The forgotten ingredient of rateable occupation Cain Ormondroyd IRRV (Hons) Barrister, Francis Taylor Building @CainOrm e: cain.ormondroyd@ftb.eu.com
Rateable occupation Actual Beneficial Exclusive
Rateable occupation Actual Beneficial Exclusive Permanent or non-transient
The forgotten ingredient? (1) Context of the cases: liability vs rateability (2) What is permanence? What factors are relevant? (3) Permanence as the forgotten ingredient
Rateability/liability The orthodox view The concept of the hereditament for rating purposes is inextricably bound up with the concept of rateable occupation Ryde at [C113] The challenge Sedley LJ in Vtesse Networks Ltd v Bradford (VO) [2006] EWCA Civ 1339 at [40]
What is permanence? (1) Not about duration alone there is no rule of thumb that 12 months is required (Robert McAlpine v Payne [1969] RA 368 overruled by Dick Hampton v Lewis [1975] RA 269) Nature of occupation also relevant (Roskill LJ in Dick Hampton considered the period of occupation as of vastly less importance than its quality and consequences )
What is permanence? (2) Predicted length of occupation 2 cases on parking spaces: Renore Ltd v Hounslow LBC [1970] RA 567 the expectation must have been that the ratepayers would continue in possession of these three spaces indefinitely (at p574)) West Yorkshire MCC v Miller (VO) [1984] RA 65 no long term arrangements to continue [the occupation] year by year (p71).
What is permanence? (3) The nature of the agreement Two cases about the same fairground operator Liverpool Corporation v Huyton-with-Roby Urban District Council (1964) 10 RRC 256: lease for a fortnight a year, therefore too transient. Hall v Darwen Corporation (1958) 2 RRC 329: longer term agreement may have contributed to a finding of permanence.
What is permanence? (4) The nature of the thing occupied? It is I think clear that for permanent buildings there is no fixed period: theoretically at any rate occupation of a house or a shop for even a day could attract rateability. But the authorities I think show clearly that different considerations apply to temporary structures Michael Rowe QC in Sir Robert McAlpine
What is permanence? (4) The nature of the thing occupied? It is I think clear that for permanent buildings there is no fixed period: theoretically at any rate occupation of a house or a shop for even a day could attract rateability. But the authorities I think show clearly that different considerations apply to temporary structures Michael Rowe QC in Sir Robert McAlpine
What is permanence? (4) The nature of the thing occupied? It is I think clear that for permanent buildings there is no fixed period: theoretically at any rate occupation of a house or a shop for even a day could attract rateability. But the authorities I think show clearly that different considerations apply to temporary structures Michael Rowe QC in Sir Robert McAlpine
Summary: what is permanence? Relevant factors: The length of the occupation; The nature of the occupation intensive or passive/insubstantial? The circumstances of the occupation intention to continue? The agreement under which occupation took place long term or intermittent? The nature of the thing being occupied permanent building?
A different view the word permanence appears to signify continuous, as opposed to intermittent, physical possession of the soil; it does not signify that an occupation, in order to be rateable, must be for a long term Ryde at [C1113]
The forgotten ingredient Makro Properties v Nuneaton and Bedworth BC [2012] EWHC 2250 (Admin) MPL leases warehouse to MSSWL; lease ends MSSWL stores 16 pallets of paperwork (0.2% floospace); Pallets removed after 43 days; Period of occupation intentional and repeated; No written agreement between MPL and MSSWL.
The forgotten ingredient Makro Properties v Nuneaton and Bedworth BC [2012] EWHC 2250 (Admin) Permanence? Factor Present? Dura%on Intensive/substan%al Inten%on to con%nue Long term agreement Permanent building
The forgotten ingredient Makro Properties v Nuneaton and Bedworth BC [2012] EWHC 2250 (Admin) Permanence? Factor Present? Dura%on? Intensive/substan%al Inten%on to con%nue Long term agreement Permanent building
The forgotten ingredient Makro Properties v Nuneaton and Bedworth BC [2012] EWHC 2250 (Admin) Permanence? Factor Present? Dura%on? Intensive/substan%al û Inten%on to con%nue Long term agreement Permanent building
The forgotten ingredient Makro Properties v Nuneaton and Bedworth BC [2012] EWHC 2250 (Admin) Permanence? Factor Present? Dura%on? Intensive/substan%al û Inten%on to con%nue û Long term agreement Permanent building
The forgotten ingredient Makro Properties v Nuneaton and Bedworth BC [2012] EWHC 2250 (Admin) Permanence? Factor Present? Dura%on? Intensive/substan%al û Inten%on to con%nue û Long term agreement û Permanent building
The forgotten ingredient Makro Properties v Nuneaton and Bedworth BC [2012] EWHC 2250 (Admin) Permanence? Factor Present? Dura%on? Intensive/substan%al û Inten%on to con%nue û Long term agreement û Permanent building ü
The forgotten ingredient Sunderland v Stirling Investments [2013] EWHC 1413 (Admin) Empty warehouse used by CMML for Bluetooth box; The box 95 65 30 mm, battery 350 x 240 mm, aerial draped out of a window; Present for exactly six weeks; CMML lease for 43 days.
The forgotten ingredient Sunderland v Stirling Investments [2013] EWHC 1413 (Admin) Permanence? Factor Present? Dura%on? Intensive/substan%al û Inten%on to con%nue û Long term agreement û Permanent building ü
The forgotten ingredient The VOA view A site in an empty property will form a separate hereditament if it fulfils the criteria necessary to become a separately rateable hereditament. It is a common characteristic that sites are occupied for short, or transient, periods. When occupation exceeds 12 months the site becomes a separately rateable hereditament to the host property. The site is a new hereditament and should not be a split from the host hereditament. Rating Manual, Section 862: Wifi/Bluetooth Sites in Buildings: Practice Note 2010
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