[2025] UKUT 224 (LC)

Mr Brown said that the 2017 List tone for grade A office space in Manchester was largely unagreed. He looked at a number of similar properties in the immediate locality, making the same adjustments as he did for the Shoosmiths building itself for the time when the rent was agreed (“toning back” by 1% per month if the rent was agreed after the AVD, but adding 1% per month for rents agree earlier). Values ranged from £196 per m² to £290 per m² and included values of £222, £242 and £266 per m². Some higher values had been agreed following rent review, and we attach little weight to them because the assumptions applicable on a rent review will be different from the rating hypothesis. But even excluding the rent review figures, Mr Brown’s reaction to the calculated value of £209 per m² for the Shoosmith’s property in Category A condition is understandable; that figure would put it very much at the lower end of the market, and that may well be because it was let in a shell state rather than as a “turn-key” Category A property.

Mr Bailey looked at a similar range of comparables and reported a similar range of values. He set the properties out in order of value, ranging from £182 per m² to £244 per m² when adjusted for distance from the AVD, and found that the Shoosmiths building sits towards the bottom of the table of 6 properties let in Category A condition. He thought that that would be because of the “DIY” nature of the Category A fitting out.

None of this amounts to clear evidence for the Category A value of the Shoosmith’s property, and we are hampered by the fact that Mr Bailey and Mr Brown put different figures on it. We can say that we have some confidence in the agreed method of calculating the Category A value by ignoring the landlord’s contribution, but by reference to the comparables we take the view that the figure of £230 per m² is more likely to be correct than £216 per m². For the reasons explained above we do not need to go further and determine a precise figure.