Apart from properties that are exempt from business rates, each non-domestic property has a rateable value which is set by valuation officers from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), an agency of HM Revenue & Customs. The agency draws up and keeps a full list of all rateable values. This list is available on their website at www.voa.gov.uk. Your property's rateable value will be shown on the front of your bill. The rateable value broadly represents the yearly rent the property could have been let for on the open market on a particular date. For the revaluation that comes into effect on 1 April 2010, the date was set as 1 April 2008.

The values of all property for which rates are paid to us are shown in the local rating list. You can look at a copy of this from Monday to Friday, between 9am and 4pm at the Valuation Office Agency, Portland Tower, Portland Street, Manchester. A copy is also held at our business rates section and can be seen via Access Trafford, Sale Waterside between 9am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday or on the Valuation Office Agency website.

The Valuation Officer may alter the value if he believes that there have been changes at the property. Ratepayers may also, in certain circumstances, propose that the value is changed. If the ratepayer and the Valuation Officer do not agree on a rateable value, he will refer it as an appeal to a Valuation Tribunal.

You can find out about when you can propose a change in a rateable value and how you should make a proposal by contacting the Valuation Office at the address shown above.

If you need advice about whether you should appeal, you may want to consult a good independent adviser. Members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation (IRRV), have to work to rules of professional conduct designed to protect the public from bad practice and they have to have insurance to protect you.

If you have appealed against your rateable value, you must still pay the amount on your demand notice. You cannot withhold payment until you get the result of your appeal. However, if your appeal is successful, we will automatically refund any rates you have overpaid, if appropriate.