A PROPERTY expert has warned of “cowboys” calling businesses and offering to represent them in appeals over their business rates.

The message came amidst growing criticism of the government’s revaluation of the rates, which comes into force in April.

Marcus Andrews, associate director of valuation services with Dorset property expert Goadsby, said he had not noticed the widespread increase in business rates which was being complained of in other areas.

But he said businesses were regularly receiving cold calls from businesses trying to encourage them to appeal.

Premises with a rateable value less than £12,000 will be exempted from business rates from April.

But Mr Andrews said: “There are a lot of rating cowboys out there that are ringing people up and saying you should appeal and get your rateable value below £12,000 for this exemption, but not making it clear that you can’t get that because you’ve got more than one shop.”

He added: “As with any cold-calling on any product or service, they need to consider whether that’s a genuine service that they want you to use.”

He said he had not seen drastic increases in business rates such as those attracting complaints in London.

“I’ve looked at all the Goadsby branches and by and large they’ve got the figures OK. In some cases, they’re not as much as we thought they were going to be,” he said.

“There are some properties in Bournemouth where the rateable value will have gone down a little

“There are some parts of the conurbation where it’s gone up because it’s in a good location, like Westbourne, but I wouldn't say say the conurbation that we deal with is going to see major increases.

“I wouldn’t say the revaluation is something to fear.”

He pointed out that the revaluation was put off for two years ahead of the last general election. “One of the problems is that the government decided to defer the revaluation for two years and therefore the changes are going to be bigger than they should have been if they hadn’t deferred the revaluation,” he said.

Treasury minister David Gauke has said rates needed to be brought in line with property values. He said three in four businesses would not see their rates rise.

He also defended plans to tighten the appeals process.

“Nobody is going to be stopped from appealing. We have to recognise what is currently happening in the system is that there are a huge number of very speculative appeals that are going in, first encouraged by agencies on a no-win no-fee basis, chancing their arm hoping that there will be a reduction in their business rates,” he said.

Meanwhile, John Endacott, head of tax at PKF Francis Clark, has warned that the revaluation could seriously affect the region’s tourism industry because of the effect on self-catering accommodation.

He said: “A relatively small holiday letting business, perhaps sleeping 13 people, could see their business rates rise from £20,000 to £35,000. That’s a huge jump and, inevitably, will have a knock-on effect in a sector which is a big employer with owners typically using a pool of part-time staff.”