Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987 (repealed)

10 Liability for and calculation of standard community charge.F9 S

(1) The standard community charge shall be payable in respect of premises to which this section applies.

(2) This section applies to premises which—

(a) are a dwelling house with any garden, yard, garage, outhouse or pertinent belonging to and occupied along with such dwelling house;

(b) are not subject to non-domestic rates; and

(c) are not the sole or main residence of any person,

but not to such class or classes of those premises as may be prescribed.

(3) The prescribing of a class or classes of premises under subsection (2) above may be by reference to such factors [F1 (including factors relating to persons of prescribed descriptions)] as may be prescribed.

(4) The person liable to pay the standard community charge in respect of any premises shall be—

(a) subject to paragraphs (b) and (c) below, the owner of the premises;

(b) subject to paragraph (c) below, if the premises are let for a period of 12 months or more, the tenant; or

(c) if the premises are sub-let for such a period, the sub-tenant,

[F2 and where at any time two or more people are liable to pay the standard community charge under this subsection they shall be jointly and severally liable to pay the charge.]

(5) The standard community charge shall be due to—

(a) each local authority; or

(b) (in the case of an islands council) the local authority

in the area of which the premises in respect of which it is payable are situated.

[F3 (6) The standard community charge due to a local authority in respect of any premises in respect of any financial year shall be the product of the personal community charge determined in respect of that year by the local authority and—

(a) where the premises are in a specified class, the standard community charge multiplier determined in respect of that class by the authority; or

(b) where the premises are not in a specified class, the standard community charge multiplier determined by the authority in relation to such premises,

in respect of that year.

(7) A specified class is one which has been prescribed under this subsection or determined under regulations made under subsection (7F) below.

F4 (7A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(7B) A standard community charge multiplier must be one of the following, 0,½, 1, 1½, 2.

(7C) A local authority may resolve that different standard community charge multipliers shall apply in relation to different classes of premises prescribed under subsection (7) above.

(7D) A standard community charge multiplier relating to a class of premises prescribed under subsection (7) above shall not exceed such maximum multiplier as may be prescribed in relation to that class.

(7E) In prescribing classes under subsection (7) above, the Secretary of State may classify premises by reference to such factors as he thinks fit, including, without prejudice to that generality—

(a) the physical characteristics of premises or any part of them;

(b) the fact that premises are, or any part of them is, unoccupied;

(c) the fact that premises are, or any part of them is, occupied for prescribed purposes;

(d) the fact that premises are, or any part of them is, occupied by persons of prescribed descriptions;

(e) the circumstances of persons liable to pay the standard community charge.

(7F) The Secretary of State may, by regulations, make provision—

(a) enabling local authorities or local authorities of such class or classes as he may specify in the regulations—

(i) to determine, in relation to their areas, classes of premises additional to those prescribed under subsection (7) above;

(ii) to determine different such classes of premises in relation to different parts of their areas; and

(iii) to resolve that different standard community charge multipliers shall apply in relation to different classes of premises determined under the regulations, and

(b) requiring them, when determining a class or classes under the regulations, to classify premises only by reference to one or more prescribed factors being such factors as the Secretary of State thinks fit.

(7G) Regulations under subsection (7F) above may make provision enabling the district council to resolve that different standard community charge multipliers shall apply in relation to such different classes of premises as have, in relation to the district, been determined under the regulations by the council of the region in which the district is situated.

(7H) A regional council may resolve that different standard community charge multipliers shall apply in relation to the same specified class of premises in different districts within the region.]

[F5 (8) Subject to subsections (8B) and (9) below, the standard community charge shall not be payable in respect of relevant premises in respect of whichever is the shorter of—

(a) the period for which the premises are unoccupied and unfurnished;

(b) a period of three months or such longer period as the levying authority may determine;

and the levying authority may determine that different periods shall have effect for different premises or different classes of premises.

(8A) For the purposes of subsection (8) above “relevant premises” are premises to which this section applies, being premises—

(a) which are unoccupied and unfurnished; and

(b) as regards which notice is given to the levying authority by a person liable to pay the standard community charge in respect of the premises that they are unoccupied and unfurnished.

(8B) Subsection (8) above shall have effect in respect of any relevant premises only once during any period (whether it falls in one or more than one financial year) in respect of which the standard community charge is, or would but for that subsection be, payable in respect of the premises.

(8C) Before making a determination under paragraph (b) of subsection (8) above a levying authority which is a regional council shall consult the district council for the district in which the premises are situated.]

(9) Any period for which the standard community charge is, under subsection (8) above, not payable shall not begin earlier than one month before the receipt of notification under paragraph (b) of [F6 subsection (8A) above].

(10) The person liable to pay the standard community charge in respect of any premises in respect of a financial year shall be entitled to recover from any person to whom he lets or sub-lets the premises or whom he permits to occupy them an amount equal to the product of—

(a) the number of days in that year for which the premises are let or sub-let to or, as the case may be, permitted to be occupied by that other person (excluding any which fall within a period in respect of which the standard community charge is, under subsections (8) and (9) above, not payable); and

(b) the amount of the standard community charge [F7 which would, if the premises were for the whole of that financial year premises to which this section applies and were not, at any time in that year, relevant premises for the purposes of subsection (8) above, be] payable in respect of the premises in respect of that year divided by the number of days in that year

(and such an amount is referred to in this section as a “standard community charge contribution”).

[F8 (10A) Where at any time premises are let, sub-let or permitted to be occupied as mentioned in subsection (10) above to more than one person, only one standard community charge contribution in respect of the standard community charge payable in respect of any financial year shall be recovered in respect of the period of such lease, sub-lease or permission to occupy and such persons shall be jointly and severally liable to pay the contribution.]

(11) A standard community charge contribution recovered form a person—

(a) shall be in addition to any obligation of his to make other payments (whether by way of rent or otherwise) in respect of the premises in respect of which that contribution is made;

(b) is not affected by any enactment relating to the control or restriction of any such other payment, and shall not, for the purposes of any such enactment, be regarded as such a payment or part thereof.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words inserted by Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 137, Sch. 12 para. 19(2)

F2 Words substituted by Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 137, Sch. 12 para. 19(3)

F3 S. 10(6)–(7H) substituted for s. 10(6)(7) (1.12.1989 for financial year 1990–91 and each subsequent financial year) by Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (c. 42, SIF 81:2), s. 142

F4 S. 10(7A): the repeal of the Act by Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14), s. 117(2), Sch. 14 (with s. 118(1)(2)(4) and saving in s. 118(3)) was brought into force (1.10.1992) as regards s. 10(7A) by S.I. 1992/2183, art. 2(d),Sch. (with art. 3).

F5 S. 10(8)–(8C) substituted for s. 10(8) by Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 137, Sch. 12 para. 19(4)

F6 Words substituted by Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 137, Sch. 12 para. 19(5)

F7 Words inserted by Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 137, Sch. 12 para. 19(6)

F8 S. 10(10A) inserted by Local Government Finance Act 1988 (c. 41, SIF 81:1; 103:2), s. 137, Sch. 12 para. 19(7)

Textual Amendments applied to the whole legislation

F9 Act repealed (prosp.) by Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14), ss. 117(2), 119(2)(e), Sch.14 (with s. 118(1)(2)(4) and saving in s. 118(3) and subject to a saving for Sch. 2 para. 7A (16.8.1993) by S.I. 1993/1780, art. 2 and subject to amendments (11.6.1996) by 1995 c. 18, s. 41(4), Sch. 2 para. 10; S.I. 1996/1509, art. 2, Sch. and (29.11.1999 for specified purposes, otherwise prosp.) by 1998 c. 14, ss. 86(1), 87(2), Sch. 7 para. 15; S.I. 1999/3178, art. 2(1)(a)(2) (subject to transitional provisions in Schs. 21-23)

The repeal of the Act by Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14) was brought into force (1.4.1992) as regards Sch. 1 para. 19 by S.I. 1992/818, para. 2(b), Sch.

The repeal of the Act by Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14) was brought into force (1.10.1992) as regards ss. 3A, 9, 10(7A), 11B, 28, Sch. 2 paras. 1(2), 2(1), Sch. 5 paras. 2-5, 9, 10, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25 by S.I. 1992/2183, art. 2(d), Sch. (with savings in art. 3)

The repeal of the Act by Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14) was brought into force (1.4.1993) as regards ss. 1-7, 14, 18(2A), 20(10), 25(1)(3), words in s. 26(1), ss. 26(2), 27, 33, Sch. 1, Sch. 3 paras. 1-4, 5(1), 7, Sch. 5 paras. 1, 6, 12, 13, 16, 19A, 20, 22-24, 26-49 by S.I. 1993/575, art. 2, Sch. (with savings in arts. 4, 5(b))