Page 16 - John Webber News Today

Sebastian McCarthy What will the end of the holiday mean for the real estate industry? For a start, it will mean fewer deals being done. For while many occupiers might be thinking that now is the right time to take new space ahead of a potential consumer spending boom, agents say that the business rates system is the key factor scuppering their ambitions. As John Webber, head of business rates at Colliers International, puts it: “The dealbreaker which I’m hearing about every single day is t...

John Hamilton Mortimer and the discovery of Captain Cook John Hamilton Mortimer (1740-1779), Captain James Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, Lord Sandwich, Dr Daniel Solander and Dr John Hawkesworth, c. 1771, oil on canvas, nla.pic-an7351768 The National Library of Australia holds within its large collection of artworks a most intriguing eighteenth century painting, the bequest of Dame Merlyn Myer. A beautiful work in good condition, the painting is unsigned and lacks its original title. Early resear...

It means that many medium and large-sized retailers, which typically pay well above £2m in business rates, will be slapped with hefty bills. Scotland and Wales will have 100% rates relief until March 2022. This is because some governmental systems are devolved to different countries in the UK, including business rates. Colliers is calling for the government to reconsider the £2m cap it is proposing to place on business rates relief for the “beleaguered retail sector” when the three months...

Retailers being targeted by rogue rating surveyors, Parliament hears Print 26th May 2021 Rogue rating surveyors promising to obtain a marked reduction in business rates bills are “exploiting businesses to sign unfair contracts”, Parliament heard today (26 May). Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton in North Yorkshire, named and shamed rogue agents who he claimed are “effectively conning” businesses – including those in the retail, hospitality and leisure industries – into sign...

As previously reported by  The Morning Advertiser (MA),​ Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, announced that last year’s 100% business rates holiday for the hospitality sector would be extended three months to the end of June 2021 in his most recent Spring Budget​.  Sunak explained that rates bills thereafter would be discounted for the remaining nine months of the financial year by two thirds, up to the value of £2m, for closed businesses, with a lower cap for those who have bee...

Business rates appeals soar as property experts slam governments ban on Covid-19 review requests Business rates appeals have soared since the beginning of the pandemic, with experts branding the government’s decision to block reconsiderations based on Covid-19 as a “material change of circumstance” as a “disgrace”. The latest figures showed that, between 1 April last year and the end of March 2021, 409,430 checks had been lodged by firms, launching the first stage of ...

In the Budget on 3 March, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the current 100% business rates holiday for the retail and hospitality sector will be extended to the end of June, and will then be discounted for the remaining nine months of the financial year by two thirds, up to a value of £2m for closed businesses. It means that many medium and large-sized retailers, which typically pay well above £2m in business rates, will be slapped with hefty bills. Several fashion retailers did not realise t...

Credit Maria Jarzyna Driving up from his former hometown of Columbus, OH (he now lives in Brooklyn), the top-flight jazz pianist Aaron Diehl will present a livestreamed concert from the Epic Center in Kalamazoo at 7:30 Friday, Apr 9, with bassist John Webber and drummer Aaron Kimmel. In a conversation with Cara Lieurance, Diehl talks about his adjustment to a pandemic year which hit just has his latest album,  The Vagabond, was released. Its given him time to reflect on lifes priorities. Tonig...

The hospitality and retail sectors said more could be done to encourage consumers back to the high street after lockdown.

Drapers investigates: Business rates – make or break for the high street As the industry awaits preliminary conclusions to the government’s review of business rates in England, Drapers Reset Fashion Retail campaign shows why the broken system needs fixing now “before it is too late”. “It has been almost a year since the business rates payment holiday was introduced, but in those 365 or so days nothing has been done to reform the archaic system,” says Derihon Coquard, head of propert...