Shynar Zhylzhaxynova v Jo Moore (Valuation Officer)
[2024] UKUT 204 (LC)
Joanne Moore (Valuation Officer) v Caroline Bailey
7 October 2024
[2024] UKUT 304 (LC)
Upper Tribunal
A farmer's family used part of their land for horse training (racing and non-racing). The tax office said it was one property, the family said two. The judge looked at how the land was used and who controlled it, deciding that even though it was used in different ways, it was all one property owned and managed by the same family business. The tax office's original assessment was adjusted accordingly.
Key Facts
- •Appeal concerning the rating of equestrian facilities at Holdenby North Lodge farm.
- •Valuation Officer (VO) argued the farm is a single hereditament; respondent argued it comprises two: a licensed racing yard and a point-to-point yard.
- •Farm occupied under tenancy agreement by a partnership including the respondent.
- •Respondent holds a license from the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) to operate the racing yard.
- •Point-to-point yard operated by respondent's husband without a separate tenancy.
- •Both yards shared facilities (gallops, horse walker), and their income and expenses were included in the farm partnership's accounts.
- •Operation of both yards ceased in 2022.
Legal Principles
Definition of a hereditament relies on case law, as statute only defines it by reference to a valuation list's separate items.
Local Government Finance Act 1988, s.64(1); General Rate Act 1967, s.115(1)
Primary test for determining a hereditament is geographical; functional test may be relevant to break up or unite geographically dispersed units.
Woolway (VO) v Mazars LLP [2015] UKSC 53
Rateable occupation requires actual, exclusive (for the possessor's purposes), beneficial, and non-transient occupation.
John Laing & Son Ltd v Assessment Committee for Kingswood Assessment Area [1949] 1 KB 344
Paramount occupation determines rateability where multiple parties occupy the same land; landlord's occupation is often paramount over lodger's.
Hollywell Union and Halkyn Parish v Halkyn District Mines Drainage Co [1895] AC 117; Westminster Council v Southern Railway Co [1936] AC 511
Degree of control is crucial in determining rateable occupation; ability to require vacating demonstrates significant control.
Ludgate House Ltd v Ricketts (VO) [2020] EWCA Civ 1637
Shared economic benefit and purpose can indicate joint occupation, even with restricted use rights.
Cardtronics UK Ltd v Sykes [2020] UKSC 21; Prosser KC v Ricketts (VO) [2024] UKUT 264 (LC)
Outcomes
Appeal allowed.
Farm is a single, composite hereditament in joint rateable occupation of the partnership, including the respondent. The respondent's licensed racing yard activity, while distinct, is not a separate hereditament due to the integrated nature of the business operations on the farm.