Local Government Finance Act 1992
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Local Government Finance Act 1992
1992 CHAPTER 14
An Act to provide for certain local authorities to levy and collect a new tax, to be called council tax; to abolish community charges; to make further provision with respect to local government finance (including provision with respect to certain grants by local authorities); and for connected purposes.
[6th March 1992]
B e it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Council Tax: England and Wales
Chapter I
Main Provisions
Preliminary
1 Council tax in respect of dwellings.
(1) As regards the financial year beginning in 1993 and subsequent financial years, each billing authority shall, in accordance with this Part, levy and collect a tax, to be called council tax, which shall be payable in respect of dwellings situated in its area.
(2) In this Part ‘billing authority’ means a district or London borough council, the Common Council or the Council of the Isles of Scilly.
(3) For the purposes of this Part the Secretary of State may make regulations containing rules for treating a dwelling as situated in a billing authority's area if part only of the dwelling falls within the area.
2 Liability to tax determined on a daily basis.
(1) Liability to pay council tax shall be determined on a daily basis.
(2) For the purposes of determining for any day—
(a) whether any property is a chargeable dwelling;
(b) which valuation band is shown in the billing authority's valuation list as applicable to any chargeable dwelling;
(c) the person liable to pay council tax in respect of any such dwelling; or
(d) whether any amount of council tax is subject to a discount and (if so) the amount of the discount,
it shall be assumed that any state of affairs subsisting at the end of the day had subsisted throughout the day.
Chargeable dwellings
3 Meaning of ‘dwelling’.
(1) This section has effect for determining what is a dwelling for the purposes of this Part.
(2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, a dwelling is any property which—
(a) by virtue of the definition of hereditament in section 115(1) of the General Rate Act 1967 , would have been a hereditament for the purposes of that Act if that Act remained in force; and
(b) is not for the time being shown or required to be shown in a local or a central non-domestic rating list in force at that time; and
(c) is not for the time being exempt from local non-domestic rating for the purposes of Part III of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (‘the 1988 Act’);
and in applying paragraphs (b) and (c) above no account shall be taken of any rules as to Crown exemption.
(3) A hereditament which—
(a) is a composite hereditament for the purposes of Part III of the 1988 Act; and
(b) would still be such a hereditament if paragraphs (b) to (d) of section 66(1) of that Act (domestic property) were omitted,
is also, subject to subsection (6) below, a dwelling for the purposes of this Part.
(4) Subject to subsection (6) below, none of the following property, namely—
(a) a yard, garden, outhouse or other appurtenance belonging to or enjoyed with property used wholly for the purposes of living accommodation; or
(b) a private garage which either has a floor area of not more than 25 square metres or is used wholly or mainly for the accommodation of a private motor vehicle; or
(c) private storage premises used wholly or mainly for the storage of articles of domestic use,
is a dwelling except in so far as it forms part of a larger property which is itself a dwelling by virtue of subsection (2) above.
(5) The Secretary of State may by order provide that in such cases as may be prescribed by or determined under the order—
(a) anything which would (apart from the order) be one dwelling shall be treated as two or more dwellings; and
(b) anything which would (apart from the order) be two or more dwellings shall be treated as one dwelling.
(6) The Secretary of State may by order amend any definition of ‘dwelling’ which is for the time being effective for the purposes of this Part.
4 Dwellings chargeable to council tax.
(1) Council tax shall be payable in respect of any dwelling which is not an exempt dwelling.
(2) In this Chapter—
‘chargeable dwelling’ means any dwelling in respect of which council tax is payable;
‘exempt dwelling’ means any dwelling of a class prescribed by an order made by the Secretary of State.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) above, a class of dwellings may be prescribed by reference to such factors as the Secretary of State sees fit.
(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (3) above, a class of dwellings may be prescribed by reference to one or more of the following factors—
(a) the physical characteristics of dwellings;
(b) the fact that dwellings are unoccupied or are occupied for prescribed purposes or are occupied or owned by persons of prescribed descriptions.
5 Different amounts for dwellings in differentvaluation bands.
(1) The amounts of council tax payable in respect of dwellings situated in the same billing authority's area (or the same part of such an area) and listed in different valuation bands shall be in the proportion—
6: 7: 8: 9: 11: 13: 15: 18
where 6 is for dwellings listed in valuation band A, 7 is for dwellings listed in valuation band B, and so on.
(2) The valuation bands for dwellings in England are set out in the following Table—
Range of values |
Valuation band |
Values not exceeding 40,000 |
A |
Values exceeding 40,000 but not exceeding 52,000 |
B |
Values exceeding 52,000 but not exceeding 68,000 |
C |
Values exceeding 68,000 but not exceeding 88,000 |
D |
Values exceeding 88,000 but not exceeding 120,000 |
E |
Values exceeding 120,000 but not exceeding 160,000 |
F |
Values exceeding 160,000 but not exceeding 320,000 |
G |
| Values exceeding 320,000 | H |
(3) The valuation bands for dwellings in Wales are set out in the following Table—
Range of values |
Valuation band |
Values not exceeding 30,000 |
A |
Values exceeding 30,000 but not exceeding 39,000 |
B |
Values exceeding 39,000 but not exceeding 51,000 |
C |
Values exceeding 51,000 but not exceeding 66,000 |
D |
Values exceeding 66,000 but not exceeding 90,000 |
E |
Values exceeding 90,000 but not exceeding 120,000 |
F |
Values exceeding 120,000 but not exceeding 240,000 |
G |
| Values exceeding 240,000 | H |
(4) The Secretary of State may by order, as regards...
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