The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) judgment in Shaw v Benton (VO) (2018) UKUT 0168 (LC) has determined that a workshop at Newton Business Park, Hyde, Cheshire had to be valued for rating purposes in a reasonable state of repair because, although works were needed to put the property into a lettable condition, they were ones that a reasonable landlord would consider it economic to undertake. The attitude of the actual landlord to the works was not the determining factor. ...Read More

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has reinstated an appeal that had been struck out by the Valuation Tribunal for England (VTE) for an alleged failure of the appellant to comply with the VTE's practice directions. The Upper Tribunal is critical of the VTE's "impermissible" policy of considering only "exceptional reasons" for requests to vary its practice directions. The Tribunal also had comments for the Valuation Office Agency about adopting "a more principled approach" to disputes on procedural issues. ...Read More

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has reinstated two business rates appeals that were dismissed by the Valuation Tribunal for England (VTE) as invalid. The VTE was wrong to find that the appeals were invalid and wrong, also, to introduce the concept that they represented an "abuse of process". The Upper Tribunal found that the appeals were valid and should be remitted to the VTE for proper consideration. ...Read More

The Supreme Court has determined that a specialised air handling system installed by Iceland, the frozen foods retailer, at its stores is not a rateable item of plant and machinery. The air handling system was plant and machinery "used in connection with services mainly or exclusively as part of manufacturing operations or trade processes" and was therefore to be ignored when valuing the property for rating purposes. Retailers and other occupiers will look carefully at specialist items of plant and machinery, where these are included in rating valuations, in the light of this decision. ...Read More

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has dismissed an appeal made by the ratepayer of a dilapidated workshop in south London and confirmed that the assessment of the workshop should be Rateable Value £9,750 because, on a proper analysis, the repairs required to the property were ones that a reasonable landlord would consider economic and the property therefore had to be valued in an assumed reasonable state of repair. ...Read More

The Court of Appeal has reduced the rating assessment of a vacant office building in Blackpool to a nominal figure of Rateable Value £1 on the basis that, in the real world, there was no demand for the property at the relevant date, and that the hypothetical basis of valuation for rating did not mean that demand was to be assumed where none existed. The decision in Telereal Trillium v Hewitt (VO) gives significant guidance about the approach to valuation of large vacant buildings. ...Read More

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has published an important judgment, dealing with appeals against rating assessments, where those appeals had been struck out by the Valuation Tribunal for England, and where the Valuation Tribunal had refused to reinstate the appeals. The case of Simpsons Malt Ltd and Others v Craig Jones (VO) and Others (2017) UKUT 0460 (LC) will be of importance to surveyors, Valuation Officers, the Valuation Tribunal, and others dealing with business rates appeals. ...Read More

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has determined that staircases and areas of demountable decking that were attached to racking in a warehouse are not rateable. The Tribunal found that the decking, and the staircases that gave access to it were not rateable items of plant and machinery and did not for part of the hereditament for rating purposes. ...Read More

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has dismissed an appeal seeking a reduction in the rating assessment of a shop in the Touchwood shopping centre in Solihull for the effects of the opening of the new Resorts World complex nearby in 2015. The Tribunal found that the ratepayer "had not achieved anything approaching the required level of evidence to show that there has been any effect on rental levels at Touchwood as a result of the opening of Resorts World". ...Read More

The Lands Tribunal for Northern Ireland has issued its decision in respect of a rating appeal relating to Belfast International Airport. The Tribunal has reduced the assessment of the airport from Net Annual Value ("NAV") £3,000,000 to NAV £2,300,000. The reduction in the assessment reflects allowances made by the Tribunal for overcapacity and for location and additional operating costs. ...Read More