An appeal against the refusal of a stamp duty land tax refund claim was dismissed as the property was used wholly for residential purposes and was not a ‘mixed use’ property as the appellants contended.

The appellants completed the purchase of a property on 21 March 2016. The property was described in the land agent’s particulars as a ‘fantastic family home set in about 4.5 acres within the sought after New Forest National Park’ with six bedrooms, gardens, swimming pool, garaging, stable yard and paddocks. The property cost £1,775,000, on which the appellants paid stamp duty land tax (SDLT) of £126,750, having entered the property as residential on their SDLT1 return.

On 30 October 2017 (i.e. nearly one and half years later), the appellants’ tax agents submitted a claim (under FA 2003, Sch 10, para 34) seeking relief on SDLT which it