“(1) Grounds is an ordinary English word. (2) HMRC’s SDLT manual is a fair and balanced starting point (considering historic and future use, layout, proximity to the dwelling, extent, and legal factors/constraints). (3) Each case must be considered separately in the light of its own factors and the weight which should be attached to those factors in the particular case. (4) There must be a connection between the garden or grounds and the dwelling. (5) Common ownership is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one. (6) Contiguity is important, grounds should be adjacent to or surround the dwelling. (7) It is not necessary that the garden or grounds be needed for ‘reasonable enjoyment’ of the dwelling having regard to its size and nature. (8) Land will not form part of the ‘grounds’ of a dwelling if it is used or occupied for a purpose separate from and unconnected with the dwelling. (9) Other people having rights over the land does not necessarily stop the land constituting grounds. This is so even where the rights of others impinge on the owners’ enjoyment of the grounds and even where those rights impose burdensome obligations on the owner. (10) Some level of intrusion onto (or alternative use of) an area of land will be tolerated before the land in question no longer forms part of the grounds of a dwelling. There is a spectrum of intrusion/use ranging from rights of way (still generally grounds) to the use of a large tract of land, historically in separate ownership used by a third party for agricultural purposes under legal rights to do so (not generally grounds). (11) Accessibility is a relevant factor, but it is not necessary that the land be accessible from the dwelling. Land can be inaccessible and there is no requirement for land to be easily traversable or walkable. (12) Privacy and security are relevant factors. (13) The completion of the initial return by the solicitor on the basis the transaction was for residential property is irrelevant. (14) The land may perform a passive as well as an active function and still remain grounds. (15) A right of way may impinge an owner’s enjoyment of the grounds or even impose burdensome obligations, but such rights do not make the grounds any less the grounds of that person’s residence. (16) Land does not cease to be residential property, merely because the occupier of a dwelling could do without it.”
“82. In the context of this appeal, we accept that the grazing agreement was on arm’s length terms, and the rent was a market rent. 83. But the use of the paddock for grazing a pony is the paradigm use of a paddock. And this is the case whether that use is by a third party under a grazing agreement negotiated on arm’s length terms and carrying a market “rent”, or whether it is by the owners themselves”
“80. “Commercial” is a weasel word. In mixed-use situations it is increasingly being asserted that any letting of part of a property for a market rent is commercial and, as if by magic, the land leaves the residential pot and turns up in the mixed-use pot. As the cases show, this simplistic analysis is being rejected by the courts. 81. When looking at the use to which land is put, simply inserting some form of “commercial” agreement between a landowner and a third party does not, of itself, generate a use which is of significant weight in the multifactorial evaluation. One needs to look through that agreement and consider the end use of the land as well.”