Collection and Enforcement Cases

Overview

A number of difficult substantive and procedural issues can arise in such disputes, including entitlement to various exemptions and reliefs, paramountcy of occupation, and compliance with formalities of service.

Landmark’s rating team is familiar with all of these issues and is very experienced in dealing with the particular challenges which arise when litigating these issues before courts which are not familiar with rating.

Landmark’s members have appeared in some of the most significant and complex disputes in this field, on behalf both of ratepayers and of billing authorities, and in a range of forums including the magistrates’ court, the Divisional Court on Appeal, in billing authority-led civil debt claims in the County Court and High Court, and in ratepayer-led unjust enrichment claims in both the Chancery Division and the King’s Bench Division.

These cases have covered a very wide range of subjects, including the application of charitable relief, the identification of the ratepayer, the rule in Ford v Burnley (where a single hereditament has different parts with different occupiers), the Scheduled Monuments exemption, and the identification of the kinds of hereditaments for which the unoccupied rate I capable of arising in the first place.

Landmark’s rating team has members across a wide range of Calls, and as such can provide a suitable service for every kind of dispute or advisory matter, from first hearings and case management conferences all the way to substantive disputes at appellate level.