T Suterwalla and another v HMRC

In T Suterwalla and another v HMRC [2023] UKFTT 450 (TC) (23 May 2023) the FTT held that the taxpayers had correctly made an SDLT return on the basis that the property was mixed use and so that the residential rates of SDLT did not apply. 

The taxpayers purchased land consisting of a substantial house and gardens including a paddock which was separated from the garden and accessible from it only by a small gate. On the day on which the purchase completed but after completion they entered into a one-year grazing lease for the paddock with a third party at an annual rent of £1 000. Following an enquiry into the couple’s SDLT return HMRC concluded that the paddock formed part of the gardens or grounds of the house so that the entire property was residential and the residential rates of SDLT should apply. The paddock lease...