Herling Ltd v Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs
Decision date: 8 October 2009
Neutral citation: [2009] UKFTT 257 (TC)
Overall AI summary confidence: medium
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: medium
Herling Ltd appealed VAT assessments which treated the first grant of 28 holiday dwellings as standard‑rated rather than zero‑rated. The Tribunal found the planning consent legally enforceable and expressly limited the use to "holiday accommodation only", thereby preventing use as a grantee's principal private residence and excluding zero‑rating under Note (13) to Group 5. The appeal was dismissed and the assessments upheld.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: medium
Where planning consent for new dwellings expressly restricts use to holiday accommodation and thereby prevents occupation as a grantee's principal private residence, that restriction falls within Note (13) to Group 5 and excludes the supply from zero‑rating for first grants of dwellings.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The Tribunal observed that holiday use and private residence are not necessarily mutually exclusive in general, but a property used as a holiday home in the circumstances of this case was not a grantee's principal private residence for Note (13) purposes; it also noted that HMRC guidance (Notice 709/3) may not precisely reflect the statutory provision and the statute must prevail.
Warning
This chunk contains substantial duplication of paragraphs and repeated passages, which may make navigation and extraction of facts repetitive. The provided notes contain substantial duplication and may not include the full judgment.