Decision Nº RA 27 2008. Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), 10-02-2010
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | George Bartlett QC President |
| Date | 10 February 2010 |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) |
| Judgement Number | RA 27 2008 |
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UPPER TRIBUNAL (LANDS CHAMBER) |
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UT Neutral citation number: [2010] UKUT 40 (LC)
LT Case Number: RA/27/2008
TRIBUNALS, COURTS AND ENFORCEMENT ACT 2007
RATING – exemption – agricultural building – stables on farm used for DIY livery – horses grazing land and being fed haylage produced on land – whether buildings used solely in connection with agricultural operations on that land – held they were not – whether building used for keeping livestock – held it was not – Local Government Finance Act 1988 Sch 5 paras 1, 3, 5 and 8
IN THE MATTER OF AN APPEAL AGAINST A DECISION OF THE
MANCHESTER NORTH VALUATION TRIBUNAL
Re: Home Farm Stables,
Hill End Lane,
Mottram, Hyde,
Cheshire, SK14 6JP
Before: The President
Sitting at 43-45 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3AS
on 5 February 2010
Daniel Kolinsky instructed by HMRC Solicitor for the appellant.
The following cases are referred to in this decision:
Whitsbury Farm and Stud Ltd v Hemens (VO) [1988] 1 AC 601
Gilmore (VO) v Baker-Carr [1962] 1 WLR 1165
W & J B Eastwood Ltd v Herrod [1971] AC 160
Belmont Farm Ltd v Minister of Housing and Local Government (1962) 13 P & CR 417
The following further cases were referred to in argument:
Bishop v Walker (VO) [1988] RVR 128
Evans v Bailey (VO) [1982] JPL 454
Withers v Dalling [2004] RA 182
Cook (VO) v Ross Poultry Limited [1982] RA 187
Normanton v Giles [1980] WLR 28
DECISION-
This is an appeal by the valuation officer against a decision of the Manchester North Valuation Tribunal of 12 February 2008 which determined that 17 do-it-yourself livery stables at Home Farm Stables, Hill End, Mottram, Hyde, Cheshire, were agricultural buildings and so exempt from rating under Schedule 5 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988. The effect of its decision was that the entry in the rating list was altered from “Stables” at £3,500 rateable value to “Manège” at £800, the latter reflecting the value of a manège at the property which was accepted by the ratepayer to be rateable.
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The stables form part of a hereditament known as Home Farm, which, besides the stables and the manège, contains 55 acres of agricultural land and a dwellinghouse called The Old Hillend Farmhouse. They are all in the occupation of the ratepayer, Miss Lesley Cheetham, who occupies under an agricultural tenancy. The house is domestic property and so not rateable, and the agricultural land is exempt from rating under paragraph 2 of Schedule 5. The VO, Jill Tuplin IRRV; who said that she had visited the farm and interviewed Miss Cheetham, had signed a witness statement and produced a statement of facts. I derive from those the facts that are set out below.
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Home Farm is situated in a rural village close to the boundary of the High Peak National Park and about 10 miles to the east of the centre of Manchester. It lies between the villages of Mottram in Longdendale and Broadbottom. The Old Hillend Farmhouse and the adjacent Home Farm buildings are at the end of a narrow, partially surfaced, track off Hillend Lane. The track also provides access to a terrace of cottages.
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There are five blocks of stables containing looseboxes. Stable block A, constructed in brick and slate, contains 5 looseboxes, two of which are for Miss Cheetham’s private use. Stable block B, which is constructed of concrete block with a corrugated metal mono-pitched roof, contains 3 looseboxes. These are small and are more suited to ponies. Stable block C is of timber and brick construction with a profiled mono-pitched roof. It contains 3 looseboxes. Stable block D is attached to the dwellinghouse and is of traditional slate and stone construction and contains 6 looseboxes. It faces an open-sided agricultural barn used, at the time of the VO’s inspection, for the storage of straw. It is connected by a timber and metal canopy to Block E, which is of engineering brick and slate construction and contains 2 looseboxes, together with an open-sided area used for agricultural storage. Of the total of 19 looseboxes, therefore, 17 are held available for DIY livery use.
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Under the DIY livery system Miss Cheetham provides stabling for horses owned by others. The horse owner is provided with a loosebox but is responsible for feeding, grooming, mucking out, riding and giving general care to the horse. At the material day, 1 February 2007, the DIY livery charge for each horse was £24 per week throughout the year, broken down into £15 for stabling, including water and electricity, £6 for use of the manège and £3 for grazing.
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Each of the looseboxes contains a partitioned area for the storage of tack and feed. All of the stables are connected to an electricity supply and light. Water is provided by a single tap within a shared yard and is taken by bucket or can to the troughs within the looseboxes. Each of the looseboxes opens onto the communal yard, which is fully surfaced and drained and is fenced by metal railings and gates. The owners of the horses visit at least once a day to maintain the condition of their horses by providing water, feed, grooming and exercise. The manège lies to the rear of blocks A, B and C and access to it is by a grassed strip from the communal yard. It has a sand and rubber surface, is drained and fully fenced. It is of standard size and is used entirely for the schooling of horses and riders and also for the purposes of exercise.
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There are facilities on site for housing four motorised horseboxes for the use of customers in transporting horses to and from shows or for riding elsewhere. No extra charge is levied for this facility.
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About 12 acres out of the total 55 acres of agricultural land are used for the grazing of horses. It is at the horse owners’ discretion whether to turn the horses out into the fields or to keep them stabled. In general they are turned out in the summer months from early May to the end of October, depending on the weather conditions. During this period minimal use is made of the stabling, with activities mainly being limited to grooming, the storage of tack and general maintenance. From November until April the situation is reversed, with the stables in use for the majority of the time. During these winter months, if weather conditions permit, horses may be turned out during the day but are stabled at night.
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The farm supports other livestock on the land, consisting of about 30 cattle in the summer months and 200 sheep during the winter. The sheep tend to graze the wetter land, which is unsuitable for horses. Haylage is cropped annually from 26 acres of the farm, producing between three or four bales an acre. These sell for between £10 and £15 each. The quality of haylage is very dependent on weather conditions. If it reaches an acceptable standard it will be used by the livery business. Otherwise it is sold to local farmers as animal feed. The horse manure and straw bedding accumulated from the stables during the winter months is stored, allowed sufficient time to rot and is then spread on the land to fertilise the hay crop.
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Apart from the manège Miss Cheetham does not offer any designated riding out areas on the farm. There are, however, extensive bridleways in the vicinity, as well as horse/bicycle lanes marked on local roads, and easy access to these can be gained directly from the track leading from Home Farm. Around 80% of the total income from the farm comes from the DIY livery business and without it the farm would not be economically viable.
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The exemption given to agricultural buildings is contained in Schedule 5 of the 1988 Act. The relevant provisions are these:
“1. A hereditament is exempt to the extent that it consists of any of the following –
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agricultural land;
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agricultural buildings…
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A building is an agricultural building if it is not a dwelling and –
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it is occupied together with agricultural land and is used solely in connection with agricultural operations on that or other agricultural land,…
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5. (1) A building is an agricultural building if –
(a) It is used for the keeping or breeding of livestock, …
(2) Sub-paragraph (1)(a) above does not apply unless –
(a) the...
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