The Rates (Transitional Provisions) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

By virtue of the Rates (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (“the 2006 Order”) certain properties previously treated for rating purposes as domestic are, on and from 1st April 2007, treated as non-domestic. These properties are leisure caravan sites, accommodation within military establishments and parts of prisons.

Article 4 of this Order provides that until the coming into force of the next non-domestic revaluation, a person shall be chargeable to rates in respect of such a property on the basis of a transitional net annual value rather than its rateable net annual value. Article 3 of this Order prescribes a formula for calculating the transitional net annual value which ensures that although the annual increases in non-domestic rates will accrue in respect of the property, the rate liability for it will, until the coming into force of the next non-domestic revaluation, be otherwise unaffected by the change in treatment. Articles 3 and 4 apply only in respect of properties included in the valuation list on 31st March 2007 and only where the transitional net annual value of a property does not exceed its rateable net annual value.

Article 5 of this Order provides that the provisions of the 2006 Order relating to the effective date of an alteration in a valuation list shall not apply in relation to an application for a revision of a valuation list served on the district valuer before the date on which those provisions come into operation.