Welsh Church Act 1914

Section 18(b).

FOURTH SCHEDULE Method of Calculating Existing Interests for purposes of Commutation

(1) The value of the existing interest of the holder of an ecclesiastical office in any property shall be taken to be the value as on the first day of January nineteen hundred and thirteen of an annuity payable half-yearly, commencing on that date during the life of the person who was at that date holder of the office, of an amount equal to the annual value of the interest.

(2) In determining the value of such annuity as aforesaid, interest shall be calculated at the rate of three and a half per cent. per annum, and the tables to be used shall be the Tables of Mortality of Government Life Annuitants (1912), subject, however, to such allowance as may be determined, in default of agreement between the Welsh Commissioners and the representative body, by an actuary appointed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, after giving the parties, if they desire it, an opportunity of being heard, to be the proper allowance to be made on account of the greater longevity of the clergy as compared with other classes of the community, and on account of any prospective decrease in the death rate.

(3) The annual value of the interest shall be taken to be—

(a) if the interest is an interest in specific property, the annual income derived from that property ; and

(b) if the interest consists of a right to receive a fixed annual sum, the amount of that sum,

after deducting any tenths payable by the holder of the ecclesiastical office.

(4) The annual income derived from property shall be taken to be—

(a) in the case of tithe rentcharge, the amount of the tithe rentcharge according to the septennial average in force at the date of disestablishment, after deducting two and one-half per centum on account of the cost of collection, and the average amount paid during the three years preceding the passing of this Act on account of rates and land tax ;

(b) in the case of land which is at the date of disestablishment subject to a contract of tenancy, the annual amount payable by way of rent under the contract by the tenant after deducting the amount of any fixed charges ou the land and land tax (unless borne by the tenant) and, except where the contract is a repairing lease, after deducting nine per centum on account of repairs and other outgoings :

Provided that, if in any case the representative body so require, the annual income shall be taken to be—

(i) where the contract is a building lease of which less than sixty years remain unexpired, such amount as, in default of agreement, may be determined by arbitration having regard to the then present value of the reversion expectant on the determination of the lease ; and

(ii) where the contract is a mining lease, such amount as, in default of agreement, may be determined by arbitration ; and

(iii) where the contract is not a building or a mining lease, one twenty-fifth of the gross value of the land as determined for the purposes of Part I. of the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910 ;

(c) in the case of land which, at the date of disestablishment, is not subject to a contract of tenancy, the annual value of the land as ascertained at that date for the purposes of Schedule A. of the Income Tax Acts, after deducting the amouut of any fixed charges on the land :

Provided that, if in any case the representative body so require, the annual income shall be taken to be one twenty-fifth of the gross value of the land as determined for the purposes of Part I. of the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910.

(5) For the purposes of this schedule—

• The expression " fixed charge " has the same meaning as in the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910 ;

• The expressions " building lease " and " mining lease " have the same meanings as in the Settled Land Act, 1882 ;

• The expression " repairing lease " means a lease under which the tenant undertakes to bear the cost of repairs

• The expression " contract of tenancy " means a letting of or agreement for letting land for a term of years, or for lives, or for lives and years, or from year to year.