Case No. UKUT-0237-(LC)-UTLC-No:-LC-2021-261

1.This preliminary issue arises in an appeal against a decision of the Valuation Tribunal for England (“the VTE”) dated 24 March 2021 (“the VTE decision”) in which it allowed in part an appeal against the rateable value of £20,250 entered in the 2010 list for stables and premises (“the hereditament”) at Court Lodge Farm, Bodiam in East Sussex. The VTE reduced the assessment to £19,750 with effect from 1 April 2015, but determined that stables in the ownership of the appellant could not be considered a domestic appurtenance to an adjacent dwelling in separate ownership.2.The Propane Company Limited (“the appellant”) is a family company of the Sternberg family, members of which are directors of it and live in residential property within the farming estate.3.The appellant contends that buildings comprising 20 stables, a grooms’ mess room and hay store (“the stables”) are and were used exclusively in connection with private equestrian pursuits carried on by the Sternberg family, and are an appurtenance to the adjacent dwelling known as the Oast House, thus falling to be treated as domestic property. The respondent contends that the stables cannot be an appurtenance to the Oast House, which was and is in separate ownership, and are therefore non-domestic property.4.Following a case management hearing on 26 November 2021 the Deputy President, Martin Rodger QC, ordered that the Tribunal would determine as a preliminary issue: “whether at the material date any part of the non-domestic hereditament constituted domestic property under section 66(1) Local Government Finance Act 1988”.5.I carried out my inspection on 13 July 2022, accompanied by Mr Philip Emerick for the appellant and Mr Paul Stearn MRICS for the respondent. I was shown the stables, the adjacent equestrian arena and facilities, the garden and buildings around the Oast House and also the house and buildings at Old Place Farm.6.At the hearing Mr Cain Ormondroyd appeared for the appellant and called The Honourable Francesca Sternberg as a witness of fact. Mr Mark Westmoreland Smith appeared for the respondent and relied on written evidence of fact provided by Mr Paul Stearn, valuation officer for the case. I am grateful to them all for their assistance.7.After the hearing I asked counsel for both parties to make further submissions on how separate occupation of the stables and the Oast House affects the preliminary issue.