4-10 AVEBURY AVENUE, TN9 1TF

What was argued and what the tribunal found

The appellant challenged the 2017 rating list entry for a gym premises at £72,000 RV, seeking deletion or reduction to £0 after the landlord's redevelopment works removed the roof of the building, causing extensive water ingress and making the property incapable of beneficial occupation. The Valuation Officer initially refused the challenge, arguing it was a matter of disrepair subject to the economic repair test under Schedule 6 LGFA 1988. The tribunal found that a reasonable landlord would not undertake repairs knowing the building was without a roof, especially where the roof (external to the hereditament) could not be assumed to be repaired under the rating assumptions. The tribunal allowed the appeal and ordered deletion from 21 June 2021, the date when water ingress began rendering the property uninhabitable.

Summary generated from the decision text and checked against it. The appellant was Pure Gym Limited, represented.

Grounds argued

• State of repair or deletion · decisive

Evidence

Photographs, Expert report, Measurement survey

Cases cited

Barber (VO) v Cerep III TW SARL [2015] UKUT 251; BNPPDS(J) Ltd and BCI Ltd (as Trustees of the Blackrock Industrial Trust) v Hitchings (VO) [2025] UKUT 104 (LC); Carey Group Plc v Ricketts (VO) [2024] UKUT 356 (LC); Ciecierski v Lock (VO) [1968] RA 435; Coppin (VO) v The East Midlands Airport Joint Committee [1970] RRC Vol 16 386; Jackson (VO) v Canary Wharf Ltd [2019] UKUT 136 (LC); John Rylands and Jehu Horrocks v Thomas Fletcher [1868] LR 3 HL 330; Leakey and Others v National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty [1977] L No 285; Merlin Entertainments Group Limited v Wayne Cox (VO) [2018] UKUT 406 (LC); Newbigin (VO) v S J & J Monk [2017] UKSC 14; Thomas & Davies (Merthyr Tydfil) Ltd and Susan Jennifer Denly [2014] UKUT 0146 (LC); White Brothers v South Stoneham Assessment Committee [1914] KBD 1 KB 103; Colour Weddings v Roberts (VO) [2018] RA 12

Hearing

13 February 2026