Tribunals · City of Westminster · 2017 rating list

2nd Flr Rear 8 St James's Square, SW1Y 4JU

Offices and premises Decided 17 April 2025 CHG101109081 Knight Frank - Nick Bell

OutcomeDismissedThe appeal failed and the rateable value was left unchanged.
Original RV£890,000
Ratepayer sought£775,000
VO conceded first—
Tribunal decided£890,000£1350/m²

Figures are as stated in the decision; a dash means the document does not state that figure. This decision covers 3 properties; the figures shown are for the first listed.

What was argued and what the tribunal found

The appellant challenged the rateable values of three office floors at 8 St James's Square, London, proposing a tone of value of £1,175/m² against the Valuation Officer's £1,350/m². The appellant argued rents should be amortised over five years, particularly in the central London market with strong rental growth at the antecedent valuation date, whereas the Valuation Officer followed the judgment in Dawn Bunyan v Acenden Limited, amortising rent-free periods over the full lease term or to the first break clause. The tribunal found the Valuation Officer's methodology more persuasive, placing significant weight on rental evidence for new floors closest to the valuation date (5th and 6th floors), and found the £1,350/m² tone fair and reasonable, dismissing the appeals.

Summary generated from the decision text and checked against it. The appellant was Point72 UK Ltd, represented.

Grounds argued

  • Rental evidence
  • Comparable assessments (tone) · decisive
  • Valuation method
Evidence
Rents, Settled assessments
Cases cited
Lotus and Delta v Culverwell; Gardiner & Theobald LLP v David Jackson; Dawn Bunyan v Acenden Limited
Hearing
28 March 2025

Similar decisions

All decisions in City of Westminster · Offices nationally

Is your own rateable value in line?

A free check compares a property with the assessments around it and says plainly whether there is anything worth pursuing.

Check a property

The tribunal’s decision in full

Download the PDF · Find it on valuationtribunal.gov.uk

Decision © Crown copyright, published by the Valuation Tribunal Service under the Open Government Licence v3.0 and reproduced unaltered. This site does not index the names of private individuals that appear in decisions. Information, not advice.