‘An air handling system used in connection with frozen foods retailer Iceland’s refrigerated storage is part of a ‘trade process’, and therefore exempt from business rates, the UK’s highest court has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 8th March 2018
Source: www.out-law.com
‘The justice select committee has accepted an invitation by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to undertake pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft legislation to reform the discount rate.’
Litigation Futures, 18th September 2017
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
UKI (Kingsway) Ltd v Westminster City Council [2017] EWCA Civ 430
‘The freeholder of a building being redeveloped failed to agree with the local billing authority a date on which the building would be brought into the ratings list. The authority subsequently delivered to the manager of the building a completion notice addressed to “the owner” specifying a date. The manager, who was not authorised to accept legal documents on behalf of the freeholder, scanned the document and e-mailed a copy to the freeholder. When the building was entered onto the ratings list the freeholder appealed on the grounds that the completion notice was invalid and had not been validly served. Before the Court of Appeal the sole issue was the validity of service.’
WLR Daily, 15th June 2017
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Developers will welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to reduce the rateable value of unoccupied office space undergoing substantial redevelopment works, according to property law experts at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.’
OUT-LAW.com, 6th March 2017
Source: www.out-law.com
‘The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has today lost its High Court bid to halt the Lord Chancellor announcing the outcome of the consultation on the discount rate.’
Litigation Futures, 20th January 2017
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘Jones v London Borough of Southwark [2016] EWHC 457 (Ch). Quite a lot of councils have agreements with water suppliers under which the council will collect water charges from their tenants, effectively as an addition to the rent. This case concerned a challenge to the nature and validity of Southwark’s agreement, at least before 2013.’
Nearly Legal, 5th March 2016
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
‘A London borough has overcharged approximately 37,000 tenants for water and sewerage services, a High Court judge has ruled.’
Local Government Lawyer, 4th March 2016
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Woolway (Valuation Officer) v Mazars LLP [2015] UKSC 53; [2015] WLR (D) 353
‘Where a business’s offices were on two separate floors of an office block, the communication between the two being solely by way of the block’s communal lift, those two floors comprised two separate hereditaments for the purposes of non-domestic rating.’
WLR Daily, 29th July 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘A property fund group face a near £600,000 business rates bill in Birmingham after the council in the area won a High Court ruling relating to liability for business rates due following liquidation of the tenants of a property in the city.’
OUT-LAW.com, 16th July 2014
Source: www.out-law.com
‘The owner of a non-domestic hereditament which was unoccupied in consequence of its own failure to carry out necessary maintenance and repair, was not entitled to exemption from unoccupied rates pursuant to regulation 4(c) of the Non-Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property) (England) Regulations 2008 unless occupation was prohibited by law either expressly or by necessary implication.’
WLR Daily, 8th July 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. the United Kingdom, ECHR, 4 March 2014. An apparently dry dispute about business rates on one of the Mormons’ temples in Preston has reached Strasbourg and raises interesting issues about indirect discrimination on religious grounds. The underlying question was whether the temple was a place of “public religious worship” and therefore exempt from rates.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 5th March 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“A registered charity that provides free Wi-Fi services and broadcasts public safety messages using transmitters installed in otherwise empty commercial properties cannot claim business rates relief, the High Court has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 15th May 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“A Valuation Tribunal has rejected an approach by assessors that would have increased the business rates paid by a City firm by 20% over the first five years of a lease.”
OUT-LAW.com, 20th July 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“A High Court ruling will reassure landlords seeking to avoid business rate charges on properties left lying empty, a property law expert has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 29th June 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
Local Government Law Update: 21 May (PDF)
Local Government Law Update: 22 May (PDF)
11 KBW, May 2012
Source: www.11kbw.com
Local Government Law Update: 6th March (PDF)
Local Government Law Update: 8th March (PDF)
11 KBW, March 2012
Source: www.11kbw.com
Reeves (Listing Officer) v Northrop [2012] EWHC 415 (Admin); [2012] WLR (D) 61
“In determining whether a property was a rateable hereditament within section 115(1) of the General Rate Act 1967, duration of occupation would always be an important factor when deciding whether or not occupation was not too transient, but it would not necessarily be the only relevant factor.”
WLR Daily, 6th March 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“The entirety of Part 4 of the Localism Act is devoted to non-domestic rating but the changes introduced seem to have a much lower profile than some of the other ‘Localism’ provisions. Whilst there are some small but important changes, the rating reforms introduced could by no means be described as radical. Importantly,
contrary to what some may have expected, the Act does not include any provisions designed to defeat the now well known schemes that are being used to avoid liability for the 100% unoccupied property rate. It is nevertheless necessary for local authorities, ratepayers and advisers to be aware of the changes that have been made. So, what does the Act do?”
Full story (PDF)
No. 5 Chambers, 8th February 2012
Source: www.no5.com
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