It pays for surgeries to check every Notional Rent review.

GP Surveyors have checked and challenged Weaver Vale Practices’ Notional Rent on two separate occasions, successfully securing the Cheshire practice an uplift on both their 2014 and 2017 figures.

Weaver Vale Practice first got in touch with GP Surveyors in 2016 following advice from their accountant. Dawn Randles the surgeries Practice Manager had received the surgeries 2014 Notional Rent figure and the practice’s accountant advised Dawn that all practices on Notional Rent are eligible to check and challenge the District Valuers (DV) assessment. Dawn duly got in touch and spoke with one of GP Surveyors specialist Client Managers, following her consultation, Dawn and the practice partners decided to instruct GP Surveyors to check the practices 2014 Notional Rent figure.

Tom Simpson, one of our highly experienced Surveyors was allocated the case and visited the surgery to carry out a full inspection of the property. To ascertain if the surgery had a case to challenge the DVs’ Notional Rent valuation, Tom cross-checked his findings with the surgeries proposed Notional Rent figure and against GP Surveyors vast database of comparable evidence. When comparing Weaver Vale Practice with like for like premises in the locality Tom found there to be substantial evidence to move forward with a challenge to the DVs’ initial opinion of the surgeries Notional Rent.

The basis for the 2014 Notional Rent challenge

The DVs’ Notional Rent figure seemed out of line with the facts prevailing at the practice and GP Surveyors comparable evidence.

• Weaver Vale Practice is a 1980’s purpose-built surgery situated in Runcorn Cheshire and GP Surveyors believed the properties Notional Rent should be placed more in line with other purpose-built surgeries in the locality.
• GP Surveyors’ surgery areas were larger than those set out in the DVs’ figures.
• The surgery had more car parking spaces than the DV stipulated.

On this occasion the challenge proved to be a complex one, owing to a variety of factors, including Weaver Vale Practice sharing the property with another surgery and leasing space to a pharmacy.

Following protracted negotiations with the DV common ground could not be agreed upon concerning the level of Notional Rent. The next step in the process was for Tom to follow the Local Resolution Dispute Procedure (LDRP) and a third-party expert to become involved. Unfortunately, on this occasion, a satisfactory outcome was not reached and following advice from GP Surveyors the practice decided to take the case to a formal dispute. The conclusion to the case was that NHS Resolutions ruled in favour of GP Surveyors and the practice on several factors, resulting in Weaver Vale Practice receiving a substantial Notional Rent increase of 44%.

Although this proved to be a lengthy case, the resulting increase in Notional Rent provided a substantial boost to the practices’ annual funding and amounted to tens of thousands of pounds over the 3-year Notional Rent period, as well as significantly increasing the capital value of the surgery.

The practice was delighted with the conclusion, Dawn commented:

“GP Surveyors kept in constant touch, keeping us updated on our position and were happy to attend meetings with the partners. I Would highly recommend them to other GP practices.”

Having been so pleased with the result of the 2014 review, Dawn instructed GP Surveyors again in 2019, to check the surgeries 2017 Notional Rent figures. Tom Simpson took on the case once again and began to cross-check the surgeries figures with our comparable evidence. Tom concluded that there was sufficient evidence to show the market had moved on since 2014 and therefore the DVs initial opinion of the surgeries Notional Rent should be challenged.

The basis for the 2017 Notional Rent challenge

When comparing Weaver Vale Practice to similar purpose-built properties in the locality, GP Surveyors believe that the practices unit rate had been set low.

Tom submitted his report to the DV and then began negotiations to increase the surgeries Notional Rent reimbursements. On this occasion, the process was very straight forward, and Tom was able to successfully negotiate an increase of 3.5% above the DVs initial Notional Rent valuation.

Dawn and the practice were very pleased with the result, Dawn commented:

“This is the second time we have used GP Surveyors to assist with our Notional Rent review and they have been able to bring an improvement in our funding. I have used them for advice on other building matters and nothing is ever too much trouble.”

Although the 2017 increase was a relatively low percentage, the outcome resulted in an increase of several thousand pounds a year to the practice’s funding. Weaver Vale Practices’ 2017 Notional Rent challenge illustrates that it’s prudent for practices to check their Notional Rent figure at each review, irrespective of the outcome of any previous challenge.

We hope you have found GP Surveyors, Cheshire Notional Rent Review case useful, to see our full range of Notional Rent case studies here.