Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act 1925

1 Any heritor whose teinds in any parish are wholly or partly unvalued, or the titular of any such teinds, or any minister whose stipend is wholly or partly exigible from unvalued teinds or where the benefice is vacant the General Trustees may at any time not later than the expiry of twelve months after the date of issue of the teind roll for the parish apply to the sheriff to appoint a valuer for the purpose of fixing the annual agricultural value of the lands the teinds of which have not been valued, and in estimating that value the valuer (who shall be appointed by the sheriff at his own hand) shall have regard to the following directions, that is to say : Where the lands are bona fide let for a term of years, the rent payable under the lease (so far as it represents agricultural rental) and where the lands are not so let the agricultural rent at which the lands might, in the opinion of the valuer, be reasonably expected to be let shall be deemed to be the annual agricultural value :

Provided that in either case there shall be deducted from the rent—

(a) interest on expenditure by the heritor or his predecessors, upon permanent improvements within twenty years prior to the date of valuation, where such expenditure is shown to the satisfaction of the valuer to have increased the annual agricultural letting value of the land; and

(b) interest on any other improvement expenditure made by the heritor or his predecessors which, in the opinion of the valuer, has increased such letting value as at the date of valuation.