Homeowner faces £80,000 hotel bill

When is a hotel not a hotel?

That is the question being posed by a man who says he is £80,000 out of pocket because council bosses insist he must pay business rates for the hotel he has converted into his family home.

Mark Layder took control of Redbrook Lodge, near Whitchurch, in 2003 and initially ran it as a 12-room hotel. But by 2004 he stopped receiving paying guests and set about transforming it into an education centre focusing on adult learning and management courses.

Until recently, Mr Layder had continued to pay hotel business rates for the premises in the name of his company Quality of Life Academy Limited – even though it has not been a hotel since 2004.

He has been challenging Wrexham Borough Council's decision since 2004. But he is still waiting for answers and has now stopped payments in an attempt to bring the matter to a conclusion.

His non-payment has prompted the council to call in the bailiffs.

Mr Layder, his wife Ellen and nine-year-old son Cody, say they have now virtually barricaded themselves in and live in fear of bailiffs.

Mr Layder said: "Redbrook Lodge has not been a hotel since 2004, but we are still forced to pay business rates of £10,000 a year because the valuation agency said it has everything in it to be a hotel.

Mark Owen, Wrexham Council's head of finance, said: "We have a duty to ensure that domestic and non-domestic rates are paid in line with statutory provisions."