Dealing with the “burden” of domestic servants who are “always on holiday” and who might reveal tidbits about your personal life on Twitter is one of the main “issues that matter” in the countryside, according to a report by estate agents to the super-rich, Knight Frank.
Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess of Grantham (played by Maggie Smith) might perhaps recognise the problems, though she would perhaps be rather more acidic in dispensing solutions. Knight Frank, in its quarterly “unique guide to the issues that matter to landowners” emphasises that, thankfully, you can get the staff these days – but you have to be so careful that they are “a blessing, not a burden”.
“The most common moan by employers is that their staff aren’t able to take the busier periods with the quiet ones and are also always on leave or on holiday,” said Angus Harley, head of Knight Frank’s country house consultancy department.
Traditional country houses need a “small army” of staff, he added. That might spell financial ruin for some, but even where it doesn’t, the Downton Abbeys of today nevertheless face “massive amounts of administration to satisfy modern employment legislation … even managing today’s slimmed down workforces can be a burden”.
Harley warned darkly of the butler he discovered who had “done time for burglary” and the applicant for housekeeper “with previous for ABH [actual bodily harm]”.
But the potential for embarrassment on social media is today’s biggest worry, it appears. “Domestic staff in particular may have access to very personal aspects of your life, things you probably don’t want shared with the world,” he said.
Meanwhile, Britain’s wealthiest landowners are enjoying huge increases in the value of their land. Knight Frank said that over the past five years farmland has risen in value by 55%, and over the past 10 years by 187%. “This is a far stronger performance than even luxury London homes and helps to explain the growing interest from investors,” it said, adding that land is a “tax efficient source to shelter wealth and an astute investment for the future”.
Among the “key threats” to estate owners identified by Knight Frank is the potential loss of government subsidies for renewable energy schemes, reform of common agricultural policy payments, and how the tax benefits of an offshore domicile “are dwindling rapidly”. It said the forthcoming election was likely to put a “slight lid” on high value property markets, and that “talk of the mansion tax is only exacerbating the situation”.
Adding to the woes of the wealthy is a separate report by accountants UHY Hacker Young. It warned this week that HM Revenue & Customs is scrutinising taxpayers that it suspects are dishonestly claiming horseboxes worth hundreds of thousands of pounds as company expenses. UHY partner Charles Homan said: “Underpaid tax relating to horseboxes is a drop in the ocean, but HMRC seems to be focusing attention in this area because they can now be such valuable assets.”
For example, the horsebox used by Zara Phillips during the 2012 Olympics, with capacity for six horses and its own bedroom, kitchen and living room complete with satellite television, had an estimated value of £500,000. There is no suggestion that Phillips underpaid tax.
