Valuation Tribunals

Help Page

Welcome to the Help pages of the Listings and Decisions search facility.

The layout of the information on your screen may vary due to your computer's set-up. You can adjust the text size (and layout) from the View menu option to make changes that are more suitable for you.

Introduction

You can search for listed and decided rating appeals on this site. The following text is designed to assist you. By clicking on you are given helpful information. Short help text is also available if you rest the cursor over .

You can chose to search for council tax valuation and invalidity appeals (for England or for Wales), or for non-domestic rating (NDR) appeals.

By clicking on Appeals listed for hearing, you can find details of appeals currently listed for hearing.

By clicking on Decisions, you can find decisions from appeals already heard.

You will be guided to select from options which will lead you to the appeal(s) you are interested in.

Appeals listed for hearing

If you want to find a particular appeal, you should enter the most specific information that you can, for example, the appeal number or the property's postcode.

The appeal number is used by the Tribunal and is shown on all formal notices concerning a particular appeal.

Some or all of a postcode can be entered. For example, LS8 3PG will find all appeals that match that postcode. Typing in LS8 followed by a ‘space’ will find all appeals in the LS8 postcode area. Entering just LS8 would find all appeals in LS8 but also variations such as LS80 and LS81.

Tribunal Areas

To search for an appeal using either the Billing Authority or Venue fields under More Options, you will need to select a specific Valuation Tribunal from the drop down list of values.

If you are an agent and you are interested in your own NDR appeals, you can enter your own postcode or appeal reference.

At this stage, you can perform your search by clicking on Search Now.

For more general searches, you will be able to select from various fields of information to define your interest. Clicking on More Options   allows access to these fields.

Click on Search Now   when you have entered your additional search criteria.

Your search results will be displayed in the form of a table showing the appeal number, the List year, the address of the property, the description (for NDR), the band or rateable value (RV), the hearing date and time, the hearing venue and the agent's name (where appropriate).

If your search does not find your appeal(s) this is likely to be because the appeal(s) has not been listed, or is no longer listed for a hearing. You may also wish to check the information you have typed in or the criteria selected.

Decisions

If you want to find a particular decision, you should enter the most specific information that you can, for example, the appeal number or the property's postcode.

The appeal number is used by the Tribunal and is shown on all formal notices concerning a particular appeal.

Some or all of a postcode can be entered. For example, LS8 3PG will find all appeals that match that postcode. Typing in LS8 followed by a ‘space’ will find all appeals in the LS8 postcode area. Entering just LS8 would find all appeals in LS8 but also variations such as LS80 and LS81.

Free Text

To perform a free-text search, click on the Go To Search   button and Help is available on the next screen.

Tribunal Areas

To search for a decision using either the ‘Billing authority’ or ‘Hearing venue’ fields under More Options, you will need to select a specific valuation tribunal from the ‘Tribunal areas’ drop down list of values.

If you are an agent and you are interested in your own NDR appeals, you can enter your own postcode or appeal reference.

At this stage, you can perform your search by clicking on Search Now.

You can opt to search for

• All Decisions   (which include short, standard reasons for decision, or
  
  
• Decisions with full reasons;   these are usually produced for decisions that have been argued before the tribunal and, in the case of NDR appeals include Keywords (except for 1995 list appeals). [Keywords are controlled terms to describe the case and are added by the tribunal clerks. More Help on Keywords is available at the end of this document.]

At this stage, you can perform your search by clicking on Search Now.

For more general searches, you will be able to select from various fields of information to define your interest. Clicking on More Options allows access to these fields.

Click on Search Now when you have entered your additional search criteria.

For NDR only, to search using Keywords, click on the Go to Keywords button.

Your search results will be displayed in the form of a table showing the appeal number, the List year, the address of the property, the description, the rateable value (RV) given in the decision, the decision date and the tribunal area. When Keywords have been used you will also have an option to view them.

By clicking on the appeal number, you will be able to read the decision and its reasons.

If your search does not find the decision(s) you want you may wish to check the information you have typed in or the criteria selected. Please note, some appeals are settled by the parties before they are decided at a hearing.

Billing Authorities

From 1st April 2009

Bedford Billing authority 0205 has changed to Bedford unitary authority 0235

Cheshire West and Cheshire 0605, 0620, 0635 has changed to Cheshire 0665

From 1st April 2010

Keywords

Keywords are 'controlled' words and phrases that the clerk adds when writing the tribunal's reasons for decision. For each decision, the clerk selects the Keywords that are most relevant and important in saying what the case was about.

Controlling Keywords provides consistency. For example, decisions about a property in the countryside might talk about a countryside, village or rural location. In a free-text search, you would have to try all three and possibly others to be sure of covering all the possibilities. The preferred Keyword rural would be attached to each appeal if this was an important factor in those cases.

You can only use Keywords to search for full decisions on 2000 and 2005 List appeals.

The Keywords are arranged in eight separate categories and the words in each list are arranged alphabetically.

You can scroll through each list by using the up and down arrows.

In a category, you can select your chosen Keyword by simply clicking on it. To choose more than one word in a particular category, hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and `left-click' on your mouse for each additional word.

To view your chosen Keywords, click on the Next Page   button. Your Keywords will be displayed under each respective category.

To change your selected Keywords, hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and 'left-click' on your mouse.

By selecting the appropriate radio button, you can search for relevant decisions using all or any of the Keywords selected.