Council Tax on farmhouses, discounted by one class?

[chaffcutter]

Do I remember correctly that there is, or was, a discount of one class eg from H to G for farmhouses, I have in mind that it was negotiated by the NFU many years ago?

Might just be wishful thinking though!

 

[Yale]

Ours is ag tied so we get a one band discount.

At the time we built ours they also put an ag tie on the main farmhouse which also gets a one band reduction.

Stupid twits at the council.

 

[Lincs Lass]

My place is a D but two years ago ,got a letter saying as it was no longer agricultural but residential and had been moved to an F band,,this apparently was due the yard and surrounding land being sold off and it was not the ''Farm House ''any more .
Ended up getting the ratings officer in to access it and it got re rated back to a D

 

[Princess Pooper]

It varies, ours was dropped 2 classes because the milk tanker comes to within 2m of the living room windows to turn and the cow shed is 20m away.

 

[Nav man]

Hi, recently had our tenanted farmhouse reduced from g to f.

Took about 6 months from start to finish. I’m not 100% on lingo, but working farms are classed as composite. There should be a marker in council tax checker gov website. If not you’ve a good chance to challenge. After various chats with valuation office, the larger the holding the more reduction in value of farm house. We had shed which is only used for junk now within 10ft of farmhouse. Mentioned that we could have smelly pigs in shed which would effect value if farmhouse if sold separately etc. Also working farm yard noises have negative impact of value of house. Hope this is of some use. The best advice is to look at every similar sized farmhouse on the checker within say 10 mile radius and see what they are in. Obviously don’t refer to those paying high rates. No need for them to come out. Watch if they do come out and you have any other businesses that maybe liable for business rates as you may shoot yourself in the foot. Good luck

 

[Kidds]

Appealed mine on basis of similar nearby farmhouse being on a lower rate.
They said mine stays the same and they will be reviewing the nearby farmhouse.

 

[chaffcutter]

Oops!

 

[rusty]

When my mother did a barn conversion to live in so I could have main house when I married. She got hers council tax free as she persuaded council she was a dependent relative.

 

[Nav man]

Appealed mine on basis of similar nearby farmhouse being on a lower rate.
They said mine stays the same and they will be reviewing the nearby farmhouse.

That’s why I listed 10 farmhouses to avoid what happened to you. Our neighbouring farm house was lower but I knew from telephone calls with valuation office you need to provide numerous examples to justify your case. The more work you do for them the more inclined they may be to reduce rate or at least justify there decision. Are they going to increase 10 farms of lower yours, that was my thought process. £7k refund. Also the banding was challenged back in the early nineties but declined to move so can you can try more than once under same ownership. Hope this helps

 

[farenheit]

What an absurd and unnecessary discount. Why do tied houses deserve it?

 

[Nav man]

What an absurd and unnecessary discount. Why do tied houses deserve it?

Quite simply, when properties were valued in the nineties often done by driving by they didn’t take into account the value of an adjacent working farm which would generally have a negative impact on the value of the property or to put it another way, would you give more for a farmhouse on its own or one the same next to a pig shed? I’m sure most would prefer not hence would pay more.

 

[Clive]

surely a "farmhouse" is where a farmer lives ? that's certainly how the tax man views it I believe re IHT so why should council tax be any different ? it should be consistent surely

 

[jendan]

It varies, ours was dropped 2 classes because the milk tanker comes to within 2m of the living room windows to turn and the cow shed is 20m away.

Thats a new one for me! and i wish i had known 20-30 years ago.Mine is bloody G( getting on for 4 grand a year)-always has been and the byre is only 10 feet away.

 

[Cowmangav]

Our byre ( used for calf rearing - with attendant odours and flies ) was contiguous with farmhouse - didn't help though.

 

[renewablejohn]

Fought to get ours reduced from G to D. Did my selective research and produced a list of "similar"old farmhouses in the area on band C then requested a reduction. Completely refused so said I would take to tribunal. Went to the wire with a phone call on the morning of the tribunal with a compromise reduction to D reached but backdated to when we moved in approx 6 years earlier. Neighbor not to happy as they picked up that he had not registered his barn conversion and they slapped a G on it backdated to when he installed domestic water meter as he could not prove when he actually moved into the conversion.

 

[Chris F]

Fought to get ours reduced from G to D. Did my selective research and produced a list of "similar"old farmhouses in the area on band C then requested a reduction. Completely refused so said I would take to tribunal. Went to the wire with a phone call on the morning of the tribunal with a compromise reduction to D reached but backdated to when we moved in approx 6 years earlier. Neighbor not to happy as they picked up that he had not registered his barn conversion and they slapped a G on it backdated to when he installed domestic water meter as he could not prove when he actually moved into the conversion.

Bet you were popular!

 

[renewablejohn]

Bet you were popular!

Had little sympathy as always bragging to everyone that he paid no rates. What he actually meant was that he paid no rates or water rates as they like another neighbor had tapped into the farm water supply. I only found out as the farm went onto a stream supply yet the meter kept running.

 

[Goweresque]

I think the term in question that allowed farmhouses a discount was 'A composite heriditament'.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rating-...ion-principles/part-5-composite-hereditaments

 

[Princess Pooper]

Thats a new one for me! and i wish i had known 20-30 years ago.Mine is bloody G( getting on for 4 grand a year)-always has been and the byre is only 10 feet away.

We WERE an H - the same as Belvoir Castle.

,

 

[Exfarmer]

It certainly is worth appealing.
I never but the guy who bought my last farmhouse after me did, and got it dropped a band even though it was no longer in a working farmyard.
Luckily for me it was back dated 10 years and I got nice little cheque for 8 years discount