The shop believed to be at the centre of a fire which devastated part of Union Street failed to pay close to £10,000 in business rates last year.
It can be revealed that the company which held the tenancy failed to pay business rates for 2025-26.
The property is one of several neighbouring premises owned by Afton Estates Ltd, which purchased the block for £540,000 in 2008.
Its directors are Michael and Kenna Tasker, and in its last set of accounts the company listed net assets of more than £10 million.
The non-domestic rate (NDR) for 105 Union Street is in the name of Junaid Retail Limited, trading as Scot's World, whose sole director is 29-year-old Ahsan Ali.
The company is noted as having occupied the building from August 1, 2024.
The property, 105 Union Street, has a rateable value of £18,800 which would mean anyone operating a business from there would be liable for business rates of £9,362.40 per year before any relief.
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It's understood the annual bill for 2025-26 was returned to Glasgow City Council by Royal Mail as an "addressee gone away".
On Sunday night a blaze at 105 Union Street, adjacent to Central Station, spread to other parts of the complex, 101-111, with the loss of listed structures.
The train station remains closed while damage is assessed, with more than 200 firefighters battling the inferno at its height.
A multi-agency investigation is taking place into the cause of the fire, but it is believed to have started in a vape shop.
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When contacted by the council landlord Afton Estates advised, however, that Junaid Retail remained the occupier.
Glasgow City Council then forwarded the bill to the company's registered address, Unit 6/10, Regent Way in Hamilton.
Our sister title The Herald visited the address in South Lanarkshire on Tuesday and was unable to find anyone to speak to over the course of several hours.
Proprietors at nearby stores in the Regent Shopping Centre said they were not aware of Junaid Retail, and many did not know where Unit 6/10 was located.
The Herald spoke to one of the centre's managers, who was also unable to provide detail on Junaid Retail.
However, The Ferret reported that a man named Ajaz Sarwar claimed to have been the owner until two weeks ago.
He told the outlet he was told he'd have one year of rates relief before having to pay but when this was over he was "struggling badly" and the shop "was not making enough money" to afford the bill.
An Ayaz Sarwar is listed as having been the sole director of MAZ Marketing, registered to the same address, but there is no record on Companies House of an Ajaz or Ayaz Sarwar being involved in Junaid Retail.
A Mirza Muhammed Ijaz Sarwar had a company, M. Sarwar and Sons, registered at the same address but is similarly not listed as being involved with Junaid.
It's understood the account is now in the hands of Glasgow City Council's debt recovery partner, with the rates remaining unpaid.
On the rolls of the Scottish Assessors Association the building remains listed as vacant as of March 10, 2026.
If the shop was empty then prior to 2024 the owners would be entitled to a 100% exemption on business rates in perpetuity under the Empty Property Relief (EPR) scheme.
EPR was devolved to local authorities from the Scottish Government effective as of April 1, 2023.
The following year Glasgow City Council introduced its rules for the relief, which offer a 100% discount for the first three months a property is empty, and 10% for a further 12 months.
Properties which have been unoccupied for more than 15 months will not receive any relief and are subject to full rates, for periods prior to April 1 2024, there was a 100% relief for listed buildings.
The building, 101-111 Union Street, is a Grade B listed building and would therefore have been exempt from business rates for as long as it was vacant.
The SAA rolls are updated only when the assessor - in this case Glasgow City Council - makes an alteration.
While the SAA still lists the building as vacant, it's understood there can often be a significant lag in updating the records and a bill was issued for 2025-26.
The Herald has approached representatives for Afton Estates to ask if the company had ever previously taken advantage of a rate relief exemption.
There was no immediate response.
As previously reported by The Herald, the shop does not appear on the Scottish Government’s register of tobacco and vape retailers, which all vape sellers are required by law to join.
The vape shop register is part of Scotland’s statutory national Register of Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Product Retailers, which has existed in some form since 2011 and was extended to cover vape retailers in 2017.
Any retailer selling tobacco or nicotine vapour products in Scotland must register with the Scottish Government.
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