CHAPTER V .sx THE RATEPAYER'S REMEDIES .sx THE ratepayer has two opportunities open to him for the purpose of contesting his assessment , viz .sx , ( a ) upon deposit of the Draft List ( by objection ) , and ( b ) at any time i.e. once within the currency of any rate ( by proposal) .sx As a matter of general policy , where substantial issues are at stake , the consideration will arise very sharply as to whether action would be advisable both by objection to the Draft List and subsequent proposal , or whether the first opportunity should be passed by and forces concentrated upon the latter .sx It should be borne in mind that during the " objections " stage the list will be in a state of flux , whereas , when the later one of " proposals " is reached , a great number of amendments will doubtless have been made , and the list be more or less stable .sx It would follow , therefore , that where cases are to be contested upon comparisons with other hereditaments a very much stronger case could then be stated than would be possible in the earlier stage .sx On the other hand , refraining from objection might in the later stage to some extent influence the mind of an Assessment Committee unfavourably ; whilst in the alternative , action by objection .sx ( presupposing it failed to secure relief ) might similarly affect the Committee when resort to " proposal " was taken later .sx Herein lies a difficult problem , and any decision as to tactics would necessarily vary in different cases .sx The grounds upon which the ratepayer is enabled to exercise his powers are statutorily prescribed to be those of incorrectness or unfairness , wrong insertion or omission from the Valuation List , or the valuation as a single hereditament of a building , or portion of a building , occupied in parts .sx The grounds relied upon must be stated in his formal notice to the authority or person concerned , but there is no obligation to specify the amendment desired .sx Arising out of the matter of the grounds so available to the ratepayer , it should be observed that they encompass the right of action in respect of the assessments of other persons within the rating area .sx Since , however , the exercise of that phase necessarily entails the onus of proving someone else's assessment to be too low , this is a process which is rarely resorted to .sx There is no statutorily prescribed form of notice , but a suitable specimen is set out in the Appendix for guidance .sx It should be observed that notices are required to be in writing , and transmission through the post comprises good service .sx One very distinctive difference , however , requires to be noted , viz .sx , when proceeding by objection to the Draft List , notice must be served on the .sx ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE , but when proceeding by proposal , the notice must go to the RATING AUTHORITY .sx This distinction having been remarked , a convenient juncture arises at which briefly to sketch the general incidence of administration as affecting rating , and to indicate the relative functions of the respective authorities .sx With the advent of the Rating and Valuation Act , the parish as the unit for rating purposes was abolished .sx The rating area is now defined as ( 1 ) the County Borough ; ( 2 ) the Urban District ; or ( 3 ) the Rural District , as the case may be .sx The first-named , to all intents and purposes , is a complete entity within itself , and the county authority has no jurisdiction within it .sx The other two named are grouped under schemes duly sanctioned by the Minister of Health into Assessment Areas , and Assessment Committees adjudicate as separate bodies , in respect of these Assessment Areas , and hear all objections and proposals relative to the various Rating Areas within them .sx The county authority acts by a County Valuation Committee , which operates in a consultative capacity during the preliminary preparation of Valuation Lists by the respective Rating Authorities within the county , and subsequently by means of executive powers .sx through their officer ( the County Valuer ) , who may enter either an objection or proposal in respect of any individual assessment or assessments .sx For information , a schedule is printed in the Appendix , setting out the details of these groupings , county by county .sx In the matter of notices , it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the utmost care should be observed in complying with every detail above referred to , since , should the necessity for appeal to the courts arise later , the appellant is in law strictly confined to the grounds which were , in fact , taken before the Assessment Committee , and is estopped from supplementing them by other pleas ( however relevant or legitimate they may be ) which were NOT SO TAKEN on the hearing of the " objection " or " proposal , " as the case may be .sx Furthermore , any fault in the process of service , e.g. failure to serve within some period statutorily prescribed , or the omission of service upon some authority or person entitled to a copy , may prove a like estoppel to appeal proceedings and necessitate the would-be litigant commencing de novo at Assessment Committee so as to set everything in due order .sx For this reason , it is .sx usual to specify EVERY AVAILABLE GROUND WHICH IS OPEN to the party , as will be observed from the forms set out in the Appendix .sx As regards the ratepayer in general , statutory requirements are as follows :sx If proceeding by way of " objection to the Draft List , " notice must be served within twenty-five days of the date of deposit of the list , but in the case of " proposal to amend the list in force " the notice may be served at any time .sx Such a " proposal , " however , can only be pursued once within the currency of a rate , that is to say , having raised the issue and failed to obtain relief ( or what he deems adequate relief ) from the Assessment Committee , the rate-payer must then either Appeal to Sessions , or await the next ensuing rate in order to raise the issue again .sx Having served his notice , the ratepayer will await advice from the Assessment Committee as to when his case will be heard , and will in due time receive the necessary warning as to the date , time , and place of hearing .sx In the interval , he will be well-advised to devote careful attention to the matters considered in the ensuing chapter , if he seriously seeks some really tangible result from his enterprise .sx CHAPTER VI .sx PREPARATION OF THE RATEPAYER'S CASE .sx THE success or failure of a ratepayer's case depends primarily upon sound and relevant evidence , and , secondarily , upon its clear and convincing presentation to the body appointed to adjudicate .sx The latter phase will need consideration in the ensuing chapter ; the former , which may well be regarded as the keystone of the whole structure , falls to be dealt with here .sx The ultimate issue at stake , being that of " aye or nay " whether relief shall be forthcoming , constitutes one of essential gravity , whether the amount concerned , be relatively large or small , and the matter of initial preparation is , therefore , one worthy of considerable care and attention .sx It may , indeed , be at once said that the consequences of haste or scant consideration in this regard are liable to prove serious , if not entirely disastrous , to the cause in hand when the hearing in Assessment Committee is reached .sx The interval available , therefore , between the lodging of formal notice and the receipt of warning to appear before Committee , may be well and remuneratively utilized in culling all available data , submitting same to close scrutiny , and discarding any of a weak or indifferent nature , so as to enable the preparation of the soundest possible case .sx Post-war Considerations .sx It is only in rare and exceptional cases that ground for serious grievance will arise purely upon the score of an assessment being excessive , since the abstract test of " fair annual value , " as statutorily prescribed , would , in the generality of cases , entirely justify substantially higher assessments than one commonly meets with in actual practice .sx This state of affairs arises from the abnormal conditions which constitute the present aftermath of the war .sx These are the inevitable consequence of an unprecedented shortage through cessation of normal building operations during the war .sx years , followed by an enormous demand swollen .sx to abnormal proportions as the result of an epidemic of war weddings .sx Whilst existing conditions operate , therefore , there remains only one reliable plea in the great majority of rating cases , i.e. that an assessment is " unequal and unfair , " and the sole really relevant evidence capable of serious advancement in support of that plea consists of comparison with assessments of other like hereditaments .sx Comparison and the Law .sx The principle of comparison is one that was admitted of late years by the Court of Appeal , .sx which ruled that evidence of this description MUST be admitted at a hearing , although the weight accorded it must necessarily depend upon the degree of similarity existing between the hereditament whose assessment is in issue and the hereditaments with which comparison is made .sx It is to be observed , however , that the Rating and Valuation Act , 1925 , brought in a provision which limited the scope of the above-mentioned decision by debarring , for the future , comparison with the assessment of any hereditament which has been last reassessed at a time prior to that of the hereditament in issue .sx The principle of equality also underlies two other High Court cases , in which it was decided ( a ) that hereditaments in one and the same Valuation List cannot be treated upon unequal bases of valuation , and ( b ) a number of hereditaments cannot be subjected to increased assessments whilst others of the same class remain unaltered in the same Valuation List at some lower level of value .sx Generally speaking , the ratepayer will only be concerned with the exercise of his rights under the first-mentioned case as restricted by the statutory provision referred to .sx Briefly , the position is that , subject to assessments cited having been arrived at either concurrently with , or subsequently to , his own , the ratepayer is free to draw his comparisons not only from the immediate vicinity ( i.e. the same Rating Area ) , but from any other Rating Area in the same Assessment Area , or any Rating Area within the same county .sx Whilst strongly emphasizing the advisability of mainly relying upon comparisons in the near vicinity , the full range of his powers should be borne well in mind , since in cases where one happens to be concerned with a hereditament situated on the fringe of an Urban Rating Area which abuts upon a Rural Rating Area , there will commonly prove to be far stranger comparative evidence to hand than that normally afforded in one and the same Rating Area .sx The primary rule , however , should invariably be kept in view , i.e. that comparison , in order to carry conviction , should be confined to hereditaments substantially alike .sx For instance , one drawn between a small semi-detached villa on the one hand , and a superior detached residence surrounded by its own grounds and of many times the value on the other , would prove a very weak reed in practice , although both belong to the one general class , viz .sx , residential property .sx Detailed Preparation .sx A careful view of the surroundings and the compilation of notes of approximate accommodation , points of distinction , and comparative differences of a number of properties deemed suitable for comparison should first be effected by external .sx inspection , if facilities for an internal and detailed viewing are not available .sx The second step should be a perusal of the Valuation List itself at the offices of the authority and the extraction of assessments in the respective instances .sx Any reliance upon word of mouth , however well-founded , is an unwise course , since , although in the best of good faith , erroneous figures may inadvertently be supplied , and this , when disproved at the hearing in Assessment Committee , might well be the undoing of an otherwise strong case .sx After careful examination of the data thus collected , and a sorting of the wheat from the chaff , serious activities may then be concentrated upon the compilation of one's case .sx The detail with which this phase can be effected must necessarily be entirely dependent upon the circumstances in specific cases , and the extent of facilities at command .sx