Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956

6 Ascertainment of gross annual value, net annual value and rateable value of lands and heritages

(1) For the purpose of making up any valuation roll for the year 1961-62 or any subsequent year the gross annual value, the net annual value and the rateable value of any lands and heritages shall, subject to the next following section of this Act, be ascertained in accordance with the provisions of this section.

(2) The gross annual value of any lands and heritages consisting of one or more dwelling-houses or other non-industrial buildings, with any garden, yard, garage, outhouse or pertinent belonging to and occupied along with such dwelling-house or dwelling-houses or buildings, but without other land, shall be the rent at which the lands and heritages might reasonably be expected to let from year to year if no grassum or consideration other than the rent were payable in respect of the lease and if the tenant undertook to pay all rates and the landlord undertook to bear the cost of the repairs and insurance and the other expenses, if any, necessary to maintain the lands and heritages in a state to command that rent.

(3) In ascertaining under subsection (2) of this section the gross annual value of any such lands and heritages as are mentioned in that subsection no account shall be taken of—

(a) any statutory provision limiting or otherwise affecting the rent which may be required or recovered from a tenant thereof; or

(b) the value of any services which the landlord renders or procures to be rendered to the tenant (either alone or in common with other tenants of the landlord) other than the cost of repairs and insurance and of the other expenses, if any, necessary for the maintenance of the lands and heritages.

(4) In ascertaining under subsection (2) of this section the gross annual value of any dwelling-house—

(a) it shall be assumed that at the material time all the comparable accommodation in the locality is due shortly to become available for letting free from any restrictions (whether on rent or on recovery of possession) imposed by or under any enactment and at rents to be fixed without regard to any contributions payable by the Secretary of State or the local authority in respect of local authority houses or houses provided by a housing association or a development corporation and without regard to the terms on which structures are made available to a local authority under section one of the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act, 1944, and that no marked deficiency or excess exists in the amount of such accommodation as compared with the number of persons acceptable as tenants of such accommodation and genuinely competing for tenancies thereof;

(b) no account shall be taken of any statutory provision restricting the classes of person to whom the lands and heritages may be let.

(5) Any enactment requiring the rent fixed, approved or charged in respect of a dwelling-house to be taken into consideration in arriving at the gross annual value of the dwelling-house shall cease to have effect. '

(6) The net annual value of any such lands and heritages as are mentioned in subsection (2) of this section shall be the gross annual value thereof as ascertained under that subsection less an amount representing the deduction specified in relation to that gross annual value in the second column of the table contained in the First Schedule to this Act.

(7) In the case of any such lands and heritages as are mentioned in subsection (2) of this section, or of any class thereof, the Secretary of State may by order provide that, for the deductions specified in the second column of the said table, there shall be substituted deductions of such amounts, or of amounts to be calculated in such manner, as may be specified in the order.

The power to make orders conferred on the Secretary of State by this subsection shall be exercisable by statutory instrument and no order shall be made under this subsection unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

(8) Subject to the provisions of Part III of this Act, the net annual value of any lands and heritages, other than such lands and heritages as are mentioned in subsection (2) of this section, shall be the rent at which the lands and heritages might reasonably be expected to let from year to year if no grassum or consideration other than the rent were payable in respect of the lease and if the tenant undertook to pay all rates and to bear the cost of the repairs and insurance and the other expenses, if any, necessary to maintain the lands and heritages in a state to command that rent.

(9) The rateable value of any lands and heritages shall, save as provided in section forty-five of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1929, be the net annual value thereof as ascertained under subsection (6) or subsection (8) of this section, as the case may be.

(10) Where the amount of the net annual value and of the rateable value in a case where those values are the same, or in any other case the amount of the rateable value, includes a fraction of a pound, the amount of both those values or of the rateable value, as the case may be, shall be increased or reduced, as the case may be, to the nearest complete pound, or if the fraction is ten shillings, the fraction shall be disregarded.

(11) In this section, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say—

• " development corporation " has the like meaning as in the New Towns Act, 1946 ;

• " housing association " has the like meaning as in the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1950, and includes the Scottish Special Housing Association;

• " local authority houses " means any houses or dwelling-houses in respect of which a local authority is by section one hundred and thirty-seven of the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1950, required to keep a housing revenue account;

• " non-industrial building " means a building, or a part of a building, of any description, with the exception of a mill, factory or other premises of a similar character used wholly or mainly for industrial purposes and of premises valued as part of—

  (a)

  a railway, tramway, dock, canal, gas, water or electricity undertaking, or

  (b)

  any public utility undertaking not falling within the foregoing paragraph;

• " pertinent " in relation to a dwelling-house or to a school, college or other educational establishment shall be taken to include all land occupied therewith and used for the purposes thereof;

• " services " includes attendance, the provision of furniture, heating or lighting, the supply of hot water and any other privilege or facility connected with the occupancy of any lands and heritages.