The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has considered the valuation for rating purposes of a bingo hall which had been reduced in size. The Tribunal found that, because the original valuation was based on the receipts generated by the property, a change in floor area would not result in a change in valuation, unless it could be shown that the receipts at the valuation date would also have altered as a result of the change to the property. The ratepayer had not shown any such reason and its appeal was dismissed. ...Read More

The decision of the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) in Interoute Vtesse Ltd (formerly Vtesse Networks Ltd) v Gidman (VO) concerns the valuation for rating of an unusual type of property, an electronic communications network, but sets out some important general principles regarding valuation methodology and the application of European Union law to business rates. ...Read More

The Communities Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, has announced that the rating revaluation that was proposed to come into force on 1 April 2021, has been postponed. The legislation to bring forward the date of the revaluation from 2022 to 2021 is to be withdrawn. ...Read More

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has considered the valuation of tenant’s alterations in its decision in The Appeal of Jackson (VO). In this case, it found that the installation of an internal staircase linking two floors in a multi-let office building was “value-neutral”, that is to say it neither increased nor decreased the value of the whole property. But the Tribunal warned that this is an area of valuation where each case has to be considered on its own merits. ...Read More

The Government has announced a further extension to its scheme of Covid-19 business rates reliefs, first announced in the Budget on 11 March, and successively extended since then as the impact of the virus outbreak has widened. The latest extension includes in the 100% rates holiday further properties that are required to close following the Prime Minister’s statement on 23 March, and includes estate agencies, letting agencies and bingo halls. ...Read More

Following the announcement of the enhanced retail discount last week, and in the light of the increasing grip that the coronavirus has taken on our economy, the government has announced additional business rates reliefs. Uncertainty still remains regarding the application of “state aid” limits to these reliefs. ...Read More

A firm of surveyors based in Manchester has been compulsorily wound up, in the public interest, following a High Court hearing which established that Ellis and Company Surveyors Limited of Stretford, had made misleading claims to clients regarding its success in business rates appeals. ...Read More

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced an unprecedented package rates relief aimed at supporting businesses during the Covid-19 virus outbreak. The measures will cost £20 billion, and will provide a one-year rates holiday for retail properties and for many properties in the hospitality and leisure sectors. The scale of this relief is something we have not seen before. ...Read More

Budget 2020 was delivered against a background of rising concern about the impact of the coronavirus, Covid-19. The strange days we live in are reflected in a strange set of Budget announcements in respect of business rates, from the most fundamental - a “fundamental review” of business rates to report in autumn 2020 - to the most trivial - an extension of business rates relief for local newspaper offices. Whether these, and other budget announcements, will enable businesses to weather the storm remains to be seen. ...Read More

A decision of the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has clarified the position on the use of “new” evidence in rating appeals. Practitioners will be relieved to note that the restrictions on evidence, placed on the Valuation Tribunal for England by the 2017 amendments to the appeals regulations, do not apply to the Upper Tribunal ...Read More