UTLC RATING – Valuation – 2010 List – shop fronting St Ives harbour – seven steps up to shop – whether ground floor or first floor unit – held that it is ground floor – comparable evidence and methods of valuation – appeal dismissed – rateable value confirmed at andpound;11,250
[2015] UKUT 477 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 05 January 2022; Ref: scu.553597
UTLC RATING – exemption – agricultural building – redundant retail warehouse used for the storage of agricultural machinery, fertiliser and silage produced on adjoining land – whether a ‘contrivance’ – whether used together with agricultural land and solely in connection with agricultural operations – Local Government Finance Act 1988, sch.5, para 3 – appeal allowed
[2015] UKUT 548 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 05 January 2022; Ref: scu.553600
UTLC RATING – hereditament – whether food processing centre operated from two buildings separated by public highway one hereditament or two – rateable as one hereditament – appeal dismissed – valuation – basic rate – relative value of first floor production and storage space – fragmentation allowance – assessment reduced
[2014] UKUT 458 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 04 January 2022; Ref: scu.552341
UTLC RATING – valuation – 2010 list – out of town retail warehouse – whether letting of appeal property provides most reliable evidence – whether a tone of the list has been established – rental and assessment evidence also available – comparison between lists – Rateable Value determined at andpound;275,000.
[2015] UKUT 366 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 04 January 2022; Ref: scu.552321
UTLC RATING – valuation – licensed premises in town centre – whether bar or members’ club – absence of evidence in support of the appeal – appeal property similar to respondent’s comparables – effect of full premises licence, lease user clause and planning consent – hereditament valued on assumed fair maintainable trade – appeal dismissed
[2015] UKUT 365 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 04 January 2022; Ref: scu.552319
Norris J
[2015] EWHC 2404 (Ch)
Bailii
Local Government Finance Act 1988 45
England and Wales
Insolvency, Rating
Updated: 03 January 2022; Ref: scu.551292
The Court was asked how different storeys under common occupation in the same block are to be entered in the rating list for the purpose of non-domestic rating. In this case the firm’s two offices were in the same building, but the connection between them was only by way of a communal lift.
Held: The valuation officer’s appeal succeeded. The two offices were separate heraditaments.
Lord Neuberger said: ‘I derive from these decisions three broad principles relevant to cases like this one where the question is whether distinct spaces under common occupation form a single hereditament. First, the primary test is, as I have said, geographical. It is based on visual or cartographic unity. Contiguous spaces will normally possess this characteristic, but unity is not simply a question of contiguity, as the second Bank of Scotland case illustrates. If adjoining houses in a terrace or vertically contiguous units in an office block do not intercommunicate and can be accessed only via other property (such as a public street or the common parts of the building) of which the common occupier is not in exclusive possession, this will be a strong indication that they are separate hereditaments. If direct communication were to be established, by piercing a door or a staircase, the occupier would usually be said to create a new and larger hereditament in place of the two which previously existed. Secondly, where in accordance with this principle two spaces are geographically distinct, a functional test may nevertheless enable them to be treated as a single hereditament, but only where the use of the one is necessary to the effectual enjoyment of the other. This last point may commonly be tested by asking whether the two sections could reasonably be let separately. Third, the question whether the use of one section is necessary to the effectual enjoyment of the other depends not on the business needs of the ratepayer but on the objectively ascertainable character of the subjects. The application of these principles cannot be a mere mechanical exercise. They will commonly call for a factual judgment on the part of the valuer and the exercise of a large measure of professional common sense. But in my opinion they correctly summarise the relevant law. They are also rationally founded on the nature of a tax on individual properties. If the functional test were to be applied in any other than the limited category of cases envisaged in the second and third principles, a subject (or in English terms a hereditament) would fall to be identified not by reference to the physical characteristics of the property, but by reference to the business needs of a particular occupier and the use which, for his own purposes, he chose to make of it.’
Lord Neuberger, President, Lord Sumption, Lord Carnwath, Lord Toulson, Lord Gill
[2015] UKSC 53, [2015] 1 AC 1862, [2016] 1 All ER 299, [2015] WLR(D) 353, [2015] 3 WLR 386, UKSC 2013/0117
Bailii, WLRD, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary
England and Wales
Citing:
At UTLC – Tower Bridge House, Re UTLC 11-Jun-2012
UTLC RATING – hereditament – whether two floors in modern office block to be entered as single hereditament though separated by other floors – held they were – valuation – end allowance – whether allowance to be . .
Appeal from – Woolway (Valuation Officer) v Mazars Llp CA 17-Apr-2013
The valuation officer appealed against a decision to list an office block at issue as a single heraditament. . .
Cited – Bank of Scotland v Assessor for Edinburgh 1890
(Lands Valuation Appeal Court) The court considered the rating applicable where several banks retained nearby properties for the occupation of its staff. There were three categories of residential premises: (i) dwellings which were in buildings . .
Cited – Bank of Scotland v Assessor for Edinburgh 1891
(Lands Valuation Appeal Court) The Court considered the appropriate entry for property contiguous with a bank, but with no interconnection, the house being held for the occupation of bank employees.
Held: Lord Wellwood repeated his view that . .
Cited – Midlothian Assessor v Buccleuch Estates Ltd 1962
(Lands Valuation Appeal Court) The landowner had several parcels of woodland and sawmills. They were on different sites, but worked together as a single business.
Lord Kilbrandon observed: ‘It has never yet been admitted that you can have a . .
Cited – Farmer and Another v Buxted Poultry Ltd HL 10-Mar-1993
Buildings which were in fact far apart, could not be treated as being ‘occupied together with’ as agricultural buildings for rating purposes. . .
Cited – Burn Stewart Distillers plc v Lanarkshire Valuation Joint Board 2001
(Lands Tribunal for Scotland) Premises under common occupation but situated on opposite sides of a main road constituted two hereditaments: ‘We consider that the emphasis on the geographical test is an aspect of recognition that lands and heritages . .
Not approved – Burn Stewart Distillers plc v Lanarkshire Valuation Joint Board 2001
(Lands Tribunal for Scotland) Premises under common occupation but situated on opposite sides of a main road constituted two hereditaments: ‘We consider that the emphasis on the geographical test is an aspect of recognition that lands and heritages . .
Cited – British Railways Board v Hopkins (Valuation Officer) LT 1981
Different storeys under common occupation as constituting a single hereditament, whether they were contiguous or not. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating, Land
Updated: 03 January 2022; Ref: scu.550797
[1997] EWHC Admin 895
Community Charge (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1989
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 03 January 2022; Ref: scu.137840
UTLC RATING – valuation – 2010 Rating List – office and premises – tone of the list – comparables – settlements – market conditions – vacancy rates – Guidance per Lotus and Delta Ltd v Culverwell (VO) – appeals allowed
[2015] UKUT 295 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 02 January 2022; Ref: scu.549871
UTLC RATING – procedure – appeal to VTE automatically struck out for failure to comply with procedural directions – refusal of application to reinstate – whether a decision from which an appeal lies to Upper Tribunal – whether appeal to be struck out – Rule 8(2)(a), Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) (Lands Chamber) Rules 2010 – regs 10(1)/(5), 40 and 42, Valuation Tribunal for England (Council Tax and Rating Appeals) (Procedure) Regulations 2009
[2015] UKUT 335 (LC)
Bailii
Valuation Tribunal for England (Council Tax and Rating Appeals) (Procedure) Regulations 2009
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 02 January 2022; Ref: scu.549880
Whether or not hereditament wais exempt from non-domestic rates under section 51 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 as agricultural land or as comprising agricultural buildings within schedule 5 of that Act.
[2015] EWCA Civ 718, [2015] WLR(D) 301, [2015] PTSR 1490
Bailii, WLRD
Local Government Finance Act 1988 51
England and Wales
Rating, Agriculture
Updated: 01 January 2022; Ref: scu.549782
[1837] EngR 354, (1837) 2 M and W 703, (1837) 150 ER 939
Commonlii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 01 January 2022; Ref: scu.313471
The parties disputed the effective service of a completion notice so as to bring the new property into the rating list.
Gloster VP CA, Macur, King LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 430, [2017] PTSR 1606, [2017] WLR(D) 402
Bailii, WLRD
Local Government Finance Act 1988, Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2009
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal From – Westminster City Council v UKI (Kingsway) Ltd and Another UTLC 28-Jul-2015
UTLC RATING – procedure – service of completion notice – whether completion notice addressed only to ‘the owner’ valid – whether delivery of completion notice to premises followed by onward transmission of . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – UKI (Kingsway) Ltd v Westminster City Council SC 17-Dec-2018
Short issue as to the requirements for valid ‘service’ of a completion notice so as to bring a newly completed building within liability for non-domestic rates. The notice had been served by email where no statutory authority existed for this.
Rating
Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.588205
Short issue as to the requirements for valid ‘service’ of a completion notice so as to bring a newly completed building within liability for non-domestic rates. The notice had been served by email where no statutory authority existed for this.
Held: The LA’s appeal succeeded. ‘Against the background of the detailed scheme established by or under the 2000 Act, it may seem anomalous that the same result may be achieved in some cases by more informal means. However, the purpose of the Act and Orders made under it is to provide a clear and certain basis for the routine use of such methods by authorities. That purpose is not undermined by a conclusion that under general principles, and on the particular facts of this case, the notice was successfully served.’
Lady Hale, President,
,
Lord Kerr,
,
Lord Carnwath,
,
Lord Lloyd-Jones,
,
Lord Kitchin
[2018] UKSC 67, UKSC 2017/0132
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, SC Summary Video, SC 2018 Nov 6 am Video, SC 2018 Nov 6 pm Video
Local Government Finance Act 1988 46A, Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2009
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – UKI (Kingsway) Ltd v Westminster City Council CA 15-Jun-2017
The parties disputed the effective service of a completion notice so as to bring the new property into the rating list. . .
At UTLC – Westminster City Council v UKI (Kingsway) Ltd and Another UTLC 28-Jul-2015
UTLC RATING – procedure – service of completion notice – whether completion notice addressed only to ‘the owner’ valid – whether delivery of completion notice to premises followed by onward transmission of . .
Cited – Sun Alliance and London Assurance Co Ltd v Hayman CA 1975
The two-sided act of giving and receiving of a notice may be deemed to be done by some act other than actual receipt of the notification by the recipient.
Lord Salmon said: ‘Statutes and contracts often contain a provision that notice may be . .
Cited – Kinch and Another v Bullard and Others ChD 16-Sep-1998
A notice of severance of a joint tenancy applied to sever the tenancy even though it had not actually been received. It was sufficient that it had been posted and received at the house though intercepted. . .
Cited – Townsends Carriers Ltd v Pfizer Ltd 1977
A break notice had been served not by the tenant company but by an associated company, the service not being on the landlord company but an associated company.
Held: Because the tenant and the landlord had allowed their respective associated . .
Cited – Glen International Ltd v Triplerose Ltd CA 23-Mar-2007
Service on a solicitor who does not have authority to accept service of the particular notice on behalf of his client is not valid service on that party. . .
Cited – PNC Telecom plc v Thomas 2003
A letter sent by fax constituted a validly ‘deposited’ notice to convene an extraordinary general meeting under section 368 of the Companies Act 1985. The Vice-Chancellor noted that by that time the Electronic Communications Act 2000 enabled . .
Cited – Galinski v McHugh 5-Oct-1988
A landlord’s notice under section 4 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 had been served on the tenant’s solicitors, who had confirmed that they had authority to accept service. Later the tenant challenged the validity of the service.
Held: . .
Cited – Tadema Holdings Ltd v Ferguson CA 18-Nov-1999
The Court considered service of a notice under the 1988 Act: ”Serve’ is an ordinary English word connoting the delivery of a document to a particular person.’ . .
Cited – Hastie and Jenkerson v McMahon CA 11-Jan-1990
The Court accepted that service of a list of documents by fax was valid service for the purposes of a consent order in civil proceedings under the Rules of the Supreme Court.
Woolf LJ said: ‘. . are there any legal reasons why advantage should . .
Cited – Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council CA 20-May-1996
Builder’s Guarantee Ultra Vires LA
The council set out to provide a swimming pool using powers under s.19 of the 1976 Act. Purporting to use powers under s.111 of the 1972 Act, it set up a company to develop a site by building a leisure pool and time-share units, with a view to . .
Cited – Inland Revenue Commissioners v Conbeer ChD 1996
Laddie observed as to the potential advantages of delivery by fax in terms of reliability and speed. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.631394
UTLC RATING – procedure – service of completion notice – whether completion notice addressed only to ‘the owner’ valid – whether delivery of completion notice to premises followed by onward transmission of electronic copy by receptionist without authority to accept service was good service by the billing authority – s.42 and Sched. 4A, Local Government Finance Act 1988 – appeal allowed
[2015] UKUT 301 (LC), [2015] RA 433
Bailii
Local Government Finance Act 1988 4A
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal From – UKI (Kingsway) Ltd v Westminster City Council CA 15-Jun-2017
The parties disputed the effective service of a completion notice so as to bring the new property into the rating list. . .
At UTLC – UKI (Kingsway) Ltd v Westminster City Council SC 17-Dec-2018
Short issue as to the requirements for valid ‘service’ of a completion notice so as to bring a newly completed building within liability for non-domestic rates. The notice had been served by email where no statutory authority existed for this.
Rating
Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.552324
RATING – PROCEDURE – whether a completion notice can specify a completion date that precedes the date of service
Richie Roberts, (Valuation Officer)
[2021] UKUT 308 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.670633
Lord Reed, President, Lord Hodge, Deputy President, Lord Briggs, Lord Kitchin, Lord Leggatt
[2021] UKSC 16, [2021] WLR(D) 286, [2021] 2 WLR 1125
Bailii, Bailii Press Summary, Bailii Issues and Facts, WLRD
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 29 December 2021; Ref: scu.662466
Second Division, Inner House – The pursuer seeks reduction of an award of sequestration granted against her at Hamilton Sheriff Court on 22 March 2010, together with reduction of the underlying charge for payment dated 17 December 2009 and the preceding 5 summary warrants granted by the sheriff at Linlithgow relating to council tax in each year from 2004 to 2008. The pursuer accepts that exceptional circumstances are required to justify the remedy sought. The issue for determination in the case generally is whether the pursuer has made out a relevant case to that effect on record.
Lord Carloway LJC
[2015] ScotCS CSIH – 19
Bailii
Scotland, Rating
Updated: 28 December 2021; Ref: scu.544201
UTLC RATING -valuation – combined cycle gas turbine power station – length of hypothetical tenancy – duration of rent – receipts and expenditure method – whether negative divisible balance – whether respondent’s valuation reflects actuality and has a basis in law – appeal allowed – rateable value determined at andpound;1,012,500.
[2015] UKUT 53 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 28 December 2021; Ref: scu.543483
Mitting J
[2003] EWHC 1308 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 28 December 2021; Ref: scu.185340
An appeal competent, from a decreet in 1698, and interlocutor in 1708, though objection made that a decreet in 1707, confirming that in 1698, was not appealed from.
Prorogations of tacks of teinds, where an augmentation of stipend was small, reduced from fix 19 years to one 19 years.
[1711] UKHL Robertson – 16, (1711) Robertson 16
Bailii
Scotland
Rating
Updated: 28 December 2021; Ref: scu.553452
UTLC RATING – Valuation – Purpose Built GP Surgeries – Method of Valuation – whether Rentals Basis or Contractor’s Basis – tests per Lotus and Delta v Culverwell (VO) – rating hypothesis – vacant and to let – value of occupation to occupier – appeal dismissed
[2015] UKUT 1 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.542517
UTLC RATING – valuation – shop in 1970’s precinct – VT decision on other property – application by VO to comparables – allowances for narrowness, location and loading – appeal allowed – rateable value determined at andpound;18,250
[2015] UKUT 3 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.542519
UTLC RATING – PLANT AND MACHINERY – air handling unit – whether rateable – whether used mainly or exclusively as part of manufacturing operations or trade processes – meaning of ‘trade processes’ – reg.2, Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (England) Regulations 2000 – rateable value including air handling unit – appeal allowed – Rateable Value determined at 104,000 pounds
[2015] UKUT 14 (LC), [2015] RA 201
Bailii
Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (England) Regulations 2000 2, Local Government Finance Act 1988 Sch 6
England and Wales
Cited by:
At UTLC – Iceland Foods Ltd v Berry (Valuation Officer) CA 23-Nov-2016
The court was asked whether the air handling system used by Iceland Foods Limited in its retail store at Liverpool was plant or machinery ‘used or intended to be used in connection with services mainly or exclusively as part of manufacturing . .
At UTLC – Iceland Foods Ltd v Berry (Valuation Officer) SC 7-Mar-2018
Air System plant excluded from Rating value
The court was asked whether the services provided by a specialised air handling system, used in connection with refrigerated merchandise in the appellant’s retail store, are ‘manufacturing operations or trade processes’ for rating purposes.
Rating
Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.542514
The appellants appealed the decision of the Valuation Tribunal of England to dismiss their appeal against the Listing Officer’s decision that their home contains two self-contained units, which are now listed separately for the purposes of Council tax.
[2021] EWHC 3136 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.670069
On assessing gasworks to the poor-rate, in ascertaining the gross estimated rental a deduction ought to be allowed in respect of the cost of the meters, which belong to the gas company, but are put up on the premises of the consumers, and are connected with the service-pipes by solder, and by means of those pipes with the company’s mains : as they are mere chattels.
But deductions ought not to be allowed in respect of 1. Retorts, which are instruments in which the coals are carbonized and the gas produced, consisting of circular pieces of clay, to which the heat is applied, and also the arches which contain them, and the pipes, through which the gas passes to the purifiers, the whole being distinct and severable from the floor, and not attached to it by cement or mortar, but only packed with fire-clay. 2. Purifiers, which are massive iron vessels, standing on a brick base, but not fixed to it, connected with the pipes passing through the soil to the retorts by screw-bolts, and in the same way with the pipes passing through tie soil to the tanks and gasholders. 3. Steam-engines, used for driving the machinery, fastened by screw-bolts to a stone base fixed in the soil. 4. Boilers, set in brickwork, fixed in the soil. 5. Gasholders, which are hollow cylindrical vessels of plate-iron, covered at the top but open at the bottom, and rising and falling by means of pillars and pulleys into circular tanks sunk in the soil, into which the gas passes through the purifiers from the retorts. 6. Trade-fixtures, such as pumps and exhausters, which are fixed to the freehold, but would be removeable as tenant’s fixtures. For all of these are things which, though capable of being removed, are yet so far attached as that it was intended that they should remain permanently connected with the freehold, viz., the gasworks, and remain permanent appendages to them, as essential for the purpose for which the works were made. And it makes no difference that, by the practice in letting gasworks, the tenant would be compelled to take to and find capital for the purchase of all the above property.
(1865-1866) LR 1 QB 241, [1866] UKLawRpKQB 2
Commonlii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.653045
Appeal against a decision of the Valuation Appeal Committee at Glasgow.
Lord President, Lady Dorrian, Lord Malcolm
[2014] ScotCS CSIH – 86
Bailii
Scotland, Rating
Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.538176
UTLC RATING – valuation – 2010 list – self catering holiday units – whether tone produces reliable valuation – whether VO’s receipts and expenditure valuation accurate – held valuation based on tone not reliable – in preparing receipts and expenditure valuation tenant’s share of divisible balance should be high to reflect exceptional work load and modest total sum available – appeal allowed – RV reduced from andpound;11,750 to andpound;6,000
[2014] UKUT 311 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.537506
UTLC RATING – hereditament – proposal to remove from rating list – beneficial occupation – whether lack of beneficial occupation causes removal from list – whether ratepayer confined to grounds of appeal on proposal form – nominal valuation – whether works repair or improvement – appeal dismissed
[2014] UKUT 333 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.537505
Whether living accommodation, involving no ‘business’ element, can constitute a chargeable ‘dwelling’ for the purposes of liability to council tax under Part 1 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992
Mr Justice Fordham
[2021] EWHC 659 (Admin)
Bailii
Local Government Finance Act 1992
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.670274
UTLC RATING – costs -appeal against VTE decision – appeal withdrawn before hearing – Lands Chamber’s Simplified Procedure – whether appellant’s late withdrawal amounts to unreasonable behaviour – whether respondent VO entitled to wasted costs – held that it is not – Lands Chamber Practice Directions 2010
P D McCrea FRICS
[2014] UKUT 354 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating, Costs
Updated: 20 December 2021; Ref: scu.536070
UTLC RATING – alteration of rating list – proposal for alteration of the list – jurisdiction of the VTE – parties’ agreement on rateable value of single hereditament – jurisdiction of the Tribunal on appeal
[2013] UKUT 539 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 20 December 2021; Ref: scu.535666
The defendant local authority had introduced a Council Tax Reduction scheme which purported to restrict concessions to thosewho had lived within the area for the previous two years. The claimants sought permission to judicially review the scheme as unlawful and discriminatory.
Held: Review was granted. The scheme was unlawful.
Hickinbottom J
[2014] EWHC 2617 (Admin), [2014] WLR(D) 349
Bailii, WLRD
Local Government Finance Act 1992, Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 123 131
Local Government, Rating
Updated: 18 December 2021; Ref: scu.535539
Burnett J
[2009] EWHC 1670 (Admin), [2009] RA 209
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 18 December 2021; Ref: scu.347486
Ordinary action in which the pursuer seeks reduction of five summary warrants, a charge for payment of money and decree of sequestration of the pursuer granted by the sheriff at Hamilton on 22 March 2010. This action arises out of a dispute about the pursuer’s non-payment of council tax going back to 1999. The first defender is the local authority to whom the tax is said to be due. The second defender is the Accountant in Bankruptcy.
Lord Boyd of Duncansby
[2014] ScotCS CSOH – 98
Bailii
Scotland, Rating
Updated: 16 December 2021; Ref: scu.534142
UTLC RATING – valuation – alteration of list – whether appeal settled by agreement – whether appeal withdrawn – whether procedural fairness or avoidance of abuse of process require that appeal be revived – valuation of corridors – office values – addition for air conditioning – valuation of car parking spaces – end allowance – rateable value determined at andpound;6.45m – appeal allowed in part
[2014] UKUT 183 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 16 December 2021; Ref: scu.534080
Kate Grange QC (sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court)
[2021] EWHC 3003 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 15 December 2021; Ref: scu.669797
[2008] EWCA Civ 1503, [2010] RVR 168
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 13 December 2021; Ref: scu.279994
Two claims for judicial review against Cardiff City and County Council (the council) as rating authority for the city in respect of two licenced premises.
[2021] EWHC 3011 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 11 December 2021; Ref: scu.669801
The authority requested a liability order for rates arrears over several years. On appeal, it was held that there was nothing in the regulations to a liability order to be restricted to one year. That a demand had to be served for each year did not require separate proceedings. Convenience and the minimising of costs suggested that one set of proceedings was appropriate, and this appeared confirmed by the regulations. If such an application was made, the judge had no discretion to make individual orders for each year..
Stanley Burnton J
Gazette 01-Oct-2001, [2001] EWHC Admin 799
Bailii
Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) Regulations 1989, Civil Procedure Rules Part 7.3
England and Wales
Rating, Civil Procedure Rules
Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.166705
Powergen sold a property to Edison. Powergen had paid rates under a separate statutory rating regime, and paid an additional thirteen million pounds under an apportionment. Edison later complained that in being rated itself, the authorities had collected rates twice for the same property. It challenged the legality of the order under which the rates had first been collected form the vendor.
Held: There is a strong presumption against double rating. Sums of money appeared to have been collected twice. However the bases of the two collections were different. The one was under ordinary rating law, and the other by special statutory provision. The presumption against double taxation is rebuttable. The idea of payments in lieu of rates was introduced by the 1948 Act, and complex formulae were applied. The ESI Order was not ultra vires.
Lord Millett said: ‘The courts will presume that Parliament did not intend a statute to have consequences which are objectionable or undesirable; or absurd; or unworkable or impracticable; or merely inconvenient; or anomalous or illogical; or futile or pointless. But the strength of these presumptions depends on the degree to which a particular construction produces an unreasonable result. The more unreasonable a result, the less likely it is that Parliament intended it …’
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Steyn, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Millett, Lord Scott of Foscote
[2003] UKHL 20, [2003] 4 All ER 209, [2003] RA 325, [2003] 16 EGCS 101, [2003] 16 EG 101, [2003] 2 EGLR 133
House of Lords, Bailii
Local Government Finance Act 1988 41ff, Electricity Supply Industry (Rateable Values) Order 1994 (SI 1994/3282), Local Government Act 1948, Electricity Supply Industry (Rateable Values) Order 1989 (SI 1989 No. 2475)
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Edison First Power Ltd v The Secretary of State for Department of Environment Transport and the Regions CA 12-Jul-2001
. .
Cited – Regina v Special Commissioner And Another, ex parte Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd HL 16-May-2002
The inspector issued a notice requiring production of certain documents. The respondents refused to produce them, saying that they were protected by legal professional privilege.
Held: Legal professional privilege is a fundamental part of . .
Cited – Stradling v Morgan 1560
There is a wide common sense principle of the construction of statutes by which courts will imply qualifications into the literal meaning of wide and general words in order to prevent them from having some unreasonable consequence which it is . .
Cited – Smith and Son v Lambeth Assessment Committee 1882
The law presumes that only one person shall be liable to pay rates on a property at any one time. . .
Cited – Westminster City Council v Southern Railway Co HL 1936
Subject to special enactments, people are treated as occupiers of land, land being understood as including not only the surface of the earth but all strata above or below. The occupier, not the land, is rateable; but the occupier is rateable in . .
Cited – Brook v National Coal Board 1975
. .
Cited – Regina v Inland Revenue Commissioners, Ex parte Woolwich Equitable Building Society HL 25-Oct-1990
The society challenged the validity of transitional provisions in the 1986 regulations on the ground that they were ultra vires. The House considered the specific presumption against double taxation, and also a power in general terms to make . .
Cited – Kingston Union v Metropolitan Water Board HL 1926
The principle for valuation of properties for rating was to estimate ‘the rent at which the hereditaments might reasonably be expected to let from year to year’. But in applying that principle, so simple in appearance, to certain classes of . .
Cited – Milford Haven Conservancy Board v Inland Revenue Commissioners CA 1976
The Minister had power to make provision by order for determining rateable values ‘by such method as may be so specified’. The formula prescribed by the Minister for dock undertakings was based on 4% of their receipts, including receipts from some . .
At First Instance – Regina (ex parte Edison First Power Limited v Secretary of State for Environment, Transport, Same v Central Valuation Officer Admn 31-Mar-2000
. .
At CA – Edison First Power Ltd v Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and Regions CA 12-Jul-2001
. .
Cited by:
Cited – Jackson and others v Attorney General HL 13-Oct-2005
The applicant sought to challenge the 2004 Hunting Act, saying that it had been passed under the provisions of the 1949 Parliament Act which was itself an unlawful extension of the powers given by the 1911 Parliament Act to allow the House of . .
Cited – North Somerset District Council v Honda Motor Europe Ltd and Others QBD 2-Jul-2010
Deleayed Rates Claims Service made them Defective
The council claimed that the defendants were liable for business rates. The defendants said that the notices were defective in not having been served ‘as soon as practicable’, and further that they should not be enforced since the delay had created . .
Cited – Shahid v Scottish Ministers (Scotland) SC 14-Oct-2015
The appellant convicted of a racially-aggravated vicious murder. Since conviction he had spent almost five years in segregation from other prisoners. The appellant now alleged that some very substantial periods of segregation had been in breach of . .
Cited – McCool, Regina v SC 2-May-2018
The appellants complained that the recovery order made against them in part under the transitional provisions were unlawful. They had claimed benefits as single people but were married to each other and for a house not occupied. The difficulty was . .
Dictum Approved – Gumbs v Attorney General Of Anguilla PC 7-Jul-2009
Anguilla – whether there is a public right of way, and, if there is, the extent of that way, over a parcel of land at Little Bay, Anguilla. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating, Constitutional
Updated: 05 December 2021; Ref: scu.180698
RATING – Method of Valuation -contractors test – modern substitute – end allowances – INTERIM DECISION
[2014] UKUT 164 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 03 December 2021; Ref: scu.525943
[1859] EngR 1013, (1859) 7 CB NS 29, (1859) 144 ER 724
Commonlii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 30 November 2021; Ref: scu.288365
Statutory appeal by the Appellant listing officer against the decision of the Valuation Tribunal for England. The Tribunal allowed an appeal from the LO’s decision that the annex at the Respondents’ property at Basingstoke, Hampshire was a self-contained unit, so as to be amenable to a separate charge for council tax.
Popplewell J
[2014] EWHC 237 (Admin)
Bailii
Rating
Updated: 29 November 2021; Ref: scu.521137
Appeal against finding of liability to pay councl tax.
Thirlwall DBE J
[2014] EWHC 195 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 29 November 2021; Ref: scu.521073
‘billing authorities have been in receipt of advice that the arrears of business rates outstanding for the purposes of insolvency are to be treated in the same way as arrears of council tax, and that, in both cases, the debt provable in the insolvency is that due up to the date of the insolvency event, unless the debtor has previously defaulted, in which case it is the debt for the whole of the relevant financial year, that is considered to be due, and to become payable and provable in the insolvency. It is the correctness of that view which falls for decision by this court.’
Hidge QC HHJ
[2013] EWHC 4165 (Ch), [2014] BCC 143, [2014] BPIR 416, [2014] Bus LR 597, [2014] 2 All ER 1019
Bailii
Insolvency, Rating
Updated: 29 November 2021; Ref: scu.520880
RATING – VALUATION – first floor former office in Chinatown – rent of appeal property – comparable rental evidence – no tone of the list – rateable value determined at pounds 21,750
[2021] UKUT 242 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 29 November 2021; Ref: scu.669239
UTLC RATING – valuation – 2005 list – material change of circumstances – England’s most valuable out of town retail park 4.3 miles from Leicester town centre – existing shopping centre in town centre more than doubled in size – whether opening of enlarged shopping centre reduced rental values at out of town centre – held that it did – appeals allowed – RVs reduced by 10%
N J Rose FRICS and P D McCrea FRICS
[2013] UKUT 527 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 26 November 2021; Ref: scu.518806
UTLC RATING – proposal to alter the 2010 non-domestic rating list – proposal containing error in its statement of annual rent – Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2009 – whether proposal validly made – whether (if not validly made) the valuation officer entitled to assert the invalidity
Judge Huskinson
[2013] UKUT 548 (LC)
Bailii
Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2009
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 26 November 2021; Ref: scu.518807
RATING – OCCUPATION – extent of hereditament – ‘white space’ in a data hall, whether capable of beneficial occupation – rule 38(7), Valuation Tribunal for England (Council Tax and Rating Appeals) (Procedure) Regulations 2009 – late change of case by the Valuation Officer
[2021] UKUT 265 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 26 November 2021; Ref: scu.669249
UTLC RATING – valuation – 2010 list – second generation supermarket comprising part of a larger food store originally purpose built to suit requirements of a different operator – comparables – whether to be valued by reference to all stores occupied by the ratepayer or second generation stores only – effect on value of catchment and competition – appeal allowed – RV reduced from andpound;210,000 to andpound;182,000
[2013] UKUT 348 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 25 November 2021; Ref: scu.517588
Roger Kay QC HHJ
[2013] EWHC 3307 (Admin)
Bailii
Non-Domestic Rating (Unoccupied Property) Regulations 1989
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 23 November 2021; Ref: scu.517337
[1899] UKHL TC – 4 – 131, 4 TC 131
Bailii
Agricultural Rates Act 1896
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 19 November 2021; Ref: scu.631842
UTLC RATING – hereditament – valuation of hotel and conference centre – 2005 Rating List – assessment based upon scheme agreed with British Hospitality Association – whether full Receipts and Expenditure method of assessment appropriate in light of ‘exceptional circumstances’ – held circumstances not exceptional – appeal dismissed
[2013] UKUT 237 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 15 November 2021; Ref: scu.512303
UTLC RATING – non-domestic hereditament – concierge room in development of 15 houses – whether domestic property – Local Government Finance Act 1988 s.66(1) – held concierge room lay within the curtilage of property used wholly for the purposes of living accommodation and was an ‘other appurtenance’ – domestic property
[2013] UKUT 166 (LC)
Bailii
Local Government Finance Act 1988 66(1)
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 15 November 2021; Ref: scu.512301
UTLC RATING – valuation – shop – one shop hereditament divided into two – loss of discount for size – rental and comparable assessment evidence – adjustments for residential accommodation over shops – appeal dismissed
[2013] UKUT 180 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 15 November 2021; Ref: scu.512306
RATING – PROCEDURE – power of VTE to order temporary alteration to rating list when giving effect to a proposal – whether exercisable when proposal is for deletion – whether alteration of assessment a matter ancillary to temporary deletion – scope of proposal – regulation 38, Valuation Tribunal for England (Council Tax and Rating Appeals) (Procedure) Regulations 2009 – appeal dismissed
[2020] UKUT 238 (LC)
Bailii
Valuation Tribunal for England (Council Tax and Rating Appeals) (Procedure) Regulations 2009
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 12 November 2021; Ref: scu.653286
RATING – PROCEDURE – statutory interpretation and the use of Explanatory Notes – contiguous and interconnected premises – occupation – control – appeals dismissed.
[2020] UKUT 237 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 12 November 2021; Ref: scu.653285
UTLC RATING – proposal – validity – agreed alteration taking effect at beginning of financial year in which proposal made – further proposal made referring to VT decision – object to achieve earlier effective date for alteration – whether proposal valid – held that it was – Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) Regulations 1993 regs 4A, 5A, 7 and 13A.
[2009] UKUT 118 (LC)
Bailii
Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) Regulations 1993
England and Wales
Rating
Leading Case
Updated: 12 November 2021; Ref: scu.373420
RATING – hereditament – oil pipeline from local supply point to combined heat and power station – whether a separate hereditament from power station and electricity and steam networks – held that it was not – appeal allowed.
[2008] EWLands RA – 38 – 2007
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.278633
The House considered whether certain properties of the Church were subject to non-domestic rating. Various buildings were on the land, and the officer denied that some fell within the exemptions, and in particular whether the Temple itself was a public place of religious worship, since it was not open to the public, or even to all church members.
Held: The church’s appeal failed. Though the law had altered since the Henning case, the relevant words had not, and that decision stood. The sacredness of the building and of the functions that are performed there are decisive and the Temple could not be described as a church hall. Only one of the buildings satisfied the requirements for exemption. As a matter of law, a place of ‘public religious worship’ must be one that is open to the general public.
Lord Scott said: ‘the grant of rating relief to premises for religious services that are open to the public and the withholding of that relief from premises for religious services which take place behind closed doors through which only a select few may pass is well justifiable and within the margin of appreciation available to individual signatory states. First, states may justifiably take the view that the practice of religion is beneficial both to the individuals who practise it as well as to the community of whom the individuals form part, and that, therefore, relief from rating for premises where religious worship takes place is in the public interest. But, second, states may also recognise that, although religion may be beneficial both to individuals and to the community, it is capable also of being divisive and, sometimes, of becoming dangerously so. No one who lives in a country such as ours, with a community of diverse ethnic and racial origins and of diverse cultures and religions, can be unaware of this. Religion can bind communities together; but it can also emphasise their differences. In these circumstances secrecy in religious practices provides the soil in which suspicions and unfounded prejudices can take root and grow; openness in religious practices, on the other hand, can dispel suspicions and contradict prejudices.’
Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Carswell, Lord Mance
[2008] UKHL 56, Times 07-Aug-2008, [2008] 1 WLR 1852, [2008] 4 All ER 640, [2008] NPC 92, [2008] HRLR 46, [2008] RA 317, [2008] 2 P and CR DG25
Bailii, HL
Local Government Finance Act 1988 Sch5 p11, Toleration Act 1688, Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791, Places of Religious Worship Act 1812, Poor Rate Exemption Act 1833
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Cole v Police Constable 443A 1937
A ‘place of public religious worship’ required only ‘congregational worship’, that is to say, the assembly of a congregation whose association is solely for the purpose of joining in worship and not because they have private links such as being . .
Cited – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v Henning (Valuation Officer) HL 1964
The House was asked whether the Mormon Temple at Godstone was exempt from rates as a ‘place of public religious worship’.
Held: The words could not apply to places used for religious worship from which the public was excluded.
Lord Pearce . .
Cited – Gilmour v Coats HL 1949
Prayers Alone did not make Convent Charitable
A trust to apply the income of a fund for all or any of the purposes of a community of Roman Catholic Carmelite nuns living in seclusion and spending their lives in prayer, contemplation and penance, was not charitable because it could not be shown . .
Cited – Barras v Aberdeen Steam Trawling and Fishing Co HL 17-Mar-1933
The court looked at the inference that a statute’s draughtsman could be assumed when using a phrase to rely on a known interpretation of that phrase.
Viscount Buckmaster said: ‘It has long been a well established principle to be applied in the . .
Cited – Regina v Chard HL 1983
The defendant appealed his conviction which had been obtained but based upon the evidence of a ‘super-grass’. His appeal failed, but the witness then withdrew his evidence. The matter was referred back to the court under the section, which then . .
Cited – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v Henning (Valuation Officer) CA 1962
The court was asked whether a Mormon Temple was a public place of worship. Lord Denning MR rejected an argument that the Temple was merely a church hall: ‘The short answer is that this temple is not a church hall, chapel hall nor a similar building. . .
Cited – Thlimmenos v Greece ECHR 6-Apr-2000
(Grand Chamber) The application of a rule that a felon could not become a chartered accountant infringed the rights under article 14, taken in conjunction with article 9, of a pacifist convicted of the felony of refusing to perform military service. . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v M HL 8-Mar-2006
The respondent’s child lived with the estranged father for most of each week. She was obliged to contribute child support. She now lived with a woman, and complained that because her relationship was homosexual, she had been asked to pay more than . .
Cited – DH v Czech Repiublic ECHR 7-Feb-2006
The claimants, 18 Roma children complained, saying that they had automatically been placed in schools for children with special needs by virtue of their racial origin. . .
Cited – London Corporation v Cusack-Smith HL 1955
The House considered a purchase notice under section 19(1), Town and Country Planning Act 1947, which turned on the second limb of the definition of ‘owner’ because the land in question was not let at a rack rent. Lord Reid considered a chain of . .
Appeal from – Gallagher v Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints CA 24-Nov-2006
. .
Cited – Broxtowe Borough Council v Birch CA 1983
A sect of Christians, the Exclusive Brethren set up one building with a notice declaring that the word of god would be preached on Sundays. This was interpreted as that it was open for public worship and exempt from rating. A second building was . .
Cited – W and JB Eastwood Ltd v Herrod (VO) HL 1971
The House was asked whether buildings used for producing broiler chickens were agricultural buildings. They would be exempt had it been possible to say that they were used ‘solely’ in connection with the agricultural operations on the land together . .
Cited – Trustees of West London Methodist Mission v Holborn Borough Council 1958
. .
Cited by:
Cited – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v United Kingdom ECHR 4-Mar-2014
latterdayECHR0314
The claimant said that it had been wrongfully deprived of relief from business rates for its two temples. It asserted that it was a religion, and that the treatment was discriminatory. The government said that the refusal was on the basis alone that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating, Human Rights, Ecclesiastical
Leading Case
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.271275
LT RATING – composite hereditament – home working from ground floor front room – practice of Chinese medicine (acupuncture and herbalism) – window signage – advertisements – fitting out of room – whether medical practice commenced – appeal allowed – Local Government Finance Act 1988, s66(1)(a).
[2008] EWLands RA – 56 – 2007
Bailii
Local Government Finance Act 1988 66(1)(a)
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.278622
UTLC RATING – valuation – 2005 list – restaurant and premises – proposal for temporary reduction due to interference resulting from neighbouring development works – 20% reduction agreed – subsequent proposal for further reduction due to road closure – whether further reduction justified – held it was not – appeal dismissed.
[2011] UKUT 115 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.440785
The claimant said that it had been wrongfully deprived of relief from business rates for its two temples. It asserted that it was a religion, and that the treatment was discriminatory. The government said that the refusal was on the basis alone that the temples were not open to the public, and similar differentiations for example applied to the Church of England.
Held: Article 14 complements the other substantive provisions of the Convention and the Protocols. It has no independent existence since it has effect solely in relation to ‘the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms’ safeguarded by those provisions. The claim failed: ‘insofar as any difference of treatment between religious groups in comparable situations can be said to have been established in relation to tax exemption of places of worship, such difference of treatment had a reasonable and objective justification. In particular, the contested measure pursued a legitimate aim in the public interest and there was a reasonable relationship of proportionality between that aim and the means used to achieve it. The domestic authorities cannot be considered as having exceeded the margin of appreciation available to them in this context, even having due regard to the duties incumbent on the State by virtue of Article 9 of the Convention in relation to its exercise of its regulatory powers in the sphere of religious freedom. ‘
Ineta Ziemele, P
7552/09 – Chamber Judgment, [2014] ECHR 227
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 9 14
Citing:
Cited – Eweida And Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 15-Jan-2013
Eweida_ukECHR2013
The named claimant had been employed by British Airways. She was a committed Christian and wished to wear a small crucifix on a chain around her neck. This breached the then dress code and she was dismissed. Her appeals had failed. Other claimants . .
Cited – Gallagher (Valuation Officer) v Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints HL 30-Jul-2008
The House considered whether certain properties of the Church were subject to non-domestic rating. Various buildings were on the land, and the officer denied that some fell within the exemptions, and in particular whether the Temple itself was a . .
Cited – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v Henning (Valuation Officer) HL 1964
The House was asked whether the Mormon Temple at Godstone was exempt from rates as a ‘place of public religious worship’.
Held: The words could not apply to places used for religious worship from which the public was excluded.
Lord Pearce . .
Cited – National Union of Belgian Police v Belgium ECHR 27-Oct-1975
Hudoc No violation of Art. 11; No violation of Art. 14+11
The Belgian Government failed to consult a municipal police union about legislation affecting public sector employment rights. The union’s direct . .
Cited – Thlimmenos v Greece ECHR 6-Apr-2000
(Grand Chamber) The application of a rule that a felon could not become a chartered accountant infringed the rights under article 14, taken in conjunction with article 9, of a pacifist convicted of the felony of refusing to perform military service. . .
Cited – Schmidt And Dahlstrom v Sweden ECHR 6-Feb-1976
ECHR No violation of Art. 11; No violation of Art. 14+11 . .
Cited – Hasan and Chaush v Bulgaria ECHR 26-Oct-2000
The Grand Chamber considered executive interference in the appointment of the Chief Mufti of the Bulgarian Muslims: ‘Where the organisation of the religious community is at issue, Article 9 must be interpreted in the light of Article 11 of the . .
Cited – Metropolitan Church Of Bessarabia And Others v Moldova ECHR 13-Dec-2001
‘in principle, the right to freedom of religion as understood in the Convention rules out any appreciation by the state of the legitimacy of religious beliefs or of the manner in which these are expressed’ . .
Cited – DH v Czech Republic ECHR 13-Nov-2007
(Grand Chamber) The applicants complained that their children had been moved to special schools which did not reflect their needs from ordinary schools without them being consulted.
Held: The Court noted that, at the relevant time, the . .
Cited – Religionsgemeinschaft der Zeugen Jehovas And Others v Austria ECHR 31-Jul-2008
The State has a duty to remain neutral and impartial in exercising its regulatory power in the sphere of religious freedom and in its relations with different religions, denominations and beliefs. . .
Cited – Burden and Burden v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-Dec-2006
Sisters,Together always not Discriminated Against
(Grand Chamber) The claimants were sisters who had lived together all their lives and owned property jointly. They complained that the Inheritance Tax regime treated them worse than it would a married couple, and was discriminatory.
Held: . .
Cited – Runkee And White v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-May-2007
The claimant said that the rules which denied him a widow’s pension were sex discrimination.
Held: The normally strict test for justification of sex discrimination in the enjoyment of the Convention rights gives way to the ‘manifestly without . .
Cited – Savez Crkava (Rijec Zivota) And Others v Croatia ECHR 9-Dec-2010
. .
Cited – Carson and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 4-Nov-2008
(Grand Chamber) Pensioners who had moved abroad complained that they had been excluded from the index-linked uprating of pensions given to pensioners living in England.
Held: This was not an infringement of their human rights. Differences in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Ecclesiastical, Rating
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.521979
A public house was to be valued for rating under the 1869 Act. The question was whether the 1920 regulations, which limited the rent which could be charged, limited also the rating value.
Held: The statutory hypothesis used in setting a rateable value of a hereditament is the means of establishing the value of the occupier’s occupation and that the amount that the occupier actually pays in the real world in order to occupy the hereditament, whether that amount arises from an agreement or by force of statute, will not be evidence of this value unless it accords, or can be adjusted to accord, with the statutory hypothesis. The statutory restriction was not material to the determination of the valuation for the purposes of rating.
Buckmaster L said: ‘From the earliest time, it is the inhabitant that has to be taxed. It is in respect of his occupation that the rate is levied, and the standard in the Act is nothing more but a means of finding out what the value of that occupation is for the purposes of the assessment. In my opinion, the rent that the tenant might reasonably be expected to pay is the rent which, apart from all conditions affecting or limiting its receipt in the hands of the landlord, would be regarded as a reasonable rent for the tenant who occupied under the conditions which the statute of 1869 imposes.’ Lord Parmoor: ‘ Under 43 Eliz.c.2, rates are to be levied upon every occupier of lands, houses etc. The distinction between occupier and owner, in this connection, is of primary importance. The occupation of property may be, and often is, distinct from its value to the owner. This distinction would probably be emphasised where an artificial statutory maximum is fixed and a statutory restriction prevents an owner from recovering from any tenant a greater amount, as rent, than the statutory maximum.’
Lord Buckmaster, Lord Parmoor, Lord Atkinson, Lord Carson
[1922] AC 93
Valuation (Metropolis) Act 1869, Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act 1920
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Orange PCS v Alan Roy Bradford (Valuation Officer) CA 17-Feb-2004
The claimant challenged the rating of the land it had used for the erection of a mobile ohone mast.
Held: Even though the company had the statutory right to place a mast in this location and without payment, for rating purposes the officer . .
Cited – Newbigin (Valuation Officer) v SJ and J Monk (A Firm) SC 1-Mar-2017
The court was asked: ‘Does a commercial building which is in the course of redevelopment have to be valued for the purposes of rating as if it were still a useable office? ‘
Held: Appeal from decision of CA granted. On the facts found by the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Leading Case
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.193770
The Zoological Society was incorporated by Charter ‘for the advancement of Zoology and Animal Physiology, and the introduction of new and curious subjects of the animal kingdom.’ They occupied land on which were buildings appropriated as receptacles for housing animals and birds, and as a museum for stuffed specimens. Three acres, not so appropriated, were cultivated as a flower garden. Refreshment rooms on the premises were occupied for the purpose of supplying refreshment to visitors, by M, who paid to the Society a rent for this privilege. The public were admitted, to the grounds, either by paying money upon each admittance, or by ticketa given to them by the fellows. Once in the weeks for three months in tbe year, the Society procured the attendance of a musical band.
Held: The Society was not exempt from rates, under stat. 6 and 7 Vict. c. 36, s. 1, the premises not being occupied exclusively for the purposes of science. The Society was supported in part by annual contributions from the fellows and subscribers. Each fellow was entitled to personal admission, with a specified number of companions on, every day, and could also give admission at oertain times by written orders and tickets, to which he was entitled: and fellows were also entitled to purchase tickets giving free admission to the bearer. Subscribers also were entitled to purchase annually an ivory ticket, admitting a named person of their family, with a companion,. Semble: that the annual contributions by the felloes were not voluntary contributions within the meaning of sect 1, inasmuch as the fellows and subscribers obtained a benefit not purely scientific, in consideration of the payments.
[1854] EngR 566, (1854) 3 El and Bl 807, (1854) 118 ER 1343
Commonlii
England and Wales
Charity, Rating
Leading Case
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.293423
The court was asked whether a steamship company was liable to be rated in respect of its occupation of sheds which it occupied under a licence from the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. The court noted that liability for rates fell only on a person who had exclusive occupation.
Held: ‘The poor-rate is a rate imposed by the statute on the occupier, and that occupier must be the exclusive occupier, a person who, if there was a trespass committed on the premises, would be the person to bring an action of trespass for it. A lodger in a house, although he has the exclusive use of rooms in the house, in the sense that nobody else is to be there, and although his goods are stored there, yet he is not in exclusive occupation in that sense, because the landlord is there for the purpose of being able, as landlords commonly do in the case of lodgings, to have his own servants to look after the house and the furniture, and has retained to himself the occupation, though he has agreed to give the exclusive enjoyment of the occupation to the lodger. Such a lodger could not bring ejectment or trespass quare clausum fregit, the maintenance of the action depending on the possession; and he is not rateable.’
Templeton L said: ‘If on the other hand residential accommodation is granted for a term at a rent with exclusive possession, the landlord providing neither attendance nor services, the grant is a tenancy; any express reservation to the landlord of limited rights to enter and view the state of the premises and to repair and maintain the premises only serves to emphasise the fact that the grantee is entitled to exclusive possession and is a tenant.’ and ‘There can be no tenancy unless the occupier enjoys exclusive possession; but an occupier who enjoys exclusive possession is not necessarily a tenant. He may be owner in fee simple, a trespasser, a mortgagee in possession, an object of charity or a service occupier.’ and ‘Sometimes it may appear from the surrounding circumstances that the right to exclusive possession is referable to a legal relationship other than a tenancy. Legal relationships to which the grant of exclusive possession might be referable and which would or might negative the grant of an estate or interest in the land include occupancy under a contract for the sale of the land, occupancy pursuant to a contract of employment or occupancy referable to the holding of an office.’
Blackburn J, Templeton L
(1874) LR 9 QB 180
Mersey Docks Act 1858
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Appah v Parncliffe Investments Ltd CA 1964
The test of whether a person is a lodger, as opposed to a sub-tenant, must be determined by the degree of control retained by the householder over the rooms which the lodger occupies. . .
Cited – Street v Mountford HL 6-Mar-1985
When a licence is really a tenancy
The document signed by the occupier stated that she understood that she had been given a licence, and that she understood that she had not been granted a tenancy protected under the Rent Acts. Exclusive occupation was in fact granted.
Held: . .
Cited – Gray and others v Taylor CA 2-Apr-1998
A right of occupation given by an almshouse under a charitable trust was an occupation under a licence without right of possession, not an assured tenancy. The plaintiff’s conditions of occupancy stated: ‘Residents are licensees and pay a . .
Cited – Manchester Airport Plc v Dutton and others CA 23-Feb-1999
The claimant sought an order requiring delivery of possession of land occupied by the respondent objectors. They needed to remove trees from the land in order to construct a runway on their own adjacent land. The claimant had been granted a licence . .
Cited – Crancour Ltd v Da Silvaesa and Another CA 26-Feb-1986
The plaintiff sought possession of two rooms in a house occupied by the defendants separately. The agreements stated that they were licences. The agreements excluded the occupiers between 10:30am and noon on each day. The occupiers claimed to be . .
Cited – North Somerset District Council v Honda Motor Europe Ltd and Others QBD 2-Jul-2010
Deleayed Rates Claims Service made them Defective
The council claimed that the defendants were liable for business rates. The defendants said that the notices were defective in not having been served ‘as soon as practicable’, and further that they should not be enforced since the delay had created . .
Cited – Watts v Stewart and Others CA 8-Dec-2016
The court considered the status of residents of almshouses, and in particular whether they were licensees or tenants with associated security.
Held: The occupier’s appeal failed: ‘We do not accept the proposition that, if and insofar as Mrs . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant, Rating
Leading Case
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.247613
UTLC RATING – valuation – warehouse – state of repair to be assumed – held necessary repair works would not have been considered uneconomic and therefore valuation must assume state of reasonable repair – Rating (Valuation) Act 1999, s1
Rose FRICS
[2010] UKUT 106 (LC)
Bailii
Rating (Valuation) Act 1999 81
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.415015
UTLC RATING – hereditament – petrol filling station part of motorway service area – whether forming a separate hereditament – held that it was – paramountcy of occupation – held that petroleum company in paramount occupation – appeals allowed
[2013] UKUT 52 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.512310
The appellant building contractors had been engaged by the Air Ministry to execute works at an aerodrome. They erected on the site, for the purpose of carrying out the contract, offices, garages, canteen for workmen and other structures. Although the site was handed over to the contractors, the conditions of the contract between the contractors and the Air Ministry specified that the execution of the work was subject to the control and direction of the Ministry’s Superintending Officer. In due course the local rating authority proposed to amend its valuation list by adding the contractors’ officers and other structures as a rateable hereditament. A special case was stated for the opinion of the Divisional Court on the question whether the contractors were in rateable occupation of that hereditament.
Held: The contractor’s appeal failed. The four conditions of rateable occupation are (i) actual occupational possession (which involves actual as opposed to intended user of the land in question); (ii) occupation or possession which is exclusive (ie if the occupier can exclude all other persons from using the land in the same way as he does); (iii) occupation or possession which is of some value or benefit to the occupier/possessor; (iv) occupation or possession which has a sufficient quality of permanence.
Tucker LJ said: ‘Mr Rowe has said that there are four necessary ingredients in rateable occupation, and I do not think there is any controversy with regard to those ingredients. First, there must be actual occupation; secondly, that it must be exclusive for the particular purposes of the possessor; thirdly, that the possession must be of some value or benefit to the possessor; and, fourthly, the possession must not be for too transient a period.’
Jenkins J, dealing with the fourth requirement, considered that it had been met by the fact that the builders’ huts had been on the land for the two years that work was being carried out there.
Tucker LJ, Jenkins J
[1949] 1 KB 344
England and Wales
Cited by:
Approved – London County Council v Wilkins (Valuation Officer) HL 1957
Four builders’ moveable huts, which had been erected as temporary structures on a site for 18 months, only one of which was moved from one part of the site to the other during that period, were claimed chattels and therefore not rateable.
Cited – Tallington Lakes Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Grantham Magistrates Court Admn 25-Nov-2010
The company appealed against liability orders made against it for non-payment of domestic rates, saying that in each case it had not been the rateable occupier. The property had been subdivided and let to companies of which the appellant was a . .
Cited – JDE Plant Hire Limited v Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council QBD 2000
The company appealed against liability orders made against it. It owned premises which were subdivided and let to other businesses which it contended were the ones in actual occupation, since it did not benefit from physical, non-transient . .
Cited – Reeves (Listing Officer) v Northrop Admn 6-Mar-2012
The respondent occupied a tugboat with his family as his home. The appellant authority had sought to charge council tax, saying that it was a dwelling. The boat was not a houseboat but a live-aboard seagoing vessel, registered in the Small Ships . .
Approved – Cinderella Rockerfellas Ltd v Rudd (Valuation Officer) CA 11-Apr-2003
The taxpayer appealed against a rating assessment on a barge permanently moored at a riverbank. He claimed that as a chattel, it should not be rated.
Held: The vessel was a chattel, but its occupation could be an occupation of the riverbed. . .
Cited – Reeves (Listing Officer) v Northrop CA 17-Apr-2013
The taxpayer had successfully challenged the entry of his houseboat in the rating list at the Valuation Tribunal, but this had been re-instated at first instance. He said that the boat, as a registered seagoing vessel was not a houseboat, and that . .
Cited – Sunderland City Council v Stirling Investment Properties Llp Admn 24-May-2013
The Council appealed by cases stated against dismissal of its summons against the defendant alleging non-payment of non-domestic rates. The property owned by the respondent had been occupied by a tenant, but only by a small equipment box, and the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Leading Case
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.181050
The respondent occupied a tugboat with his family as his home. The appellant authority had sought to charge council tax, saying that it was a dwelling. The boat was not a houseboat but a live-aboard seagoing vessel, registered in the Small Ships Register; The question was whether it amounted to a heraditament.
Held: The listing officer’s appeal succeeded. Duration of the occupation of land, whilst an important factor, was not the sole determining one. Even so, the Tribunal had given insufficient weight to the long term nature of the mooring, and had been wrong to take account of ‘the overall circumstances of the mooring arrangements.’ The way the boat had been moored had no legal significance. The entry in the Council Tax valuation list was to be restored.
Wyn Williams J said:’ the correct legal position is that duration of occupation will always be an important factor when determining whether occupation should be regarded as ‘not too transient’ or ‘sufficiently permanent’. No doubt, in practice, there will be cases in which the period of occupation will be such as to be, in effect, determinative of the issue of transience or permanency. However, I do not consider that other factors will be irrelevant, necessarily in every case. In my judgment, it cannot be said that a court or Tribunal will act unlawfully, inevitably if it takes account of factors other than duration of occupation when resolving the issue of transience or permanency.’
Wyn Williams J
[2012] EWHC 415 (Admin), [2012] PTSR 1567, [2012] RA 117, [2012] WLR(D) 61, [2012] 1 WLR 2177, [2012] ACD 57
Bailii, WLRD
Valuation Tribunal for England (Council Tax and Rating Appeals) (Procedure) Regulations 2009, General Rate Act 1967 115(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – John Laing and Son Ltd v Kingswood Assessment Committee KBD 1949
The appellant building contractors had been engaged by the Air Ministry to execute works at an aerodrome. They erected on the site, for the purpose of carrying out the contract, offices, garages, canteen for workmen and other structures. Although . .
Cited – London County Council v Wilkins (Valuation Officer) HL 1957
Four builders’ moveable huts, which had been erected as temporary structures on a site for 18 months, only one of which was moved from one part of the site to the other during that period, were claimed chattels and therefore not rateable.
Cited – Field Place Caravan Park Ltd v Harding CA 1966
The Court considered the rateability of a residential caravan site. The caravans were on wheels and retained their mobility although they were jacked up to keep them stable.
Held: Although a chattel is not a rateable hereditament by itself, it . .
Cited – Hilleshog Sugar Beet Breeding Co Ltd v Wilke LT 1971
hilleshopLT1971
Parcels of land were occupied for 9-10 months in a year.
Held: This was not too transient a period to establish a rateable occupation notwithstanding that in subsequent years the occupation passed on to the other land.
Sir Michael Rowe . .
Cited – Thomas (Valuation Officer) v Whitney Aquatic Co Ltd LT 1972
The ratepayers had a legal right to use a lake for sporting activities and to maintain a floating clubhouse on the lake. The clubhouse was made fast in a particular location upon the lake but it was moved in winter months to an island in the centre . .
Cited – Cinderella Rockerfellas Ltd v Rudd (Valuation Officer) CA 11-Apr-2003
The taxpayer appealed against a rating assessment on a barge permanently moored at a riverbank. He claimed that as a chattel, it should not be rated.
Held: The vessel was a chattel, but its occupation could be an occupation of the riverbed. . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Reeves (Listing Officer) v Northrop CA 17-Apr-2013
The taxpayer had successfully challenged the entry of his houseboat in the rating list at the Valuation Tribunal, but this had been re-instated at first instance. He said that the boat, as a registered seagoing vessel was not a houseboat, and that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.451809
UTLC Rating – Costs – appeal against a VTE Decision – Respondent concedes appeal before hearing – Land Chamber’s simplified procedure – whether Respondent’s late concession amounts to unreasonable behaviour – whether Appellant entitled to wasted costs – Lands Chamber’s Practice Directions 2010 – appeal dismissed
[2016] UKUT 217 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.564151
UTLC RATING – hereditament – four newly erected warehouse buildings – entered in 2005 rating list by VO – units having no small power distribution and no lighting or only limited lighting in warehouse areas and no partitioning of office space – one unit having no connection to gas supply – whether rateable hereditaments to be entered in rating list – held they were not – Local Government Finance Act 1988, s.42(1) – importance of completion notice procedure in avoiding disputes – appeals allowed
Martin Rodger QC, DP and N J Rose FRICS
[2013] UKUT 430 (LC)
Bailii
Local Government Finance Act 1988 42(1)
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.517590
Parcels of land were occupied for 9-10 months in a year.
Held: This was not too transient a period to establish a rateable occupation notwithstanding that in subsequent years the occupation passed on to the other land.
Sir Michael Rowe QC, P said: ‘The ratepayers’ possession of the plots they hold in any one year is not intermittent nor is it casual; it is a continuous possession for nine months or so, which cover the whole, at least in most years, of the period during which the land can be cultivated and planted up and the crop grown to maturity and harvested’.
Sir Michael Rowe QC P
[1971] RA 275
Cited by:
Cited – Reeves (Listing Officer) v Northrop Admn 6-Mar-2012
The respondent occupied a tugboat with his family as his home. The appellant authority had sought to charge council tax, saying that it was a dwelling. The boat was not a houseboat but a live-aboard seagoing vessel, registered in the Small Ships . .
Cited – Reeves (Listing Officer) v Northrop CA 17-Apr-2013
The taxpayer had successfully challenged the entry of his houseboat in the rating list at the Valuation Tribunal, but this had been re-instated at first instance. He said that the boat, as a registered seagoing vessel was not a houseboat, and that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Leading Case
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.451836
UTLC RATING – valuation – 2010 list – self catering holiday cottages – comparable assessments – valuation approach – re-assessment by VO – appeal dismissed on grounds stated, but RV reduced from andpound;7,400 to andpound;5,900 on VO’s re-assessment
P R Francis FRICS
[2013] UKUT 35 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.517592
LT RATING – valuation – 2000 list – local telecommunications network – comparables – whether valuation should be based on apportionment of assessment of much larger nationwide network – whether tone of list established – whether Lands Tribunal bound by conclusion reached by European Commission – whether ratepayer’s arguments amounted to abuse of process – appeal allowed – RV determined at andpound;110,000 and andpound;470,000 at the two effective dates.
[2008] EWLands RA – 50 – 2004
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Valuation Officer v Vtesse Networks Ltd LT 24-Nov-2005
LT RATING – hereditament – telecommunications system consisting of ratepayer’s ‘own-build’ sections and optical fibres belonging to other operators and contained in cables of those other operators – contractual . .
At CA (1) – Valuation Officer v Vtesse Networks Ltd LT 24-Nov-2005
LT RATING – hereditament – telecommunications system consisting of ratepayer’s ‘own-build’ sections and optical fibres belonging to other operators and contained in cables of those other operators – contractual . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Bradford (Valuation Officer) v Vtesse Networks Ltd CA 28-Jan-2010
The company appealed against a finding that it was liable to non-domestic rates in respect of its network of fibre-optic cable. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.278634
UTLC RATING – Alteration of rating list – material change of circumstances due to Occupy London protest – whether too transient to affect rental bid at AVD – relevance of actual rent concession made by landlord – analysis of rent concession – appeal allowed in part
A J Trott FRICS
[2015] UKUT 102 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.544730
The House considered the liability to be rated to the relief of the poor of the parish within which lay that part of the river where a derrick hulk was moored.
Held: Lord Hatherley said: ‘As Lord Campbell expressed it in one of the cases last cited (Forest v the Overseers of Greenwich, 8 L EL and BL at p. 900), as regards the nature of the occupation the question is, whether it be ‘a permanent and profitable occupation of land within the parish’ which seeks to assess the person in respect of such occupation. As regards the interest of the person who is to be rated it must be an interest in himself exclusively.’
James LJ said: ‘There is no dispute as to the general principle of law, viz., that where any part of the soil is permanently occupied by anybody for profitable purposes . . then the person so occupying is rateable in respect of such occupation . .’
Lush J said: ‘Another element, however, beside actual possession of land, is necessary to constitute the kind of occupation which the Act contemplates, and that is permanence . . As the poor-rate is not made day by day or week by week, but for months in advance, it would be absurd to hold, that a person, who comes into a parish with the intention to remain there a few days or a week only, incurs a liability to maintain the poor for the next six months. Thus a transient, temporary holding of land is not enough to make the holding rateable. It must be an occupation which has in it the character of permanence; a holding as a settler not as a wayfarer. These I take to be the essential elements of what is called a beneficial or rateable occupation . . ‘
Lord Hatherley, James LJ, Lush J
(1877) 2 App Cas 262
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Forrest v Overseers of Greenwich 1858
The court was asked whether a landing stage by a river was part of the land. F. moored a barge in the Thames between high and low water mark : the moorings wera stationary, in the bed of the river; and the barge floated at high water and grounded at . .
Cited by:
Cited – Reeves (Listing Officer) v Northrop CA 17-Apr-2013
The taxpayer had successfully challenged the entry of his houseboat in the rating list at the Valuation Tribunal, but this had been re-instated at first instance. He said that the boat, as a registered seagoing vessel was not a houseboat, and that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Leading Case
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.513673
UTLC RATING – alteration of rating list by valuation officer – effective date of alteration – whether any discretion for valuation tribunal to designate fair and reasonable date – Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2005- appeal allowed
Martin Rodger QC, Deputy President
[2013] UKUT 413 (LC)
Bailii
Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2005
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.516023
When the rating authority discovered ratable premises, and issued claims going back in time the test was not whether they were unaware of them earlier, but whether they could have taken steps beforehand to discover the existence of the premises. A default by the council in taking the practicable steps available to them precluded any recovery. They had accordingly failed to establish a right to claim back rates.
David Pannick QC said: ‘I am therefore satisfied that the Magistrates failed to ask themselves the right question whether there were practicable steps which the billing authority could and should have taken at an earlier stage than November 1997 to locate the relevant premises. I am also satisfied that had the Magistrates asked themselves the right question, the only answer to which they could reasonably have come was to find that there had been a breach of paragraph 5(1)(a) of the regulations and so a liability order could not lawfully be made.
I should mention that the Magistrates noted that they did not need to decide whether the requirement imposed by Regulation 5(1) was mandatory. Counsel for the billing authority has not advanced any argument seeking to limit the consequences of there being a breach of Regulation 5(1). That does not surprise me. Regulation 5(1) contains a balance between the interests of the ratepayers and the practicalities of administration. Parliament must have intended that if the billing authority has not complied with the requirement it would be wrong in principle for the ratepayer to have an obligation thereafter to pay.’
David Pannick QC
Gazette 16-Jun-1999, [1999] EWHC Admin 530, [1999] RA 382
Bailii
Non-Domestic (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) Regulations 1989
England and Wales
Cited by:
Distinguished – Regentford Ltd v Thanet District Council Admn 18-Feb-2004
The council sought to enforce payment of arrears of council tax. The company responded that proceedings had not been begun in time. The company contended that time ran from the day when the council set the precept. The regulations said that time ran . .
Cited – JJB Sports Plc, Regina (On the Application of) v Telford and Wrekin Borough Council Admn 5-Nov-2008
The authority’s demand notice was served later than was practicable. The company now appealed against a liability order.
Held: The ratepayer’s appeal by way of Case Stated was dismissed. ‘demand notices must be served by the relevant authority . .
Cited – North Somerset District Council v Honda Motor Europe Ltd and Others QBD 2-Jul-2010
Deleayed Rates Claims Service made them Defective
The council claimed that the defendants were liable for business rates. The defendants said that the notices were defective in not having been served ‘as soon as practicable’, and further that they should not be enforced since the delay had created . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating, Local Government
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.139794
UTLC RATING – alteration of rating list – whether VO entitled to alter list on grounds of inaccuracy following a decision of the Valuation Tribunal for England – res judicata – abuse of process – material change of circumstances – whether VO required to confine re-valuation to the effect of the material change but otherwise to follow Valuation Tribunal’s valuation – appeal allowed
Martin Rodger QC, Deputy President
[2014] UKUT 291 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.535662
UTLC RATING – public house – valuation – application of Approved Guide – lack of evidence of trading accounts for appeal hereditament at AVD for 2005 list – appellant’s use of 2009/10 accounts rejected – comparables – assessment confirmed at pounds 30,750 – appeal dismissed
[2011] UKUT 309 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.445660
RATING – Agricultural exemption – Local Government Finance Act 1988, s.51, Schedule 5, paragraph 1 – paragraph 2 (1)(d), meaning of agricultural land – whether hereditament consisting of buildings ‘anything which consists of a market garden, nursery ground’ – paragraph 3(b), meaning of agricultural building – whether hereditament ‘is or forms part of a market garden’ – appeal succeeds
HH David Mole QC
[2014] UKUT 159 (LC)
Bailii
Local Government Finance Act 1988 51
England and Wales
Rating, Agriculture
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.525948
The company appealed against liability orders made against it for non-payment of domestic rates, saying that in each case it had not been the rateable occupier. The property had been subdivided and let to companies of which the appellant was a holding company.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The property was a single heraditament. To be liable the appellant had to be in occupation of the whole site. This had been found by the deputy district judge, but she had not referred to any evidence to support it, and nor indeed had the Council brought evidence, and nor had the company’s evidence been challenged.
Stephen Morris QC J
[2010] EWHC 3403 (Admin), [2011] RA 179, [2011] ACD 78
Bailii
Non-Domestic Rating (Collection and Enforcement) (Local Lists) Regulations 1989, Local Government Finance Act 1988
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Westminster City Council v Southern Railway Co HL 1936
Subject to special enactments, people are treated as occupiers of land, land being understood as including not only the surface of the earth but all strata above or below. The occupier, not the land, is rateable; but the occupier is rateable in . .
Cited – John Laing and Son Ltd v Kingswood Assessment Committee KBD 1949
The appellant building contractors had been engaged by the Air Ministry to execute works at an aerodrome. They erected on the site, for the purpose of carrying out the contract, offices, garages, canteen for workmen and other structures. Although . .
Cited – JDE Plant Hire Limited v Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council QBD 2000
The company appealed against liability orders made against it. It owned premises which were subdivided and let to other businesses which it contended were the ones in actual occupation, since it did not benefit from physical, non-transient . .
Cited – Kent County Council v Ashford Borough Council and others CA 28-Jul-1999
The governors of a voluntary controlled school were not the ratable occupiers of it, but rather the local education authority were. The devolution of a limited range of financial responsibility by the Education Act 1996 did not transfer the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.443285
LT RATING – valuation – shops – whether appeal parade less valuable than other side of shopping street – rental evidence – assessments – tone of list – lack of central heating – claimed disability due to layout – appeals dismissed.
[2008] EWLands RA – 42 – 2007
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.372342
The court was asked whether the services provided by a specialised air handling system, used in connection with refrigerated merchandise in the appellant’s retail store, are ‘manufacturing operations or trade processes’ for rating purposes.
Held: Iceland’s appeal was allowed and the decision of the First Tier Tribunal restored. The 2000 Regulations had not intended to alter the law: ‘ plant which is used in connection with ‘services to the hereditament’ may also be used in connection with ‘services . . as part of manufacturing operations or trade processes . . ‘. Viewed in this way, the key distinction lies in the main use to which the services are put: in connection with the hereditament, or with the processes within it.’
The rateable value of a non-domestic hereditament is taken to be ‘an amount equal to the rent at which it is estimated the hereditament might reasonably be expected to let from year to year’ on the basis of certain prescribed assumptions. Prescribed assumptions are set out in the 2000 Regulations which include the assumption that any plant or machinery, if it belongs to any class listed in the Schedule to the 2000 Regulations, is assumed to be part of the hereditament in or on which it is situated: ‘ other than any such plant or machinery which is in or on the hereditament and is used or intended to be used in connection with services mainly or exclusively as part of manufacturing operations or trade processes.” The plant ell within this exemption.
Lord Kerr, Lord Reed,Lord Carnwath, Lord Hughes, Lady Black
[2018] UKSC 15, UKSC 2016/0226
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, SC Summary video, SC 250118 am Jhearing, SC 290118pm Hearing
Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (England) Regulations 2000, Local Government Finance Act 1988 Sch 6
England and Wales
Citing:
At UTLC – Berry (VO) v Iceland Foods Ltd UTLC 14-Jan-2015
UTLC RATING – PLANT AND MACHINERY – air handling unit – whether rateable – whether used mainly or exclusively as part of manufacturing operations or trade processes – meaning of ‘trade processes’ – reg.2, . .
At CA – Iceland Foods Ltd v Berry (Valuation Officer) CA 23-Nov-2016
The court was asked whether the air handling system used by Iceland Foods Limited in its retail store at Liverpool was plant or machinery ‘used or intended to be used in connection with services mainly or exclusively as part of manufacturing . .
Much Criticised – Kirby v Hunslet Union Assessment Committee HL 1906
The Act provided that the assessment of hereditaments was regulated on the principle that the rateable value was the rent which might be expected to be given for the hereditament alon
Held: The House disapproved a distinction based on whether . .
Cited – Townley Mill (1919) Limited v Oldham Assessment Committee KBD 1936
Lord Hewart CJ said: ‘When one turns to the Third Schedule of the [1925] Act, it is apparent that it enumerates that type of machinery and plant which is conveniently described in the case as motive machinery; it is the machinery without which the . .
Cited – Townley Mill (1919) Limited v Oldham Assessment Committee HL 1937
Section 24 of the 1925 Act was considered.
Held: The House re-instated the decision at divisional level. The court described the basis upon which a property was to be valued for rating purposes. Viscount Maugham said it concerned: ‘ a . .
Cited – Union Cold Storage Co Ltd v Bancroft HL 1931
The House considered whether refrigeration equipment was for storage purposes or for the purposes of altering or adapting goods for sale.
Held: It was for storage purposes, although the refrigeration was described as being by means of an . .
Cited – Union Cold Storage Co Ltd v Southwark Assessment Committee QBD 1932
The rateability of certain cooling chambers in a warehouse used for storing food. 25% of what was undertaken there may have been freezing food and the remaining 75% storing food.
Held: Macnaughten J discussed the cold storage plant and . .
Cited – Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart HL 26-Nov-1992
Reference to Parliamentary Papers behind Statute
The inspector sought to tax the benefits in kind received by teachers at a private school in having their children educated at the school for free. Having agreed this was a taxable emolument, it was argued as to whether the taxable benefit was the . .
Cited – Kilmarnock Equitable Co-operative Society Ltd v Inland Revenue Commissioners SCS 16-Feb-1966
Income Tax, Schedule D – Profits Tax – Capital allowances – Industrial building or structure – Building for screening and packing coal – Whether coal subjected to a process – Whether building used for purpose ancillary to a retail shop – Income Tax . .
Cited – Assessor for Lothian Region v BP Oil Grangemouth Refinery Ltd 1985
Lands Valuation Appeal Court – a marine terminal at a petrochemical works, used solely for the purpose of loading refined oil, was premises ‘used in an industrial or trade process’ . .
Cited – Hays Business Services Ltd v Raley (Valuation Officer) 1986
A warehouse was used for the storage of archival materials including documents, films and audio-magnetic tapes. For some items of a sensitive nature, there had been installed specialist items of plant, including heating plant, humidifiers, and . .
Cited – Bestway (Holdings) Ltd v Luff (Inspector of Taxes) ChD 4-Mar-1998
The taxpayer company operated a wholesale cash and carry business from a number of self-service supermarkets. The stores sold groceries, household goods, tobacco, confectionery and various kinds of alcohol. Although the buildings were not open to . .
Cited – Leda Properties Ltd, Re: Computer Centre LT 27-Mar-2009
LT RATING – hereditament – computer centre – whether entry to be deleted from list on ground that incapable of beneficial use – held that it should not be – whether open to appellant on basis of proposal for . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.605757
UTLC RATING – Valuation – non- domestic hereditament – Local Government Finance Act 1988 schedule 6 – appeal to Upper Tribunal raising a point of law upon agreed facts – agreement that had the subject office hereditament been on the market at the relevant date nobody in the real world would have been prepared to occupy the property and pay a positive price – other comparable office properties in occupation at substantial rents at relevant date – whether a nil (or nominal) rateable value to be entered in valuation list . . appeal allowed.
[2016] UKUT 258 (LC)
Bailii
Local Government Finance Act 1988
England and Wales
Cited by:
At UTLC – Telereal Trillium v Hewitt (Valuation Officer) CA 19-Jan-2018
The land owner appealed from a finding that the offices which it could not let for lack of commercial demand had a rating list valuation of pounds 370,000.
Held: The valuation was set aside and replaced with a value reflecting the market value . .
At UTLC – Telereal Trillium v Hewitt (Valuation Officer) SC 15-May-2019
The court considered correct approach to determination of the rateable value of an office building, in circumstances where the evidence showed at the relevant time a general demand in the area for comparable office buildings, but no actual tenant . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.565806
Subject to special enactments, people are treated as occupiers of land, land being understood as including not only the surface of the earth but all strata above or below. The occupier, not the land, is rateable; but the occupier is rateable in respect of the land which he occupies. Whether the person sought to be rated has the enjoyment of the land ‘to the substantial exclusion of all other persons’ is a question of in fact is the occupation in respect of which the person is said to be rateable and, in that respect, it is immaterial whether the title to occupy is attributable to a lease or a licence.
Lord Russell of Killowen said: ‘In the next place I would make a few general observations upon rateable occupation. Subject to special enactments, people are rated as occupiers of land, the land being understood as including not only the surface of the earth but all strata above or below. The occupier, not the land, is rateable; but, the occupier is rateable in respect of the land which he occupies. Occupation, however, is not synonymous with legal possession: the owner of an empty house has the legal possession, but he is not in rateable occupation. Rateable occupation, however, must include actual possession, and it must have some degree of permanence: a mere temporary holding of land will not constitute rateable occupation.’
. . And ‘Where there is no rival claimant to the occupancy, no difficulty can arise; but in certain cases there may be rival occupancy in some person who, to some extent, may have occupancy rights over the premises. The question in every such case must be one of fact – namely, whose position in relation to occupation is paramount, and whose permission in relation to occupancy is subordinate; but, in my opinion, the question must be considered and answered in regard to the position and rights of the parties in respect of the premises in question, and in regard to the purpose of the occupation of those premises.’
Lord Russell of Killowen
[1936] AC 511
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Cinderella Rockerfellas Ltd v Rudd (Valuation Officer) CA 11-Apr-2003
The taxpayer appealed against a rating assessment on a barge permanently moored at a riverbank. He claimed that as a chattel, it should not be rated.
Held: The vessel was a chattel, but its occupation could be an occupation of the riverbed. . .
Cited – Regina v Central Valuation Officer and another ex parte Edison First Power Limited HL 10-Apr-2003
Powergen sold a property to Edison. Powergen paid rates under a separate statutory rating regime, and paid an additional thirteen million pounds under an apportionment. Edison later complained that in being rated itself, the authorities had . .
Cited – Tallington Lakes Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Grantham Magistrates Court Admn 25-Nov-2010
The company appealed against liability orders made against it for non-payment of domestic rates, saying that in each case it had not been the rateable occupier. The property had been subdivided and let to companies of which the appellant was a . .
Cited – Reeves (Listing Officer) v Northrop CA 17-Apr-2013
The taxpayer had successfully challenged the entry of his houseboat in the rating list at the Valuation Tribunal, but this had been re-instated at first instance. He said that the boat, as a registered seagoing vessel was not a houseboat, and that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Rating
Leading Case
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.181048
UTLC RATING – hereditament – newly erected office buildings – entered in rating list by VO – units lacking small power points and partitioning – whether rateable hereditaments to be entered in the list – held they were not – appeal dismissed – Local Government Finance Act 1988 s 42(1).
N J Rose P
[2011] UKUT 204 (LC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Rating
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.440792