A Court of Appeal has upheld the finding of the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) that non-adjoining floors in the same building, occupied by the same business, can be treated as a single hereditament for rating purposes.
All three Lord Justices of Appeal concurred in a ruling by the Upper Tribunal that a single assessment can be “non-contiguous” (not next to each other). This was based on a common-sense analysis of the facts of the case.
In the decision, reference was made to communication between floors, whether next to each other or not, being through the common parts of the building.
The judgement states that by applying this approach, separated floors in a single tower block can legitimately constitute a single hereditament.
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