The government has sought in recent years to limit the ability of ratepayers to legitimately manage their rates charges by increasing the empty rates ‘reset’ from 42 days to 91 days (13 weeks). Additionally various Local Authorities, including the City of London, have sought to resist void rates claims on a variety of grounds, including arguing the temporary storage was only in situ to avoid rates and that in any event such mitigation schemes should be disallowed under general anti – tax avoidance measures.
In a recent rating case – The Mayor and Commonality and Citizens of the City of London v 48th Street Holdings Limited and Principled Offsite Logistics – it was decided by the High Court that schemes involving temporary storage were entirely legitimate and within the current law and could not be disallowed on specific or general anti avoidance grounds.