In the UK, the occupiers of nonresidential property generally are responsible for “business rates,” a form of property tax. When commercial property is rented, the tenant is directly liable for these taxes (and may shift their incidence to the landlord through contract—a reversal of the tax prong under US-style triple-net leases).

But when commercial property stands vacant, these taxes are payable by the property’s owner, after a short grace period. This flip in legal liability coincides, of course, with an absence of cash flow and a possible drop in the property’s underlying value. As one might imagine, these circumstances create strong incentives for creative (and often legally flimsy) tax solutions. At least no one’s bricking up windows.

Setting revenue loss aside, some of these tax avoidance schemes have greater social costs than others. It’s relatively innocuous to move empty boxes among properties to refresh the owner’s grace period. Allowing a (real) tax-preferred charity to use space rent-free might even be beneficial on net. But many would draw the line at urban snail farming to claim agricultural exemptions from business rates. Especially if the promoter of these farms has a personal vendetta against HM Revenue & Customs and connections to the Italian mafia.

As is often the case in these types of tax schemes, the story’s less about the substance than the personalities.

A Slimy Scheme to Avoid Property Tax, The Economist (Nov. 13, 2025):

A cottage industry of advisers exists to minimise business rates. When a property is vacated, landlords can claim 90 days of empty-property relief (EPR) from business rates. A loophole allows landlords to then store empty boxes (or any other item) in their property for a six-week period of “occupation”; after which they can claim another 90 days of EPR. By doing this over 12 months they can reduce their tax liabilities by 75%.

To discourage this “box shifting”, last year the government extended the eligibility period for [a fresh 90-day period of] EPR from six to 13 weeks. . . .

Landlords have easier ways to reduce their taxes. ASTOP, a social enterprise, matches landlords to legitimate charities that take temporary rent-free occupation of properties when they fall vacant. Charities then claim 80% business-rate relief on the landlords’ behalf.

Jim Waterston, The Snail Farm Don: Is This the Most Brazen Tax Avoidance Scheme of All Time?, The Guardian (Dec. 4, 2025):

His method is simple. First, he sets up shell companies that breed snails in empty office blocks. Then he claims that the office block is legally, against all indications to the contrary, a farm, and therefore exempt from paying taxes. “They’re sexy things,” chuckles [Terry] Ball in a broad Blackburn accent, describing the speed with which two snails can incestuously multiply into dozens of specimens if they’re left alone in a box for a few weeks. Snails love group sex and cannibalism, he warns. . . .

The tenants of the various floors of [Winchester House, a 1970s office block,] have names like Snai1 Primary Products (2023) Ltd. All of them are companies registered by Terry Ball for £35 a go. He is the sole director of each of them but tells me he has no intention of filing accounts for them and no plan to pay any taxes. They don’t take any income or hold any assets. They’re just shell companies created to sign the legal paperwork. Every so often a local council successfully has one liquidated for unpaid debts, so Ball just phoenixes it—abandoning the old company (and with it, its debts) and starting a new one. Westminster is now seeking to recover more than £286,000 from Ball’s companies, which it says are running multiple tax-avoiding snail farms in Winchester House. . . .

At first Ball sold his tax avoidance services under the brand name Crusader and told landlords he could cut the costs of empty property business rates by 93%. His PR was done by a man closely linked to Blackburn Rovers [a second-tier football club] who signed up former Scotland football captain Colin Hendry to promote the company.

Business boomed. His daughter helped run it. Councils began raiding the snail farm premises and [successfully] challenging the agricultural exemptions . . . .

Ball says he is now looking to diversify into a new “pop-up charity shop” business rates avoidance plan, exploiting a loophole in Charity Commission rules designed for tiny charities. A landlord will give him the keys to an office block and he will set up a “charity shop” and arrange for a small number of people to buy giant bags of mixed goods for a single day. The landlord will claim a substantial business rates discount on the basis it’s the premises for an unregistered charity. To enable this new tax dodge, he’s filled every corner of his snail farm with hundreds of thousands of pounds of cheap Chinese goods and toys. . . .