Council auditors in Glasgow are investigating how tenants of city property tycoon Robert Morris came to owe a million pounds in rates, The Herald on Sunday can reveal.

Officials believe they may have to write off much of a tax debt accrued by businesses and charities based at a former furniture factory in Castlemilk.

Their probe - which is in its very earliest stages - comes as local authorities face some of the toughest financial challenges in recent decades.

Council officials say they have struggled to secure non-domestic rates (NDR) from Morris’s 300,000-square-foot Enterprise Park building because they receive late or incomplete information about tenants.

In the 1980s Morris, now 67, inherited a furniture making business, H Morris and Company, which was founded by his family before World War One. 

Best known for his shock of blond curls and colourful sweaters, the heir to millions now makes a living leasing out space in buildings put up for his grandparents.

The Herald on Sunday has obtained text messages and emails from Morris suggesting delaying notification of at least one tenancy at Enterprise Park to local tax authorities. 

The former factory is split in to various units and uses two street addresses, on Drakemire Drive and Raithburn Avenue.

Robert Morris's Enterprise Park in GlasgowEnterprise Park in Glasgow (Image: Colin Mearns/The Herald)

In an exchange with the building’s de-facto manager, Morris boasts that he has saved the tenant £24,000 in rates and thousands more in utility bills.

We asked Glasgow City Council to comment on the correspondence. 

A spokesman responded: “Information that has come to light is being assessed by the council’s audit team – however, it would be inappropriate to comment further on the specifics of that at this time.”

Asked about NDR arrears at the factory, the same official said: “The picture is complex, with multiple listings for different addresses within one site over time.

“However, what is clear is that there are significant unpaid balances - and also periods where we have been unable to bill rates, due to either a lack of information or information coming to light too late to be used under the legislation.

“In some cases, the organisation identified as liable for an outstanding balance is no longer in business and this seriously limits our ability to recover money for the public purse.”

This is money desperately needed to prop up public services, including in deprived neighbourhoods like Castlemilk.

The spokesman added: “Non-domestic rates are collected by Scotland’s councils, but they are set by ministers.

Read more from David Leask:

“Although councils do not individually keep all of the rates they collect, because income is pooled and redistributed across the country, these revenues are directly linked to the resources available to local government to provide crucial front-line services in our communities.”

This summer The Herald on Sunday asked Morris a number of questions about his business practices. 

At the time H Morris and Company were listed by the council as owing nearly £70,000 in non-domestic rates. 

Morris did not respond directly to questions about this. Instead, a lawyer acting on his behalf told us it would be “defamatory” to report such a debt and threatened this newspaper with legal action.

After we put our question to Morris, Glasgow City Council was notified that his company was disputing the debt. 

His company’s lawyers told the local authority that the money was owed by a tenant, a carpet business called Buybox Limited, owned by Glasgow entrepreneur Mohammad Ibrahim.

The Herald on Sunday has obtained text messages and emails about Ibrahim’s tenancy at the former Castlemilk factory. 

They concern Buybox and another company officially listed on the UK’s corporate registry as belonging to Ibrahim called Cosmos Wholesale.

In a July 2021 email to colleague Debbie Cunliffe, effectively the building manager at Enterprise Park, Morris confirms that he agreed to delay notification of Ibrahim’s lease to the council. 

In a later text message to Cunliffe, Morris protests after Ibrahim complains about his tenancy.

“Jeeze,” writes Morris. “I think we saved him £24k in rates, 11 in electric, 10 insurance, 4 water.”

In another exchange with Cunliffe, this time on WhatsApp, Morris again appeared to suggest delaying notification.

Debbie Cunliffe outside Enterprise Park in GlasgowDebbie Cunliffe outside Enterprise Park in Glasgow (Image: Colin Mearns/The Herald)

Describing a conversation with Ibrahim, he wrote: “I said better leave it for six months as if you contact them they will come back and say who is the tenant!!!.”

Ibrahim is listed at Companies House as the person of significant control of Cosmos Wholesale. 

This firm went out of business in March 2023 owing £1500 in non-domestic rates at Enterprise Park. 

Morris in a WhatsApp message to Cunliffe said he had asked Ibrahim about shutting down the firm.

Getting the business’s name slightly wrong, Morris wrote: “I also asked how important Cosmo is as a company….he said he could close it if necessary.”

The Herald on Sunday has also obtained an exchange of texts between Cunliffe and Ibrahim. 

In this Ibrahim thanks Cunliffe for re-issuing his lease in the name of Cosmos Wholesale rather than Buybox.

We asked Cunliffe to explain her exchanges over email with both Morris and Ibrahim.

She said: “I sought clarification from Mr Morris that his initial arrangement with Buybox Ltd included an additional incentive under which H Morris Group Ltd would delay notifying the council about the Buybox Ltd tenancy therefore removing the business rates at 63 Raithburn Avenue for a six-month period.

Nicola McCurdy outside Enterprise Park in GlasgowNicola McCurdy outside Enterprise Park in Glasgow (Image: Colin Mearns/The Herald)

“As instructed, in July 2021, I detailed the savings Buybox Ltd had benefited from as a result of this delay to Mr Ibrahim. 

“This arrangement continued until January 2023 when NDR began asking questions. 

"At this time false information was provided to Glasgow City Council.

“Mr Morris suggested Cosmos Ltd be declared as the original tenant and then -if required - it could be dissolved and a new lease issued to Buybox Ltd to effectively wipe out any historical liability. 

“Subsequently Cosmos Ltd was dissolved and Buybox Ltd became the tenant.” 

The Herald on Sunday asked Morris’s lawyer  to explain his text messages. In a letter she asked us not to report, she suggested it was not the responsibility of H Morris and Co to police the NDR notifications of its tenants. 

The lawyer added that allegations against Morris were “untrue and defamatory” and suggested Morris would sue this newspaper.  

The Herald on Sunday asked Ibrahim if he was aware of any incentive to delay notification of his NDR liability. 

He said: “No, there was nothing like that. We just signed the lease and then it’s their [the landlord’s] responsibility to give it to the council."

The businessman complained that he had now been billed for two years’ NDR at once and said he was challenging the amount he was being asked to pay.

Ibrahim denied that he was in any way associated with the now dissolved Cosmos Wholesale, despite a man of his name, month and year of birth and address being officially listed as director and person of significant control. 

He said: “I have nothing to do with Cosmos.”

The Herald on Sunday has obtained a full list of NDR debts at the former factory.

Arrears - some of which are already too late to collect - total at least £945,000, not including the nearly £70,000 now being sought from Buybox.

The biggest debts are in the name of a former charity called The I-Touches, which, according to council records, owes hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

It only ever filed accounts once, for 2018, citing income of just £1763.  Much of this debt is effectively written off. 

* The sources connected with and quoted in this story have not been paid for their time or contributions.