Public Health Act 1875

EXPENSES OF URBAN AUTHORITY AND URBAN RATES.

207 Mode of defraying expenses of urban authority.

All expenses incurred or payable by an urban authority in the execution of this Act, and not otherwise provided for, shall be charged on and defrayed out of the district fund and general district rate leviable by them under this Act, subject to the following exceptions ; (namely,)

• That if in any district the expenses incurred by an urban authority (being the council of a borough) in the execution of the Sanitary Acts were at the time of the passing of this Act payable out of the borough fund or borough rate, then the expenses incurred by that authority in the execution of this Act shall be charged on and defrayed out of the borough fund or borough rate ; and

• That if in any district the expenses incurred by an urban authority (being improvement commissioners) in the execution of the Sanitary Acts were at the time of the passing of this Act payable out of any rate in the nature of a general district rate leviable by them as such commissioners throughout the whole of their district, then the expenses incurred by that authority in the execution of this Act shall be charged on and defrayed out of such rate ; and for the purposes of this section the council of the borough of Folkestone shall be deemed to be improvement commissioners ; and

• That where at the time of the passing of this Act the expense s incurred by an urban authority in the execution of certain purposes of the sanitary Acts were payable out of the borough fund and borough rate, and the expenses incurred by such authority in the execution of the other purposes of the said Acts were payable out of a rate or rates leviable by that authority throughout the whole of their district for paving sewering or other sanitary purposes, then the expenses incurred by that authority in the execution of the same or similar purposes respectively under this Act shall respectively be charged on and defrayed oht of the borough fund and borough rate, and out of the rate or rates leviable as aforesaid.

208 Power in certain cases by provisional order to alter mode.

Where at the time of the passing of this Act the expenses incurred by an urban authority for sanitary purposes are payable otherwise than in the manner provided by the Local Government Acts, the Local Government Board may, on the application of such authority, or of any ten persons rated to the relief of the poor within the district, declare by provisional order that the expenses of such authority incurred in the execution of this Act shall be defrayed out of a district fund and general district rate to be levied by them under this Act, subject to the provisions of this Act with respect to the mode of defraying in certain cases the expenses of the repair of highways.

General District Rate.

209 District fund account.

In the district of every urban authority whose expenses under this Act are directed to be defrayed out of the district fund and general district rate there shall be continued or established a fund called the district fund: a separate account called "the district fund account" of all moneys carried under this Act to the account of that fund shall be kept by the treasurer of the urban authority ; and such moneys shall be applied by the urban authority in defraying such of the expenses chargeable thereon under this Act as they may think proper.

210 Making general district rate.

For the purpose of defraying any expenses chargeable on the district fund which that fund is insufficient to meet, the urban authority shall from time to time, as occasion may require, make by writing under their common seal, and levy in addition to any other rate leviable by them under this Act, a rate or rates to be called " general district rates."

Any such rate may be made and levied either prospectively in order to raise money for the payment of future charges and expenses, or retrospectively in order to raise money for the payment of charges and expenses incurred at any time within six months before the making of the rate in calculating the period of six months during which the rate may be made retrospectively, the time during which any appeal or other proceeding relating to such rate is pending shall be excluded.

Public notice of intention to make any such rate, and of the time when it is intended to make the same, and of the place where a statement of the proposed rate is deposited for inspection, shall be given by the urban authority in the week immediately before the day on which the rate is intended to be made, and at least seven days previously thereto ; but in, case of proceedings to levy or recover any rate it shall not be necessary to prove that such notice was given.

211 Assessment, &c. of general district rate.

With respect to the assessment and levying of general district rates under this Act the following provisions shall have effect; (namely,)

(1) General district rates shall be made and levied on the occupier of all kinds of property for the time being by law assessable to any rate for the relief of the poor, and shall be assessed on the full net annual value of such property, ascertained by the valuation list for the time being in force, or, if there is none, by the rate for the relief of the poor made next before the making of the assessment under this Act, subject to the following exceptions regulations and conditions ; (namely,)

(a) The owner, instead of the occupier, may at the option of the urban authority be rated in cases—

• Where the rateable value of any premises liable to assessment under this Act does not exceed the sum of ten pounds ; or

• Where any premises so liable are let to weekly or monthly tenants ; or

• Where any premises so liable are let in separate apartments, or where the rents become payable or are collected at any shorter period than quarterly :

Provided that in cases where the owner is rated instead of the occupier he shall be assessed on such reduced estimate as the urban authority deemed reasonable of the net annual value, not being less than two thirds nor more than four fifths of the net annual value; and where such reduced estimate is in respect of tenements whether occupied or unoccupied, then such assessment may be made on one half of the amount at which such tenements would be liable to be rated if the same were occupied and the rate were levied on the occupiers :

(b) The owner of any tithes, or of any tithe commutation rentcharge, or the occupier of any land used as arable meadow or pasture ground only, or as woodlands market gardens or nursery grounds, and the occupier of any land covered with water, or used only as a canal or towing-path for the same, or as a railway constructed under the powers of any Act of Parliament for public conveyance, shall be assessed in respect of the same in the proportion of one fourth part only of such net annual value thereof :

(c) If within any urban district or part of such district any kind of property is exempted from rating by any local Act in respect of all or any of the purposes for which general district rates may be made under this Act, the same kind of property shall, in respect of the same purposes, and to the same extent within the parts to which the exemption applies (but not further or otherwise), be exempt from assessment to any general district rates under this Act unless the Local Government Board by provisional order otherwise direct.

(2) If at the time of making any general district rate any premises in respect of which the rate may be made are unoccupied, such premises shall be included in the rate, but the rate shall not be charged on any person in respect of the same while they continue to be unoccupied ; and if any such premises are afterwards occupied during any part of the period for which the rate was made and before the same has been fully paid, the name of the incoming tenant shall be inserted in the rate, and thereupon so much of the rate as at the commencement of his tenancy may be in proportion to the remainder of the said period shall be collected recovered and paid in the same manner in all respects as if the premises had been occupied at the time when the rate was made :

(3) If any owner or occupier assessed or liable to any such rate ceases to be owner or occupier of the premises in respect whereof he is so assessed or liable, before the end of the period for which the rate was made, and before the same is fully paid off, he shall be liable to pay only such part of the rate as may be in proportion to the time during which he continues to be such owner or occupier; and in every such case if any person afterwards become owner or occupier of the premises during part of the said period, he shall pay such part of the rate as may be in proportion to the time during which he continues to be such owner or occupier, and the same shall be recovered from him in the same manner as if he had been originally assessed or liable :

(4) The urban authority may divide their district or any street therein into parts for all or any of the purposes of this Act, and from time to time abolish or alter any such divisions, and may make a separate assessment on any such part for all or any of the purposes for which the same is formed; and every such part, so far as relates to the purposes in respect of which such separate assessment is made, shall be exempt from any other assessment under this Act: Provided that if any expenses are incurred or to be incurred in respect of two or more parts in common the same shall be apportioned between them in a fair and equitable manner.

212 Inspection of poor rate books for purposes of assessment.

For the purpose of assessing general district rates any person appointed by the urban authority may inspect take copies of or make extracts from, any valuation list or rate for the relief of the poor within the district, or any book relating to the

Any officer having the custody of any such rate or book who refuses to permit such inspection, or the taking of such copies or extract, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.

Private Improvement Rate.

213 Power to make private improvement rates.

Whenever an urban authority have incurred or become liable to any expenses which by this Act are or by such authority may be declared to be private improvement expenses, such authority may, if they think fit, make and levy on the occupier of the premises in respect of which the expenses have been incurred, in addition to all other rates, a rate or rates to be called private improvement rates, of such amount as will be sufficient to discharge such expenses, together with interest thereon at a rate not exceeding five pounds per centum per annum, in such period not exceeding thirty years as the urban authority may in each case determine.

Provided that whenever any premises in respect of which any private improvement rate is made become unoccupied before the expiration of the period for which the rate was made, or before the same is fully paid off, such rate shall become a charge on and be paid by the owner for the time being of the premises so long as the same continue to be unoccupied.

214 Proportion of private improvement rate may be deducted from rent.

Where the occupier by whom any private improvement rate is paid holds the premises in respect of which the rate is made at a rent not less than the rackrent, he shall be entitled to deduct three fourths of the amount paid by him on account of such rate from the rent payable by him to his landlord, and if he hold at a rent less than the rackrent he shall he entitled to deduct from the rent so payable by him such proportion of three fourths of the rate as his rent bears to the rackrent; and if the landlord from whose rent any deduction is so made is himself liable to the payment of rent for the premises in respect of which the deduction is made,' and holds the same for a term of which less than twenty years is unexpired (but not otherwise), he may deduct from the rent so payable by him such proportion of the sum deducted from the rent payable to him as the rent payable by him bears to the rent payable to him, and so in succession with respect to every landlord (holding for a term of which less than twenty years is unexpired) of the same , premises both receiving and liable to pay rent in respect

Provided that nothing in this section shall be construed to entitle any person to deduct from the rent payable by him more than the whole sum deducted from the rent payable to him.

215 Redemption of private improvement rates.

At any time before the expiration of the period for which any private improvement rate is made, the owner or occupier of the premises assessed thereto may redeem the same, by paying to the urban authority the expenses in respect of which the rate was made, or such part thereof as may not have been defrayed by sums already levied in respect of the same :

Provided that money paid in redemption of any private improvement rate shall not be applied by the urban authority otherwise than in defraying expenses incurred by them in works of private improvement or in discharging the principal of any moneys borrowed by them to meet those expenses, whether by means of a sinking fund or otherwise.

Highway Rate.

216 Costs of repairs of highways.

In any urban district where the expenses under this Act of the urban authority are charged on and defrayed out of the district fund and general district rates, and no other mode of providing for repair of highways is directed by any local Act, the cost of repair of highways shall be defrayed as follows ; (that is to say,)

(1) Where the whole of the district is rated for works of paving water supply and sewerage, or for works for such of these purposes as are provided for in the district, the cost of repair of highways shall be defrayed out of the general district rate:

(2) Where parts of the district are not rated for works of paving water supply and sewerage, or for such of these purposes as are provided for in the district, the cost of repair of highways in those parts shall be defrayed out of a highway rate to be separately assessed and levied in those parts by the urban authority as surveyor of highways, and the cost of such repair in the residue of the district shall be defrayed out of the general district rate :

(3) Where no public works of paving water supply and sewerage are established in the district, the cost of repair of highways in the district shall be defrayed out of a highway rate, to be levied throughout the whole district by the urban authority as surveyor of highways :

Provided that where part of a parish is included within an urban district, and the excluded part was, before the constitution of that district, liable to contribute to the highway rates for such parish, such excluded part shall (unless in the case of an urban district constituted before the passing of this Act a resolution deciding that such excluded part should be formed into a separate highway district has been passed in pursuance of the Local Government Act 1858 Amendment Act 1861), or unless such excluded part has been included in a highway district under the Highway Acts, for all purposes connected with the repairs of highways and the payment of highway rates, be considered to be and be treated as forming part of such district.

Provided also, that in the case of an urban district constituted after the passing of this Act a meeting of owners and ratepayers of the excluded part (to be convened and conducted in the manner provided by schedule III. to this Act) may decide that such excluded part shall be a highway parish, and thereupon the excluded part shall for all purposes connected with highways, surveyors of highways, and highway rates, be considered and treated as a parish maintaining its own highways ; but the requisition for holding any such meeting shall be made within six months after the constitution of the urban district.

The court of quarter sessions may by order direct that for any such excluded part a waywarden or waywardens shall be elected, and may invest any waywarden elected in pursuance of any such order with all or any of the powers of waywardens under the Highway Acts.

217 Certain acts not required to be done in case of highway rate made by urban authority.

It shall not be necessary for the urban authority, in the case of any highway rate made by them, to do the following acts or any of them ; (that is to say,)

• To lay such rate before any justices, or obtain their allowance ;

• To annex thereto the signature of such urban authority ;

• To lay the same before the parishioners assembled in vestry ;

• To verify before any justices any accounts kept by them of such highway rates ;

and all such accounts shall be audited in all respects in the same way as the other accounts of the urban authority.

General Provisions as to Urban Rates.

218 Estimate to be prepared before making rates.

Every urban authority, before proceeding to make a general district rate or private improvement rate under this Act, shall cause an estimate to be prepared of the money required for the purposes in respect of which the rate is to be made, showing—

• The several sums required for each of such purposes ; and

• The rateable value of the property assessable ; and

• The amount of rate which for those purposes it is necessary to make on each pound of such value ;

and the estimate so made shall forthwith, after being approved of by the urban authority, be entered in the rate book, and be kept at their office, open to public inspection during office hours thereat ; but it shall not be deemed part of the rate, nor in any respect affect the validity of the same.

219 Rates to be open to inspection.

Any person interested in or assessed to any rate made under this Act may inspect the same, and any estimate made previously thereto, and may take copies of or extracts therefrom without fee or reward ; any person who, having the custody of any such estimate or rate, refuses to allow or does not permit such inspection, or such copies or extracts to be taken, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.

220 Description of owner or occupier in rates.

Where the name of any owner or occupier liable to be rated under this Act is not known to the urban authority it shall be sufficient to assess and designate him in the rate as "the owner" or " the occupier " of the premises in respect of which the assessment is made, without further description.

221 Rates may be amended.

An urban authority may from time to time amend any rate made in pursuance of this Act, by inserting therein the name of any person claiming and entitled to have his name inserted, or by inserting the name of any person who ought to have been assessed, or by striking out the name of any person who ought not to have been assessed, or by raising or reducing the sum at which any person has been assessed, if it appears to the urban authority that he has been under-rated or over-rated, or by making any other alteration which will make the rate conformable to the provisions of this Act; and no such amendment shall be held to avoid the rate.

Provided, that any person who may feel himself aggrieved by any such amendment shall have the same right of appeal therefrom as he would have had if the matter of amendment had appeared on the rate originally made, and with respect to him an amended rate shall he considered to have been made at the time when he first received notice of the amendment; and an amended rate shall not he payable by any person the amount of whose rate is increased by the amendment, or whose name is thereby newly inserted until seven days after such notice has been given to him.

222 Publication and collection of rates.

All rates made or collected under this Act shall be published in the same manner as poor rates, and shall commence and be payable at such time or times, and shall be made in such manner and form, and be collected by such persons, and either together or separately, or with any other rate or tax, as the urban authority may from time to time appoint: Provided that no publication shall be required of any private- improvement rate.

223 Evidence of rates.

The production of the books purporting to contain any rate or assessment made under this Act shall, without any other evidence whatever, be received as prima facie evidence of the making and validity of the rates mentioned therein.

224 Power to make deduction from rate in certain cases.

Where it appears to an urban authority that any premises were sufficiently drained before the construction of any new sewer laid down by them, they may deduct from the amount of rates otherwise chargeable in respect of such premises such a sum for such time as they may under all the circumstances of the case deem just.

225 Power to reduce or remit rates.

An urban authority may reduce or remit the payment of any rate on account of the poverty of any person liable to the payment thereof.

226 Saving for existing agreements.

Nothing in this part of this Act shall alter or affect any lease contract or agreement made or entered into between the landlord and tenant of any premises.

227 Limit in local Act not to apply to rate for purposes of this Act.

Any limit imposed on or in respect of any rate by any local Act of Parliament shall not apply to any rate required to be levied for the purpose of defraying any expenses incurred by an urban authority in the execution of this Act.

228 Quota of rates to be paid by the universities, &c.

Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to alter or interfere with any liability existing at the time of the passing of this Act of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively to contribute towards the expenses of paving and pitching repairing lighting and cleansing under the powers of any local Act under which the Oxford and Cambridge commissioners respectively act, the several streets and places within the jurisdiction of such commissioners respectively.

If any difference arises between either of the said universities and the urban authority with respect to the proportion and manner in which the universities shall contribute towards any expenses under this Act, and to which the university is not liable under any such local Act, the same shall be settled by arbitration in manner provided by this

All rates, contributions, and sums of money which may become payable under this Act by the said universities respectively, and their respective halls and colleges, may be recovered from such universities halls and colleges in the same manner in all respects as rates contributions and sums of money may now be recovered from them by virtue of any such local Act.