The charitable trust set up to allow commercial property owners to take advantage of the relief given against business rates for charity occupation of commercial premises has been wound up.
A court ruling decided that the Public Safety Charitable Trust’s minimal occupation of the 2,000 premises it let from commercial landlords did not succeed in making them exempt from business rates.
The Trust’s mode of operation had been to pay its landlords peppercorn rents and required them to pay it a reverse premium to occupy the premises.