News story

Making it easier to provide rental information for multiple properties

The Valuation Office Rating Contact scheme helps customers with more than 20 properties to submit rental information for Revaluation 2023.

Picture of buildings

Revaluation 2023 is now underway. During revaluation we collect rental information from businesses to adjust their rateable value. This is to ensure that business rates are accurate and reflect any changes in the property market.

The Valuation Office Rating Contact (VORC) scheme is designed to reduce the workload for customers with larger property portfolios. It enables ratepayers with more than 20 properties in their portfolios to submit their rental details in bulk, cutting down the time and resources that you would otherwise spend providing information for all of your properties individually.

There are already more than 400 clients signed up to the VORC scheme, including Local Authorities. Phil Thomas, a Property Records Officer at Carmarthenshire County Council, said: “Thanks to the VORC scheme, we can complete the returns for Carmarthenshire in one morning, compared with weeks of form filling. I would recommend it to anyone.”

Should you agree to take part, we will work with you to agree an annual schedule for sharing your rental information. This will only need to be updated for any rent or lease changes, or for the addition and removal of properties from your portfolio. You will have a single point of contact throughout the process to ensure we support you with any questions you might have.

Our Chief Valuer, Alan Colston, says: “Rental information is vital in achieving an accurate and fair revaluation. That’s why as an Agency we are looking at ways we can make it easier for ratepayers to send us their details. The VORC scheme does just that, and we’ve already had some great feedback from customers. If you think the scheme could benefit you, please do get in touch.”

Anyone interested in signing up for the scheme can contact the VORC team for more information.

Published 27 January 2021