[hafod]

Hi
I just got an email saying that a inspector from the valuation office needs to come out and inspect 'our non domestic premises' to place a rateable value on it.
I'm a bit scared we are going to get a massive bill - has anyone else had any experience of this, or can offer any guidance?

We have stables and a riding arena as well as well livestock and crops and I've been told that even if the stables are only for our own private use I can be charged business rates??

This has all come about because I have questioned the council tax banding of our property. We are in a higher band than the 2 other similar properties on our road which are both for sale. We bought our property 2 years ago and paid £350k, the other properties are up for £500k and £525k so although I realise they may not sell for full asking price I wouldn't have thought our property would have a higher rateable value than the others?

[henchard]

Start here

http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/CouncilTax/howYourHomeIsbanded.html#stables

[hafod]

Thank you! We won't qualify as having horses working the land - the cob will pull a harrow but the thoroughbred and section A won't really fall into that category. I guess it depends whether it is deemed as being in the curtilage of the property and used on a scale appropriate to the house - it sounds like a bit of a mine field!
Even if it is deemed as commercial premises we should benefit from small business relief so I'm not panicking as much now! Thank you - I'll let you know how the visit goes.

[ferretkeeper]

you've got me wondering now...we have land and large outbuildings including stables although no horses have been in them since we moved in - furniture, dogs and now occasional pigs and goats. We've been "hobbying" smallholders for a while (although sounds like that shouldn't have mattered) but now we're actually trading, should I contact the valuation office? I think we pay far too much council tax but as our property was sold very close to the revaluation in 2003 here in Wales it is sadly not up for discussion. Is there a chance that with the small business relief we may actually pay the council less?

I know that for our holiday place when it does qualify as a business (has to be occupied so many weeks, not there yet) we would pay zero rates, that info came from the valuation peeps who worked it out for me, whereas we currently pay something like £900 for the year in normal council tax...

Don't want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves but I also like to keep on the right side of these things.

Be interested to see how you get on Hafod.

[hafod]

Hi. just a quick update on what we have found out do far.
Our council tax has been reduced a band  this came about from my query about our house selling for much less than two similar houses were being marketed for but us being in a higher band. I am waiting to see whether this will be back dated to when we bought the house but that would be a bonus!
We will now be a composite tax band however, so could also pay non domestic rates (used to be called business rates - note it no longer has to be a business!!) for the stables so we are awaiting a visit to sort this out - I am hoping that it will either be deemed to be in the curtilage of our house or that the rateable value will be less than £6000 pa - then we will qualify for 100% small business relief ( even though it is not a business!) Even though some of the stables could be empty - they could still be rateable. I think an average stable is rateable at £180/year. There are some guideline prices on the VOA site.
It's a tough one - I know what you mean about not wanting to draw attention to yourselves (I think I should just have just kept quiet - or at least done a bit more research first!).
I'm sure you have a holding number if you have livestock - both the valuers I spoke to were interested in this - so maybe it gives you some sort of relief?? I will try and find out more.

It wouldn't be so bad if it was applied fairly to everyone - I have friends with a large riding stables and facilities and they don't pay a penny in don domestic rates just because it's never come on to the valuation offices radar - even though they are registered as a riding centre with the council and pay tax (the valuation office is a section of HMRC). There just seems to be no joined up thinking!
While I am having a rant..... you get a 25% discount on your non domestic rates if you run a stud. There are so many unwanted horses in the world that seems a bit of strange policy. Anyway... I'll update this when I find out anything else.

[doganjo]

There seem to be other implications too on what different labels are given to properties.  Here in Scotland my friend has 15 horses, 50 acres, and because it was a farm when she took over regardless that it isn't now, she has always had to pay farm rate electricity.  So she lives in one room in winter with a coal fire in there, and a fan heater in teh kitche as necessary, since anything else is too expensive

[hafod]

Just to post another update.
We had our inspection for non-domestic rates early in September - the lady that did it was great and pretty good at explaining it all to me. A report was written and it was passed on to the surveyor who decided our rateable value is £2600 - phew! (As it is under £6000 we don't need to pay anything in non domestic rates). I don't totally follow how they've come up with this figure as it seems to include some things that IMO would be domestic - the outhouse where our freezer is, where we keep our bikes etc and only some of the stables but I'm not going to ask for an explanation! It also means that if we do use the stables as a business we are already 'covered' as it were.
So all in all in turned out good - the reduction in tax band will save us about £400 a year and we do not have to pay anything extra in non-domestic rates but I wish I'd done more research to start off with - I could have landed us with a much bigger bill. Note to self: think before acting in future!!

[john and helen]

nice result 

[Lesley Silvester]

Great.