It pays to be in the know ...
17 April 2008
King Sturge Manchester Office advises Northern Trust on business rates
Northern Trust has instructed the Manchester Office to advise on business rates and in particular to mitigate the effects of the Rating (Empty Properties) Act, the introduction of which means they will have large annual payments in respect of empty rates from 1 April 2008.
The first, and largest, property has been examined by David Burke with the result that the Rateable Value for the vacant 272,500 ft² factory has been deleted from the Rating List. This means there is no longer an assessment on which the Council can base their tax. The good news for Northern Trust is that this saves approximately 12.5% on their annual rates bill.
This is a property that the Manchester Business Rates team know well, having acted for the Administrator last year and saving them nearly £400,000. In fact the opportunity to advise on the Northern Trust portfolio of 8 million ft² came about due to that prior involvement with this property.
Northern Trust is not alone in now having to pay large rates bills on empty properties, all those who own or hold onto empty property will be feeling the effects of the new legislation and there may be ways and means to legitimately avoid payment. If you have clients with empty properties and they are now incurring an empty rates charge, please contact a member of the Business Rates team.
