Business Rates Mitigation – The Wrong Sort Of Storage

The Court of Appeal judgment in City of London v 48th Street Holdings Ltd & Principled Offsite Logistics Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 970, has significant implications for business rates mitigation strategies.

Owners of commercial properties are generally liable for business rates on empty premises after an initial exemption period. However, the legislation provides for a fresh period of empty property relief following a period of occupation.

One of the various stratagems adopted to reduce business rates liability for owners of empty properties has been to grant short-term leases for storage purposes to a company specializing in rates mitigation solutions. Such arrangements have in the past survived legal challenge by local rating authorities, but in the present case, the company placed boxes containing worthless items on the premises then removed them.