Rm Lg.02, At Lwr Grd Flr, 181 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4EG

What was argued and what the tribunal found

The appellant challenged 47 office hereditaments at 181 Queen Victoria Street, arguing the 2017 Rating List unadjusted base rate of £450 psm was unreasonable, proposing £350 psm instead. The Valuation Officer defended the £450 psm rate using rental evidence from 71 Queen Victoria Street (let at £592 psm). The Tribunal found that whilst 71 Queen Victoria Street was superior to the subject property (being a modern 2014 build versus an 1890s building with low ceilings and original features), comparable evidence from 85 and 128 Queen Victoria Street, along with settlement evidence from Upper Thames Street and Queenhithe, supported a reduction to £425 psm. The VO had not internally inspected the subject property and had placed insufficient weight on the wider basket of comparable evidence, resulting in an allowed-in-part decision reducing the base rate by £25 psm.

Summary generated from the decision text and checked against it. The appellant was Beaumont Business Centres Limited, represented.

Grounds argued

• Comparable assessments (tone) · decisive

Evidence

Rents, Settled assessments, Photographs

Cases cited

Lotus and Delta v Culverwell; Gardiner & Theobald LLP v David Jackson

Hearing

31 January 2025

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