Decision Nº RA 62 2006. Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), 27-03-2009
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | George Bartlett QC President |
| Date | 27 March 2009 |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) |
| Judgement Number | RA 62 2006 |
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RA/62/2006
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 deletion to contend that RV and description should be altered – held it was not – Local Government Finance Act 1988 Sch 6 para 2; Non-Domestic Rating (Material Day for List Alterations) Regulations 1993 reg 3; Rating (Valuation) Act 1999 s 1; Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (England) Regulations 2000 reg 2; Non-Domestic Rating (Alterations and Appeals) Regulations 1993, regs 4A, 5A
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPEAL AGAINST A DECISION OF THE
WILTSHIRE VALUATION TRIBUNAL
(Valuation Officer)
Horton Road,
DevizesWiltshire SN10 2JG
Before: The President
Sitting at Procession House, 110 New Bridge Street, London EC4V 6JL
on 10-13 October 2008
Melanie McIntosh instructed by Messrs Wilks Head & Eve LLP by direct professional access for the appellant
Daniel Kolinsky instructed by Solicitor to HM Revenue & Customs for the respondent
The following cases are referred to in this decision:
Leda Properties Ltd v Kennet District Council [2003] RA 69
Galgate Cricket Club v Doyle (VO) [2001] RA 21
The following further cases were cited in argument:
Robinson Brothers (Brewers) Ltd v Houghton and Chester-le-Street Assessment Committee [1937] 2 KB 445
Sheil (VO) v Borg-Warner Ltd [1985] RA 36
Edmondson (VO) v Teesside Textiles Ltd [1983] RA 289
Fir Mill Ltd v Royton UDC and Jones (VO) (1960) 7 RRC 171
Courtney plc v Murphy (VO) [1998] RA 77
Davey (VO) v O’Kelly [1999] RA 245
O’Brien v Harding (VO) [2008] RA 73
DECISION Introduction-
This is an appeal by the ratepayer against a decision of the Wiltshire Valuation Tribunal dated 7 June 2006 dismissing appeals by the ratepayer that arose from three proposals that had been made on its behalf on 9 September 2002. The proposals related to premises owned by the appellant which were entered in the 2000 rating list as “Computer Centre and Premises” at Bureau West Centre, Devizes, Wiltshire, originally at £210,000 but in due course, following a proposal made before those of 9 September 2002, at £200,000. As pursued before me, the appeal is confined to one of the three proposals. The appellant contends that the hereditament should be deleted from the list with effect from 28 September 2000 on the ground that at that date it had become incapable of beneficial use; or alternatively that its value should be reduced to £90,000 RV as industrial premises. The valuation officer deleted the entry with effect from 19 August 2002 after works of demolition had rendered it incapable of occupation. The determination of the matters in issue will thus impact on the rates payable between 29 September 2000 and 19 August 2002, during which period the buildings were unoccupied. It is to be noted, although nothing in the present appeal turns on this, that on 2 July 2002, sitting as a Deputy Judge in the Administrative Court in Leda Properties Ltd v Kennet District Council [2003] RA 69, I held that hereditament was not exempt from unoccupied rates as a qualifying industrial hereditament.
Facts and matters agreed
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There is an agreed statement of facts, and on the basis of this the following facts can be stated (using the present tense to describe things as they were physically at the date of the proposal). The appeal property, referred to as “Bureau West” is situated approximately 2 miles north-east of the centre of Devizes, which lies 18 miles to the south of Swindon and the M4 motorway. It comprises a complex of three principal buildings forming a purpose-built computer centre/data processing facility on a site of 14 acres that is enclosed by a security fence. There is car parking for about 142 cars inside the security fence and there are an additional 16 spaces outside. The property was purpose built for the Ministry of Defence in 1973/4 and was first occupied in 1975. Some works of demolition were carried out in 2002.
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The three principal buildings are a large data processing hall with ancillary office and tape storage rooms; a two-storey heated office block; and a block containing extensive plant rooms that house air conditioning, refrigeration and power supply plant. The main computer hall block is mainly of block and brick construction with specialist profiled metal cladding. The total height is 8 metres. The main computer hall, tapes store, communications room and job control room have raised floors. They have a total floor area of 2576 sq m. The main computer hall has a sophisticated air-handling system to provide the temperature and humidity control necessary for process purposes. Five large air-handling plant “fan chambers” deliver conditioned air to the main computer hall and ancillary tape-storage and job control rooms via high-level distribution ductwork within the false ceiling void and through the perforated ceiling system. Return air to the plant room is through a one-metre deep floor void plenum and return air grilles within the floor tiles, with the air being re-conditioned and re-circulated back to the computer hall. A high density smoke detection system exists throughout.
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The adjoining plant room block is of similar construction to the computer hall block, but it is unheated. The accommodation comprises an air-handling plant room adjoining the main computer hall, refrigeration equipment room, uninterrupted power supply plant room, electricity supply switch rooms, standby generator room and boiler house. There is also an integral fuel storage room with external only access. A stand-alone back-up tape store of a more substantial concrete and block construction is located at the side of the computer hall block, with a link corridor access way to the main block. There is also a stand-alone stationery store of steel-framed construction with profiled metal cladding. The total floor area of this accommodation is 2213 sq m.
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The office block is on two floors. It has concrete sectional panel elevations. It is partitioned internally to provide cellular offices, all of which have good natural light from the main elevations. There are two inner courtyards. There is a hot water radiator heating system, raised floors and suspended ceilings. The total floor area, including loading bay and stores, is 1522 sq m.
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The Ministry of Defence occupied Bureau West from 1975 to 1993. It acted as a data processing centre for a multitude of operations undertaken by the MOD nationally until, in 1993, these were privatised. The property was initially leased to Hoskyn PLC under a lease for 7 years from 1 October 1993 at an initial rent of £200,000. The lease was later assigned to a firm called Capgemini.
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Under the lease the tenant was responsible for bearing the costs of all internal and external repairs, property insurance and non-domestic and water rates. There was an upward only rent review clause, under which at the end of the fifth year of the term, 1 October 1998, the rent was to be determined at open market value on the assumption that the use of the premises was restricted to “computer centre for information technology and ancillary services”. The lease also contained a break clause which gave the lessee the option of terminating the lease after 3 or 5 years, ie on 10 October 1996 and 1 October 1998. The 1998 reviewed rent,...
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