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Any notice served by the VO under paragraph 5 of schedule 9 to the Act must meet with certain statutory requirements. To assist in this regard, various forms of return (FORs) have been developed and are available for issue by valuation officers. Details of the currently available FORs for use in respect of different types of hereditament are set out in Appendix 1.

Since Reval 2017 the majority of schedule 9 requests are via a RALD letter. The RALD replaces the FOR VO6003 used for bulk classes of property. RALD is an acronym for Rent and Lease Details. The RALD letter is sent to the property address or in the case of large companies to their Head Office. The letter contains a unique reference number which together with the propertys postcode is used to access an electronic version of a form of return via a secure internet site.

The electronic FOR requests all the information that a hardcopy FOR requests but the advantage to the occupier and the VOA is that the data is supplied direct to the database once verification checks are made.

The RALD request for information is made under the powers given to the Valuation Officer under paragraph 5 of schedule 9 to the LGFA 1988 and carries the same deadlines and penalties introduced by the LGFA 2003 referred to as Civil Penalties.

RALDs/FORs requests may be served on Landlords as well as Tenants. Requests for information are not limited to requests for lease details, an example of which were FORs have previously been used to request the location of Masts from Telecommunications Companies which otherwise the Valuation Officer would have had difficulty in locating and assessing.

The Valuation Officer serves a notice on a person requesting the supply of information when he reasonably believes the information requested will assist them in carrying out their statutory functions. Section 41(4) of the Act specifies that one of these functions is ensuring the accurate compilation of any new rating list.

As long as the Valuation Officer believes the information will assist in compiling and maintaining a list, reasonable practicable steps must be taken to pursue the information. It is clearly for the Valuation Officer to determine the steps needed to ensure accurate rating lists can be compiled and maintained, with the assistance of specialists, team leaders and others as necessary.

Valuation officers should consider other sources of information at their disposal when deciding the importance of, and usefulness of the information they are seeking. Depending on the particular information already held, each Valuation Officer will have to determine their own priorities for any additional information required. Information that valuation officers reasonably believe will assist them ranges from useful to absolutely essential.

It should be remembered that in addition to the statutory power to serve notices requesting information (RALDs/FORs), voluntary electronic bulk provision of information is encouraged, which may be of particular interest to occupiers of many properties or Landlords. Any such voluntary bulk provision of information will enable the Valuation Officer to target much more effectively, and thereby further reduce the number of individual RALD/FOR requests made, to the mutual benefit of both the ratepayer and VO.

Useful or Essential? Gauging the True Level of Assistance Expected from Requests for Information

Often the usefulness of the information requested will only be understood after it has been provided. However, as long as it was reasonable to expect it to be helpful when the request is made, the information should be pursued in the most efficient manner possible. When deciding how best to pursue information, it is important that VOs bear in mind the nature of the information being sought, its eventual likely assistance, and how urgently it is required.

Consideration should be made to the various means of obtaining information and that RALDs/FORs do not automatically provide the best route, particularly if information is required very quickly. An example of this may be details of a rent passing in respect of a newly discovered review where the information is required two weeks before a decision notice is due to be issued; in such a case an informal route is more likely to provide the information in time for it to be of use. A RALD or FOR can be issued subsequently to obtain the information formerly.

Where information is considered essential, other avenues have not produced it, and it is not required within eight weeks (56-days), VOs should use RALDs/FORs to pursue it.

VOs should only pursue information where it is likely to assist them and the information is not already held in enough detail to provide reasonable assistance.

Although it is clearly inappropriate for a Valuation Officer to pursue information using a RALD/FOR unless they believe it will assist, it is also not acceptable for a person who is served a notice to decide what assistance the information requested may provide to the Valuation Officer, thereby endeavouring to limit or refuse its supply. It is for the Valuation Officer to decide all reasonable steps needed to pursue information they believe will assist in carrying out their functions but once the information has been requested on a RALD/FOR, it should be supplied.

Specialist Units should inform the Market Information Team when they believe a request for information should be served in respect of the specialist properties they deal with.

Responsibility for the Supply of Information Requested

Once an FOR is served, Paragraph 5(2) of the Act insists that;

"A person on whom a notice is served under this paragraph shall supply the information requested in such form and manner specified in the notice"

and in Paragraph 5A (1) that;

"If a person on whom a notice is served under paragraph 5 above fails to comply with paragraph 5 (2) within the period of 56 days beginning on the day on which the notice is served, he shall be liable to a penalty of 100."

It is therefore solely the responsibility of the person served a notice to supply the information within 56 days. If the Valuation Officer has not received the information within 56 days in such form and manner specified, the liability to penalty of 100 arises and a penalty notice may be served to collect it.