Slash in business rates for Leeds office occupiers

Good news for West Yorkshire office market

Article posted: 21 Jul 2011

Occupiers of office space in Leeds city centre are poised to receive a rebate in their business rates following a successful appeal at the Valuation Tribunal.

The decision, which stipulates that rates for offices in central Leeds from December 2008 to 1 April 2010 should be cut by 10%, could also affect Rateable Values going forward under the 2010 Rating List. Under current Rating law, ratepayers are allowed to challenge their rating assessments where a material change in an area reduces property values.

Lambert Smith Hampton led the case along with Gerald Eve, Storeys:SSP and CB Richard Ellis, arguing that the amount of oversupply within the Leeds office market had adversely affected rental levels and that, as a consequence, Rateable Values should be reduced. After a three day hearing, the Valuation Tribunal agreed and directed the Valuation Officer to apply a reduction of 10% to office assessments backdated to 1 December 2008 to all offices within a 15 minute walk of Leeds Central Railway Station.

“This is a fantastic result for both landlords and tenants given the extensive development which took place through the middle part of the last decade and the subsequent application of full rate liabilities for empty buildings, which came into effect from 1 April 2008,” said Richard Wackett, National Head of Rating at LSH.

Given that supply to the market remains heavy in central Leeds and following the rating revaluation which took place at 1 April 2010, LSH believes that the same factors should apply to the new assessments under the 2010 List, most of which have been increased by at least 20% at the revaluation.

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Posted by Janet