The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has determined that the relegation of a football club from the Premier League to the Championship, and subsequently to League One, did not represent a “material change of circumstance” when valuing the stadium for rating purposes. ...Read More

The decision of the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) in Colour Weddings Ltd v Roberts (VO) deals with the treatment of a property undergoing works of alteration to enable a change of use from warehouse to wedding venue, and how the rating assessment should be altered to reflect those works. ...Read More

The High Court has refused an application by the Secretary of State for Business for the compulsory winding up of companies operating business rates mitigation schemes. The Court’s decision will be of interest to owners of vacant property and those operating rates mitigation schemes for those properties ...Read More

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has reinstated a business rates appeal that had been struck out by the Valuation Tribunal for England. The Upper Tribunal found that the Valuation Tribunal for England had not given proper consideration to the circumstances before striking out the original appeal. ...Read More

The Treasury Select Committee has published its report into the impact of business rates on business. The report’s key finding is that “Business rates have become an increasingly significant proportion of the total taxes borne by business. In response to this report HM Treasury must explain whether it is deliberate government policy to rebalance business taxes in this way and, if so, what this policy decision is intended to achieve”. But the report is not only critical of the level of business rates in the UK, it also has criticism of the complexity of the system and of the new appeals process, known as “Check Challenge Appeal”. ...Read More