HELP! Non domestic rates

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katherine1975

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We have moved into our dream home, bought with my mum. We have 4 stables, a sand school, paddocks and barn. We have had letter from VOA today saying that they want to check whether we are liable for non domestic rates. I didn't know that these could apply as we are not running a business. How much will we have to pay and why? Am worried now!
 
If the stables are more than a certain distance from the house (not sure what distance that is) you would b liable. If you rent out any stables you are liable, even if no money changes hands! Ridiculous, I know.
 
Thank you for your replies. I have been researching it, just seems ridiculous to me. I know other people who have land and stables and they have never mentioned it. There are some bizarre laws in this country!
 
Stables generally have a flat rate of about £200
The school will be between £1 to £4 per square meter depending on quality.
So a school of 20 x 40 can end up quite costly
The barn will depend on what you do with it
If it stores agricultural stuff...I think it is free
If it's a hay barn it's about £3 per square meter
If it's used for equiptment storage the price can be £15 per square meter
Tack room/feed room is also about£15 per square meter

These are costs for somewhere in the south of England....yours may be different
For people with private facilities the rates can be made lower...speak to your council about it!
 
Wow so simple private horse facilities could be the best part of £3k! OP I'd be researching what you have to do to not incur them and have a god arguement well prepared for when they visit.
Wouldn't your lawyers for the house purchase not have had to highlight this to you in the legals pre purchase - you have to declare council tax, water rates etc. Or are you doing something different to the previous owners with the land/ stables?
 
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Ahhhh

MASSIVE EDIT

All of the costs I have put above must be then multiplied by the multiplier which I think is £0.462

So stables are £200 x £0.462..... This then = the rates you pay per stable!

There are also many other 'iffs' I.e. If stables are within what the council believe is your garden a boundary then there are no rates.....however what you think is your garden can differ from what the council thinks it is.....
 
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Everything is rateable sadly.

Your surveyor should have brought these to your attention during the sale of the house so you knew how much the sellers were paying to the council.

So go back to your solicitor if you did not keep all your paperwork to do with the purchase.

it will be in the paperwork somewhere!
 
katherine1975 said:
We have moved into our dream home, bought with my mum. We have 4 stables, a sand school, paddocks and barn. We have had letter from VOA today saying that they want to check whether we are liable for non domestic rates. I didn't know that these could apply as we are not running a business. How much will we have to pay and why? Am worried now!
Click to expand...

Make sure nothing is "empty" as they charge empty rates !! make sure its all filled with your own personal stuff, lawn mowers etc ( as well as the horses of course), check with them, poss previous owner had a business. if so get it de-reg, the sand school could be the prob.
 
Thank you for your replies. This was not brought to our attention by the solicitors. The previous owners had all the work done, stables, barn and school built. They kept horses here, as far as I know they didn't run a business here. We have already had the council tax rate increased, as this can only be put up once a property has been sold!
 
We have recently had 3 stables, tackroom and hay barn built quite close to the house with a 20x40 arena behind. Soon after it was finished someone from the council came round to see if it was liable for non domestic rates. He said that as it was quite close to house (didn't specify how close it needed to be) and that we had 3 stables next to a 3 bed house then it was likely that it would be classed as domestic. He said that if the number of stables is related to the number of bedrooms in the house then it is justifiable that they are only for leisure purposes. He said the school might not be and advised that if we do get charged then we should consider registering as a small business so that we could claim small business relief. We don't have any liveries so doubt that would work.

Anyway that was several weeks ago and we haven't heard anything yet. Another guy assessing a near neighbour told him to take the top doors off the stables so they were only shelters and not closed buildings and not liable to non domestic rates. It appears to be subjectively decided on what is classed as non domestic so you may just have to wait and see if you get charged and if so appeal against it. They seem to struggle with how to define equestrian property and he wasn't really able to give me any specific guidelines.
 
I have just looked on the VOA website and searched my area, there are lots of houses with stables and sand schools and none of them are being charged. The only ones being charged are riding schools or studs. Even the stud up the road doesn't mention the outdoor arena. Will definitley appeal if we get charged, as we only have horses for our own use. Definitely not a business and work very long hours and hard to keep them!
 
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