Business

Copper Face Jacks operator’s commercial rates decision must be reconsidered, court rules

Case relates to how rates on nightclub and adjoining Jackson Court Hotel in Harcourt Street were calculated

The Court of Appeal upheld a High Court decision that the Commissioner of Valuation was entitled to an order directing a reconsideration of how rates on the nightclub and Jackson Court Hotel were calculated. Photograph: Bryan O'Brien

Fri Mar 8 2024 - 17:40

The company operating Dublin nightclub Copper Face Jacks and adjoining hotel must have a decision that reduced a €1.75 million commercial rates bill to €1.15 million reconsidered, the Court of Appeal (CoA) ruled.

The CoA upheld a High Court decision that the Commissioner of Valuation was entitled to an order directing a reconsideration of how the rates on the nightclub and the Jackson Court Hotel in Harcourt Street were calculated.

The commissioner had argued rates should be calculated based on a €1.75 million estimated net annual value (Nav) for rating purposes of the premises.

In 2021, the commissioner asked the High Court to determine legal issues arising from a decision of the valuation tribunal to reduce the Nav to €1.155 million.

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The case arose after the valuation office completed a revaluation of business premises in the Dublin City Council area in 2013.

Breanagh Catering Ltd, which operates the Jackson Court Hotel and Copper Face Jacks, had appealed to the tribunal that the €1.75 million Nav was excessive. It proposed a Nav of €840,000.

The tribunal’s 2016 decision on a €1.15 million Nav arose after it provided for 11 per cent to be applied to the nightclub’s door and cloakroom revenue of €3.2 million and an allowance of some €200,000 to reflect the agreed “exceptional” expertise of the occupier.

In October 2021, the High Court found the tribunal erred in law in several respects, including in not giving adequate reasons for various findings.

The High Court said the sole issue in dispute in the appeal before the tribunal was the percentage to be applied to door and cloakroom receipts, associated with the nightclub, in respect of revenue exceeding €1 million. For the tribunal appeal, the total agreed door/cloakroom revenue was some €3.2 million.

The High Court found the tribunal was incorrect in, among other things, focusing on the percentages to be applied to those receipts instead of considering if the €1.75 million Nav was excessive.

Breanagh Catering appealed the High Court decision while the commissioner opposed the appeal.

On Friday, Mr Justice Robert Haughton, on behalf of the three-judge CoA, found that Breanagh failed to establish any error on the part of the High Court in deciding the tribunal failed to give adequate reasons for its decision.

The CoA directed the matter be readmitted to a different tribunal panel for a fresh hearing of Breanagh’s appeal from the commissioner’s decision.

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