What is Notional Rent? The essential guide for surgeries

What is your notional rent
What is Notional Rent? Here’s your comprehensive guide from the experts in Primary Care property.

Notional Rent is a method of reimbursement for GPs who own their own GP premises and use them for approved NHS purposes.

The Premises Costs Directions 2013 explain the areas that should be taken into account when considering a GP practice’s Notional Rent and how this should be calculated.

The Premises Costs Directions 2013 can be downloaded HERE.

GP practices on a Notional Rent are provided with a new figure by NHS England every three years.

How is Notional Rent Calculated?

Notional Rent is calculated by establishing the Current Market Rent (CMR) of the premises and apportioning this to the area of the property that is used for GMS or PMS purposes.

There are many things that will have an effect on CMR including; the agreed CMR of similar surgery premises, how many square feet the property occupies, its state of repair and also the makeup of the local area.

A practices reimbursement is primarily calculated by the District Valuer who represents NHS England.

Can your Notional Rent be challenged?

Above all it is important to note; the initial figure that GP surgeries are sent by NHS England (via the District Valuer) is purely an opinion of GP surgery value.

As with all opinions, they can sometimes differ. For that reason, GP practices should always seek a second opinion from a specialist surveyor. If these two opinions are the same, the practice can rest assured that they are receiving the correct reimbursement. If the figures are different, they can ask their surveyor and NHS England to negotiate in order to come to a final agreed figure which best represents the value of the doctors’ surgery.

How long do you have to challenge your figures?

Your surgery has up to 3 years to challenge from the date that you receive your new reimbursement figure. For the full facts see our article on time limits to challenge your surgery’s Notional Rent.

Reimbursement for Practices in Leased Premises

Pre-April 2013, if a premises was leased, the reimbursement would normally cover the Actual Rent that the GP partners paid to their landlord. The new Premises Costs Directions, released in April 2013, have now removed this reassurance. As a result, there is now a risk of surgeries being left with a financial loss.

We hope you have found our article a useful resource, for more information on our Notional Rent review services click here.