IRRV Alert - week ending 27th March 2020
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) - update on VOA services (27 March 2020)
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) - update on VOA services
The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) is causing unprecedented disruption to public services, businesses and individuals across the country.
Published 27 March 2020
From:
The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) is causing unprecedented disruption to public services, businesses and individuals across the country.
The majority of our employees are equipped to work from home and are doing so to avoid unnecessary travel and social contact. We are continuing to operate as close to normal as possible and prioritising our work, but it may take longer than usual to respond to customers. We would like to apologise to anyone who might be affected by changes to our services.
The Government has published guidance for employees, employers and businesses, including a 12-month business rates holiday for certain sectors of businesses in England and a package of funding and loans. Any enquiries on eligibility for, or provision of the reliefs should be directed to your local council.
The Welsh Government has also published guidance for businesses in Wales.
Contacting the VOA
Please note we are currently unable to offer telephone support at this time. If you need to contact us please use the Contact Form and we will respond as soon as we can. It also contains links to useful self-help guidance.
We provide a range of reasonable adjustments to customers where they are required. Customers can let us know through the Contact Form or ask a friend or family member to complete on their behalf.
Face-to-face appointments
Property inspections are being put on pause and we are focusing on gathering the information we need remotely, where it does not add an additional burden on our customers.
We are unable to accommodate requests to view hard copy rental information we hold, such as Rent and Lease Details, Forms of Return and proposal forms. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Penalties
We are cancelling outstanding penalties in regards to non-compliance with requests for rent, lease or ownership details. For hardship cases, we are being as flexible as we can with customers when we require information.
Keeping you updated
We will also continue to monitor this situation as it develops and will publish any new or updated guidance.
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Published 27 March 2020