Business Rates : A Busy Few Months

It’s been a while since we posted an article here and in the world of a business rates surveyor it’s been an incredibly busy time.

In November 2025, the Draft 2026 Rating List was published, allowing us to have a first look at our clients’ potential business rates liability from 1st April 2026 onwards, alongside the 2023 Rating List closing on 31st March 2026 and, more recently, we’ve been submitting our first appeals against the new 2026 Rating List.

In the meantime, there have been a couple of stories in the news which have piqued our interest:

Andy Burnham’s Proposal

No surprise then that we now have a new Prime Minister and, perhaps less surprisingly, we’ve found business rates on the front pages with Burnham’s proposal to implement a 20% cut in business rates for pubs, social clubs and live music venues from 1st April 2027.

Pubs have of course been receiving a 15% relief since 1st April 2026, so this represents a further reduction from 2027/28.

Currently, the details of the relief are unclear, however we understand that the Government is looking at businesses that it considers do not make a positive contribution to local communities, such as vape shops, to help fund the additional relief.

This will be welcome news for businesses that qualify, but in business rates details matter and we await to see what they are.

City of London v 48th Street Holdings Ltd & Principled Offsite Logistics Ltd

The City of London has won a landmark business rates case regarding Box Shifting, which is a topic we have raised on here previously.

It concerned a company (Principled Offsite Logistics Ltd) which took short-term leases for a property at a peppercorn rent and placed boxes in the premises before handing the property back to the landlord/ratepayer (48th Street Holdings Ltd), enabling the Landlord to claim a further period of empty rates relief.

The Court of Appeal concluded that, on the facts of this case, the boxes served no genuine commercial or business purpose other than achieving rates mitigation. As a result, the Court held that the occupation was insufficient to constitute rateable occupation, meaning the mitigation scheme was ineffective.

It is possible the case will progress to the Supreme Court. However, as it stands this will likely mean an end to box shifting mitigation schemes and we expect further litigation around other empty rates mitigation methods.

This is not good news for owners of empty properties as the current rules assume they can find a Tenant within 3-6 months, which often does not follow the commercial realities of the real estate market.

So whilst the past few months have produced the promise of another sticking plaster relief for some businesses, we’ve also seen a massive blow for owners of empty properties. Overall, things don’t seem to be getting any better for ratepayers.

If you want to discuss any of the topics raised in this article then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.