contact the current occupier of the property for inspection or to obtain rental information. Results show correspondence is more likely to be opened when served on a named person. Providing a plan or a link to the plans in the planning portal means that we can make quick decisions about properties and whether an inspection is necessary. 4

Information we need from you Plan reference number Reference numbers from either planning or building control. Details of alterations and other remarks Why we need this information This will ensure correct plans are reviewed when assessing a property s value. Any additional information provided will help us to process the report more efficiently. Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) Number supplied by the National Land and Property Gazetteer Billing Address Where the billing address is different from the property address. Desirable A further check to make sure that we have the correct assessment. This will also enable the VOA to liaise with the BA where an address name differs. Allows us to send our Notice of Alteration to the correct party. Contact telephone number Other contacts and email addresses can be added to the remarks column. Source of information OS grid reference This helps us to contact the occupier quickly to arrange an inspection or to clarify property details. If we know that an inspector has been to a property and verified the facts it is sometimes not necessary for us to make a further inspection. Including the name of the inspector and a contact number can speed the valuation process. Allows us to locate the property quickly and easily, particularly when the property is in a rural area. 5

Valuation Office Agency Billing Authority Reports (BAR) Best Practice Guide How to get this information to us ebars Electronic Billing Authority Reports (ebars) are currently used by around fifty percent of all BAs in England and Wales. By using ebars the information comes to VOs and LOs in a consistent format that can be processed quickly and more accurately. ebars can be in any one of three formats: Web Form allows individual reports to be sent and is easy to use for recording splits and mergers where more than one property is affected. The spreadsheet allows up to 50 rows of information to be submitted at any one time. The xml format allows the BA to pick up previously created xml files from the BAs own system and is an application being used increasingly by authorities If you are interested in using ebars please contact the Network Support helpdesk where a member of the team will be happy to help - nsohelpdesk@voa.gsi.gov.uk. Alternative Method Currently, where BAs are unable, or choose not to use ebars, reports are provided to VOs and LOs in a wide range of formats. This means there is a lack of consistency on both the type of information provided and how this can be processed which leads to delays. To ensure consistency and to improve the quality of reports received they must have the mandatory and if possible desirable information described in this guide and where ebars are not used, the standard excel template must be used. This will enable reports to be processed more efficiently. The template spreadsheet can be obtained from the NSO Helpdesk - nsohelpdesk@voa.gsi.gov.uk. Once the template has been completed it should be emailed to your current Network Support Office (NSO). By using either ebars or the BAR excel template, BAs are prompted to complete all the information necessary for the VOA to make an informed decision about the property and its value. If you would like to further discuss the two preferred methods of supplying reports please contact nsohelpdesk@voa.gsi.gov.uk. 6

More information If you would like to discuss this guide in more detail please contact your local Valuation Office - http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/contact/index.html. General enquires relating to BATrans system can be emailed to nsohelpdesk@voa.gsi.gov.uk IT issues with BATrans can be sent to itservicedesk@voa.gsi.gov.uk Crown copyright 2014 7