LOCAL GOVERNMENT (REMISSION OF RATES) ACT, 1940

AN ACT TO GIVE PARTIAL RELIEF FROM RATES IN RESPECT OF CERTAIN NEW, ENLARGED, AND IMPROVED RESIDENCES. [2nd May, 1940.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—(1) In this Act—

the expression “the Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Valuation;

the word “valuation” means a valuation under the Valuation Acts;

the expression “revised valuation list” means a revised valuation list under the Valuation Acts;

the expression “the prescribed period” means the period beginning on the 1st day of October, 1939, and ending on the 30th day of September, 1942;

the word “residence” does not include—

• (a) any cottage erected under the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1937;

• (b) any house erected under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1931, as amended by the Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1932 (No. 19 of 1932);

• (c) any house in respect of which a grant is made under the Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) Acts, 1932 to 1939; or

• (d) any house in relation to which any relief in respect of rates is given by the Housing (Gaeltacht) Acts, 1929 to 1939;

but, save as aforesaid, the said word means any building or part of a building constructed and designed for the residence of a separate family and including any servants' accommodation, motor-house, garden house or other outbuilding constructed and designed so as to be suitable for use with such building or part of a building for the purposes thereof.

• (2) For the purposes of this Act the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

• (a) where a residence is enlarged or improved and such enlargement or improvement does not consist wholly or partly of an enlargement or improvement adding to or improving the amenities of such residence as a residence for a separate family or otherwise rendering such residence more desirable for that purpose, this Act shall be deemed not to apply in respect of such enlargement or improvement, and

• (b) where a residence is enlarged or improved and such enlargement or improvement consists partly of an enlargement or improvement adding to or improving the amenities of such residence as a residence for a separate family or otherwise rendering such residence more desirable for that purpose, this Act shall be deemed to apply in respect of so much only of such enlargement or improvement as adds to or improves such amenities or otherwise renders such residence more desirable as aforesaid,

and in this Act the words “enlargement” and “improvement” shall be construed accordingly.

2 Relief from rates.

2.—(1) Where the erection, enlargement, or improvement of any residence is completed during the prescribed period and an increase in the valuation of the tenement including such residence is made on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason solely of such erection, enlargement, or improvement, the valuation of such tenement shall be deemed to be reduced for rating purposes by two-thirds of such increase.

• (2) Where the erection, enlargement, or improvement of any residence is completed during the prescribed period and an increase in the valuation of the tenement including such residence is made on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason partly of such erection, enlargement, or improvement, the valuation of such tenement shall be deemed to be reduced for rating purposes by two-thirds of so much of such increase as is attributable to such erection, enlargement, or improvement.

• (3) In this section the expression “rating purposes” means the following (and no other) purposes, that is to say, the purposes of the assessment and levying of any rate raised by a local authority for the service of the local financial year commencing next after the completion of the erection, enlargement, or improvement of the relevant residence or for the service of any of the next following four local financial years, but subject to the following overriding limitations, that is to say:—

• (a) if in any of the said four local financial years a general revision of valuation in the area in which the relevant residence is situate becomes effective, that local financial year and the subsequent local financial years (if any) shall be excluded from the said four local financial years, and

• (b) if in the local financial year immediately preceding the said four local financial years or in the first, second, or third of the said four local financial years the relevant residence is at any time used wholly or principally for any purpose except the residence of a separate family, the local financial year next following that in which such user occurs and the subsequent local financial years (if any) shall be excluded from the said four local financial years.

• (4) Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of the immediately preceding sub-section of this section restricting the meaning of the expression “rating purposes”, it is hereby enacted in particular that notwithstanding the valuation (in this sub-section referred to as the full valuation) of a tenement being deemed under this section to be reduced in relation to any local financial year, every computation for the purposes of the Income Tax Acts of the annual value of such tenement shall be made in like manner as if the full valuation were in force for the purposes of poor rates in relation to that local financial year.

• (5) It shall be the duty of a local authority, before deeming under this section the valuation of a tenement to be reduced for the purposes of the assessment and levying of any rate raised by them for the service of any local financial year in respect of which the exclusion contained in paragraph (b) of sub-section (3) of this section might operate, to satisy themselves, so far as is reasonably possible, that the relevant residence has not been so used as to bring the said exclusion into operation in respect of that local financial year.

3 Determinations by the Commissioner and appeals therefrom.

3.—The following provisions shall have effect for the purposes of the foregoing section, that is to say:—

• (a) the Commissioner shall determine whether any increase in the valuation of a tenement was or was not made on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason solely or partly of the erection, enlargement, or improvement, completed during the prescribed period, of a residence included in such tenement;

• (b) where the Commissioner determines that such increase was made on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason solely of the erection, enlargement, or improvement, completed during the prescribed period, of a residence included in such tenement, he shall indicate such determination on the appropriate revised valuation list;

• (c) where the Commissioner determines that such increase was made on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason partly of the erection, enlargement, or improvement, completed during the prescribed period, of a residence included in such tenement, he shall also determine how much of such increase is attributable to such erection, enlargement, or improvement and shall indicate the latter determination on the appropriate revised valuation list;

• (d) where no such indication as aforesaid appears on the appropriate revised valuation list, that fact shall be taken to be an indication by the Commissioner that he has determined that such increase was not made on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason solely or partly of the erection, enlargement, or improvement, completed during the prescribed period, of a residence included in such tenement;

• (e) where such increase has been determined to have been made on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason solely or partly of the erection, enlargement, or improvement, completed during the prescribed period, of a residence included in such tenement and at the time of or after the making of such increase a separate valuation is assigned by the Commissioner to a portion of such tenement not previously valued separately, the valuation of such portion immediately before the making of such increase shall be deemed to have been an amount bearing to the total valuation of such tenement then in force such proportion as shall be determined by the Commissioner, who shall indicate such determination on the appropriate revised valuation list;

• (f) any person aggrieved by a determination made by the Commissioner under this section may appeal against such determination in the same manner and subject to the same limitations as a person aggrieved by the valuation of a tenement as stated in the relevant revised valuation list may appeal under the Valuation Acts against such valuation.

4 Short title.

4.—This Act may be cited as the Local Government (Remission of Rates) Act, 1940.