Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have a question?

Please read the objections page for our response to objections made to LVT.

Please contact us if your question is not answered here.

Before you do, please carefully read the definition of LVT:

LVT is an annual,
nationally determined,
nationally collected,
percentage tax,
paid by the freeholder,
on the open market value
of all land
with no exceptions.

The definition is broken down in the "What is LVT?" article.

NO EXCEPTIONS

  • The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) which has been doing the job since 1910.

    The VOA will update the value of all freehold land recorded and made publicly available by the Land Registry.

    The VOA has regional offices and keeps an eye on local land and property prices. It is notified automatically of sales and probate valuations as well as when land changes value as a result of Local Authority development plans and planning permission.

    The VOA will adjust all land values annually to reflect changes in the local area.

    The VOA uses its own staff as well as local surveyors who are members of RICS which was established in 1868.

  • Yes - the basic LVT rate will be the same everywhere.

    There may be national or local supplements added to the basic LVT rate.

  • No. None.

    Exceptions create loopholes. Loopholes generate avoidance. Loopholes generate "special cases". Loopholes create court cases. Loopholes become expensive. Tax avoidance advisors like loopholes.

    LVT is simple, fair and impossible to avoid - as long as there are no exceptions.

    LVT generates tax revenue - governments decide on spending.

    "Special cases" should not be considered when collecting tax - however, they can be considered when spending.

    Examples:

    • Government might decide to subsidise sheep rearing on hill farms to compete with cheap lamb from New Zealand. It can do this with a subsidy, not with a tax exemption.

    • Government might want to encourage people to insulate their homes to reduce energy consumption and emissions. It can do this with a subsidy, not with a tax exemption.

  • LVT is paid by the freeholder, not by tenants.

  • The freeholder pays the LVT, not the leaseholder.

  • Yes - "no exceptions.". Note: LVT is a tax on value of the land only.

  • Yes - "no exceptions". Note: LVT is a tax on the value of land only.

  • "No exceptions.". Note: LVT is a tax on the value of land only.

  • The Land Registry will accept up to four named people sharing the freehold. Each will be responsible for paying their share of the LVT.

    The freehold can by held by more than four people in a trust (the trustees are responsible for paying the LVT) or by a company (the directors are responsible for paying the LVT).

  • They will try but as freeholders they cannot pass on the responsibility for paying LVT.

    Market forces will determine what happens. If rents become too high landlords will have no tenants and no income - so they will sell houses on the open market for others to buy.

  • Yes. LVT is payable on all land in the UK and on land outside the UK owned by UK citizens, residents or companies.

    To prevent double taxation any property taxes you pay in Spain will be deducted from the LVT due.

    The largest landholder in Scotland is Danish - he pays LVT on his Scottish estates in Denmark - not Scotland.

  • In general there are two types of taxes:

    • A regressive tax takes a higher percentage from those with the lowest earnings and with the lowest wealth.

    • A progressive tax takes a higher percentage from those with the highest earnings and with the highest wealth.

    LVT is a progressive tax.

  • It isn't fair - those with the most pay the least.

    Council Tax is an unfair tax on homes and gardens. Homes in Gateshead pay almost three times as much as homes in the same band in Westminster.

  • 83% of homeowners will pay less, 16% will pay less than 10% more and 1% will pay more than 10% more.

    LVT will be phased in over a 10 years to enable people to become used to it and to allow the housing market to adjust. There will be no sudden increase in payments.

    No one will be forced to sell their home because of LVT.

    Payments that cannot be afforded may be deferred until the property is sold or transferred.

  • No. Please read our article: LVT: not a panacea.

  • The opposite!

    Over 300 Local Authorities in England currently collect Council Tax.

    The Land Registry already records freeholders and values. The Valuation Office Agency handles valuations and HMRC will collect the LVT - they have the staff, the data and the systems to do it.

  • No. Local Authorities are in the best position to deliver local services - they know their local area.

    Local Authorities have seen a 40% fall in their income in since 2010 so determining what services they must provide, and funding the full cost of those services, is a matter of high priority.

  • "No exceptions.". Note: LVT is a tax on the value of land only.

    The National Trust will pay LVT on the open market value of the land it owns.

    If the National Trust has land which cannot ever be sold, and which generates no income, the value of that land will be zero for LVT calculations.

    Separating how a tax is raised from how the income is spent is the key to avoiding avoidance. If we, as a society, decide to subsidise the National Trust, or anything else, that is a spending decision - nothing to do with how tax is raised.

What about stately homes and country houses?

"No exceptions.". Note: LVT is a tax on the value of land only.

We love Chatsworth. It's a beautiful house, lovely garden, idyllic setting and fantastic estate with miles of walks - and the farm shop in nearby Pilsley is pretty good too - if pricey - £3.95 for a bottle (500ml) of beer! The estate provides employment for over 1,000 people, it is very well run and, from the many conversations we have had, people love working there.

We are not philistines, we don't want places like Chatsworth to be pulled down in the same way so many country houses were pulled down in the 1950s.

We say this even though the Cavendish family (via Gernon de Montfichet and Robert de Gernon) received stolen land after The Great Theft of 1066 and John Cavendish assisted William Walworth in the murder of Wat Tyler, one of the leaders of The Great Rebellion of 1381. The Cavendishes went on to suppress other revolts against the landowning class and the money for Chatsworth came from the labour of those who spent their lives digging the coal found on the land the family received as stolen goods.

These places are not "national assets" or "public resources", they are private organisations run as businesses.

  • Chatsworth is in the hands of a trust - to avoid tax.

  • Chatsworth is a charity - to avoid tax and to benefit from other tax breaks granted to charities.

  • Chatsworth is a business and should be treated as a business.

  • Chatsworth house and gardens were created by the labour of stone masons, builders, architects, plumbers, electricians, joiners, plasterers, painters, gardeners, designers, foresters, labourers etc.

  • Chatsworth's interior contains objects created by the labour of sculptors, cabinet makers, jewellers, potters, painters, dress makers, milliners, weavers etc.

  • Chatsworth was paid for by the labour of peasants, farm tenants and coal miners.

  • The Cavendishes acquired it from ancestors willing to kill to steal it and keep it.

  • The Cavendishes have contributed nothing yet they own it all.

Stately homes frequently have large amounts of land associated with them and that land generates income from farming rents. Chatsworth has 35,000 acres and the Devonshires also own the Bolton Abbey Estate in Yorkshire, Lismore Castle in Co Waterford and Compton Place in Eastbourne. In 1907 the family owned 192,322 acres across the British Isles - this had been reduced to an estimated 73,000 acres by 2001.

That land should be subject to LVT.

Quite how one would value the land under Chatsworth House itself is open to question (suggestions please). The rule for valuing land is simple: what would someone pay for the land, with no buildings on it, if it had permission to build somewhere like Chatsworth? Maybe a Russian oligarch ("oligarch" translates as "thief") could answer that question!

If stately home owners can't generate enough income to cover the LVT they are free to sell off some of their land - as aristocratic families have been doing for centuries - or to apply to the taxpayer for support. We think such support is justified but we are opposed to taxpayers' money being given away as grants to anyone, for any reason - so any support would be by the way of a loan or by taxpayers (the state) taking a share in the business.

Well run places like Chatsworth can probably stand on their own two feet as businesses even with LVT. After all, a day out for two, looking round the garden, comes to over £50 by the time you have paid for the car park, entry and a sandwich for lunch.

Like many large landowners, Peregrine Andrew Morny Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, is a wealthy man - he is worth an estimated £1 billion so perhaps he doesn't need to turn to the taxpayer for a handout.

Chatsworth, like many other country estates, is already in receipt of significant public subsidies for land on which they pay no tax.

  • "No exceptions.". Note: LVT is a tax on the value of land only.

    The English countryside is full of "estates" ranging for a few hundred acres to tens of thousands of acres. Most estate owners are "rich" in terms of the value of the land they own but this does not always translate into being "rich" in terms of cash in the bank.

    Estate owners are responsible for maintaining the buildings on the estate which they rent out either as farms or to tenants wishing to live in the countryside. Most estates are now taking farms "in hand", i.e. with no long term farming tenancy, so they can upgrade the farm houses and rent them out as homes. They make far more money this way than allowing farmers to live there.

    The rent generated from tenants may be insufficient to maintain the buildings, to send the landowner's children to public school and to ensure they all live in the style to which they are accustomed.

    Many estates avoid taxation by putting the land into a trust, frequently registered in a tax haven.

    Landowners live off the labour of others, their tenants, so they are free to take real jobs to generate additional income to cover the LVT - or they can sell off part of their land.

    In the case of someone who genuinely can't afford to pay the LVT a lien will be entered against the land in the Land Register. The LVT outstanding will be recovered when the land is next sold.

  • “No exceptions.". Note: LVT is a tax on the value of land only.

    This article is worth reading about the future of the countryside.

    LVT will tax land that has never been taxed before.

    The phased introduction of LVT over a number of years will give time for farmers to plan.

    63% of agricultural land in England is farmed by tenants, not by the landholder. Landlords may try to pass on LVT to tenants by increasing rents but farming is a competitive business and farmers can't make a living beyond a certain level of rent. The market will decide.

    LVT can be seen as a way for society to recover the rent charged by landlords - after all, as Winston Churchill said, they do nothing to earn it!

    Huge amounts of land have been, and continue to be, purchased by the cash-rich - James Dyson is now the second largest landowner in England with over 36,000 acres - mainly in Lincolnshire.

    Land has lots of advantages for the cash-rich:

    • It's a hedge against any downturn in the economy - the people purchasing it are often the people directly responsible for the crash of 2008!

    • The Inheritance Tax Act passes by the Conservative government of 1984 removed Estate Duty (Inheritance Tax) from agricultural land. This encouraged the newly rich to invest money in farmland to avoid tax. The result was a sudden and large increase in the costs of agricultural land and a reduction in the number of small owner farms.

      In November 2024 the Labour Government announced that it intended to restore IHT at the very favourable rate of 20%. There is no reason why land should be treated differently from any other asset on death.

    • Trusts, in the UK and in tax havens, enable the ownership of freeholds to be hidden especially since HMRC keeps secret the details of those who benefit from them.

    • It increases in value because it is a finite resource and there are willing buyers.

    • It's a status symbol - you've made your money gambling in the City or as a "celebrity", so now you want to join the landed gentry and shoot pheasants.

    • You get taxpayer handouts from the CAP or the Basic Payments Scheme. James Dyson got £1.6 million a year - tax free!

    • There is no tax to pay on it!

    The price of agricultural land is artificially inflated by all this speculation - LVT will almost certainly help to bring down the cost of land and discourage speculation - making it possible for genuine farmers to purchase land.

    Almost half of farmers are tenants and they pay rent just as peasants in the past paid rent to The Lord Of The Manor - and tithes to the church. James Dyson's tenants pay him rent. Andrew Lloyd-Weber's tenants pay him rent. Peregrine Cavendish's tenants pay him rent.

    We need to support working farmers in two ways: to produce food and to look after our countryside. We also want to make sure our support goes to those who do the work, not to those who live off rent. These are spending decisions which have nothing to do with LVT.

  • “No exceptions.". Note: LVT is a tax on the value of land only.

    LVT is self-adjusting.

    Hill farmers are on poorer land which has lower value than rich fenland in Lincolnshire. Lower value means lower LVT so hill farmers will automatically pay less.

  • In some parts of the country locals are being priced out of the market by second homes, holiday cottages, buy to let and Airbnb.

    Local Authorities in such areas can add a supplement to the LVT rate and use the additional revenue to build homes for rent by local people.

  • Please see the article covering the historical background.