Agricultural Property Relief
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Agricultural Property Relief
If you have an interest in or own agricultural land and/or property, your estate is likely to qualify for Agricultural Property Relief (APR). As with Business Property Relief (BPR), the rules are stringent and even more complex and it is important to know what will and what will not qualify for APR.
Agricultural land under cultivation either let or farmed by the owner will attract 100% APR so long as it has been owned and farmed by you for more than 2 years.
Any land used for grazing cattle and sheep will also qualify for 100% APR. Associated buildings, i.e. barns and milking sheds will also qualify.
The farmhouse however is today unlikely to attract 100% APR and must be “character appropriate” to the size of the farm. The farmhouse must be seen to be the centre of operations for the farm and of such a size to be relevant to the size of the overall farming operation. In other words, the farmhouse needs to be in proportion to the size of the farm to qualify.
By way of example here, a large listed Georgian mansion with say 200 acres of arable land is unlikely to qualify for 100% APR, being classed as not “character appropriate” when a much smaller three bedroom house would qualify.
Any cottages on the farm may also qualify for APR so long as they are occupied by agricultural workers. If they are rented out on normal assured shorthold tenancies, then it is likely that they will not qualify.
Grazing for horses will not qualify for APR but if you were operating a livery stable and associated business, then BPR may qualify here. Today, the average size modern farm is likely to qualify for a combination of APR and BPR. Again, as with BPR, advice is needed to maximise all of the reliefs available.