Power cables did not make property mixed use

The taxpayer bought a property filed the stamp duty land tax return and paid the tax on the basis that it was wholly residential. He later amended the return to claim the lower rates for mixed-use properties. The reason given was that there was a commercial electricity distribution network operated by Eastern Power Networks on the property. This was a pole in the garden which supported two electricity cables which crossed the garden. The taxpayer said the pole rendered the land unsafe for his young children to play on.

The taxpayer’s counsel said that ‘in common-sense terms’ all the land in question formed part of the grounds of the property forming a ‘coherent whole with no physical separation of parts’. But once part of the land was used for a commercial purpose ‘it could not as a matter of law form part of the garden or grounds...