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With the current publicity over the rating revaluation coming in next month alongside proposed changes to the appeals process, today’s Supreme Court decision will come as a relief to embattled ratepayers.
The Court of Appeal had ruled that a property stripped to a shell whilst substantial refurbishment was being undertaken (configuring a single office into three separate units) should still be valued as if it were in a reasonable state of repair. The Supreme Court disagreed and applied instead the ‘reality principle’ (i.e. a property should be valued as it in fact existed on the material day). In this case, the property was not capable of beneficial occupation (and so the rateable value should be reduced to £1).
Today’s decision should help to make the refurbishment of properties more affordable for property owners and should mean that no rates are payable when no income is being received from a property because substantial works are being carried out to it.
We previously reported on the High Court decision of S Franses Ltd v The Cavendish Hotel (London) Ltd in which it was held that a landlord’s motive could not prevent it from successfully utilising ‘ground (f)’ under s30(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 to oppose a lease renewal.
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Well it’s been talked about over the last few weeks and today we’ve finally heard that the Chancellor promises to help small shops by cutting business rates by a third for all retailers in England with a rateable value of £51,000 or less.
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s news of Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Food, Sainsbury’s look to expand with a proposed acquisition of Nisa.
Well, I think we all knew this was coming. It felt like only a matter of time before Amazon decided to focus its sights on the grocery business.
Partner and Head of Real Estate
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