Attending a hearing
About two weeks before your hearing date we will make contact with you, either by phone or with a ‘hearing reminder’ notice to check if you will be attending a hearing and to provide any help we can. But please remember that at any time you can contact the office that has sent you notices to ask for advice.
You and the other party (the Valuation Office Agency, or the council or the drainage board) should be aware of each other’s evidence before the hearing, so that there are no surprises on the day. If anything new is raised at the hearing, the case may have to be adjourned to another day. The panel will also expect that the parties have agreed about factual matters, such as the size of your property, before the hearing.
There are other matters that you should be aware of, contained in the VTE Practice Statements. Please read any from the list that are relevant to you.
Procedure
Normally, you will be met at the hearing venue by the clerk who will point out the facilities at the venue, the procedure for the hearing, the timetable and where to sit.
Usually an appeal will be heard by three members, one of whom will be a senior presiding member. The panel of members will be introduced to you.
The clerk will be in the hearing room, near to the members. You will see the representative of the Valuation Office Agency, or the council or the drainage board there, and you may know them from your negotiations prior to the hearing.
There may be other appellants present, waiting to have their cases heard or, rarely, other members of the public observing the proceedings. Tribunal proceedings are public hearings and only in exceptional circumstances can members of the public be excluded from observing.
You and the other party (the representative of the Valuation Office Agency, or the council or the drainage board) will each present your cases. You will have an opportunity to ask the other party questions about their case and so will the panel. The panel may ask you questions about your evidence. You will be given a chance to sum up your case, but you must not introduce any new evidence then.
The Tribunal panel will retire to consider its decision once it has all the evidence it needs. The clerk will be asked to attend the panel's deliberations at some point, to assist with technical or legal advice and to help draft the decision. The decision may be given on the day but the panel will not normally comment on its reasons for the decision at that time; these will be contained in the written notice of decision. More usually, the panel will reserve its decision and issue it in writing along with the reasons for the decision. Written decisions are normally issued within one month of the hearing date.
Please click on any topic you are interested in from the following list.