Terry Ball's Snail Farm Scheme Exploits Tax Loopholes on Empty Offices
Terry Ball, a 79-year-old former shoe salesman, runs a complex network of shell companies and snail farms designed to avoid business rates on empty office buildings.
The operation is based at multiple sites, including Winchester House on Old Marylebone Road and a headquarters called L’Escargotiere in Ribchester, alongside four large snail farms situated in London.
By classifying empty commercial premises as agricultural land through snail farming, Ball's scheme aims to qualify for business rate exemptions intended specifically for farms.
HMRC guidance acknowledges that molluscs can legally fall under the scope of a fish farm, which allows the snail farming to legally benefit from tax exemptions.
Westminster Council is actively pursuing over £286,000 from Ball’s companies for unpaid business rates amid ongoing planning disputes and enforcement raids.
Since 2018, Ball has been opening snail farms within empty properties, charging landlords 20% of the business rates saved. He operates numerous shell companies that have filed no accounts and report little or no income.
The scheme faced legal scrutiny in 2021 when a Leeds court ruled that Ball’s snail farm constituted tax avoidance.
Ball has a history of bankruptcy and was banned from being a company director for nine years until 2016. He has also claimed affiliations with the Naples mafia (Camorra) and has cited Michael Gove as an influence on his views regarding business rates.
The snails farmed are Helix aspersa muller. To meet the criteria of a functioning farm, the snails are kept alive in boxes with specific practices such as freezing and controlled feeding to sustain production and qualify under agricultural exemptions.
