Schemes where the property owner has no real or practical ability to exercise rights to possession and which misuse insolvency legislation are ineffective to avoid liability for non-domestic rates.
The High Court has considered this in two cases Wigan Council and Trafford Council v Property Alliance Group Limited [2025] EWHC 2336 (Ch).
The councils were billing authorities with responsibility for recovering non-domestic rates (NDR) within their statutory areas. The defendant, PAG, was a property investment and development company. The claims were two of 37 cases proceeding in the High Court in Liverpool the remainder of which were stayed pending their determination.
PAG incorporated/procured the incorporation of a special purpose…