The Assessor For Tayside Valuation Joint Board V. Land Securities Plc And Others
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Lord President,Lord Hardie,Lord Hodge |
| Neutral Citation | [2012] CSIH 68 |
| Court | Court of Session |
| Published date | 06 September 2012 |
| Year | 2012 |
| Date | 06 September 2012 |
| Docket Number | XA81/12 |
| LANDS VALUATION APPEAL COURT, COURT OF SESSION | |
| Lord President Lord Hardie Lord Hodge | [2012] CSIH 68 XA81/12 OPINION OF THE LORD PRESIDENT in the Appeal by Stated Case by THE ASSESSOR FOR TAYSIDE VALUATION JOINT BOARD Appellant; against LAND SECURITIES PLC and OTHERS Respondents: ______ |
For the respondents: Haddow QC; Dundas & Wilson
6 September 2012
Introduction
[1] This is an appeal by the assessor against a decision of the Dundee Valuation Appeal Committee (the Committee) by which it allowed 49 appeals by the respondents against the valuation of shops in the Overgate Centre, Dundee (the Centre) at the 2010 Revaluation. The 2010 Revaluation took effect on 1 April 2010. The tone date for it was 1 April 2008.
[2] During the currency of the 2005 Roll, there were numerous appeals in relation to shops in the Centre under section 3(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act). Those appeals were based on the contention that the fall in retail rental values caused by the economic recession constituted a material change of circumstances that had occurred after the Roll came into force. The appeals were settled with the assessor on an agreement that the recession had constituted a material change of circumstances and that it had occurred as at 1 April 2009.
The legislation
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966
[3] Section 15(1) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966 (as amended) (the 1966 Act) provides inter alia as follows:
"For the purposes of any new or altered entry to be made in a valuation roll after the passing of this Act for a year other than a year of revaluation at any time the valuation roll is in force, the value or altered value to be ascribed to lands and heritages shall not exceed the value which would have been ascribed thereto in that roll if the lands and heritages to which the entry relates had for valuation purposes been subsisting throughout the year before the last year of revaluation ... "
This is the "tone of the roll" provision that ensures that the valuations made at a revaluation and those that are made during the currency of the Roll are related to a common base. It provides that during the currency of the roll, the value ascribed to the subjects in a new or altered entry shall not exceed the value that would have been ascribed to them at the tone date; but, by implication, the value ascribed to them may be less than that. The respondents submit that that is a significant consideration.
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975
[4] Section 1 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 (the 1975 Act), as amended, provides inter alia as follows:
" ... (2) Subject to any alterations to the valuation roll made under this section and section 2 of this Act, every valuation roll shall remain in force until it is superseded by a new valuation roll ...
(6) The assessor for any valuation area may as respects that area, at any time after the valuation roll has been made up and before the roll has come into force, alter the roll ...
(c) to give effect to any alteration in the value of any lands and heritages which is due to a material change of circumstances ... "
Section 2, as amended, provides inter alia as follows:
"2(1) ... the assessor for any valuation area shall, as respects that area, at any time while the valuation roll is in force, alter the roll ...
(d) to give effect to any alteration in the value of any lands and heritages which is due to a material change of circumstances ...
(f) to correct any error of measurement, survey or classification or any clerical or arithmetical error in any entry therein ... "
(2) Any alteration to the roll- ...
(c) made under subsection (1)(d) above, shall have effect only as from the date of the event by reason of which the alteration is made or as from the beginning of the year in which the alteration is made, whichever is the later ...
Section 3, as amended, provides inter alia as follows:
"3(2) The assessor for each valuation area shall send to each person who is a proprietor, tenant or occupier of lands and heritages which are included in the valuation roll a notice in the prescribed form ... and any such person ... if he considers himself aggrieved by the entry, may appeal to the valuation appeal committee ...
(4) Without prejudice to subsection (2) above, the proprietor, tenant or occupier of lands and heritages which are included in the valuation roll may appeal against the relevant entry but only on the ground that there has been a material change of circumstances since the entry was made or that there is such an error in the entry as is referred to in section 2(1)(f) of this Act ...
(4A) An appeal under subsection (4) above shall be made-
(a) on the ground that there has been a material change of circumstances since the entry was made, not more than six months after the roll ceases to be in force;
(b) on the ground that there has been such an error in the entry as is referred to in section 2(1)(f) of this Act, at any time while the roll is in force ... "
Valuation Timetable (Scotland) Order 1995
[5] For the 2010 Revaluation the effects of the Valuation Timetable (Scotland) Order 1995 (SI No 164) (the 1995 Order) are that (i) valuations are to be made on the basis of rental levels prevailing at 1 April 2008 (the tone date); (ii) valuations are to be made on the basis of the physical circumstances of the properties as at 1 January 2010; (iii) the assessor is to deliver copies of the valuation roll to the rating authority by 15 March 2010; and (iv) the deadline for lodging an appeal under section 3(2) of the 1975 Act is the later of 30 September 2010 or a date within six months of the period beginning with the date on which the assessor sent to the ratepayer the relevant notice under section 3(2) of the 1975 Act (supra).
The ratepayers' appeals
[6] The appeals by the ratepayers against the entries in the 2005 Roll were "material change of circumstances" appeals under section 3(4) of the 1975 Act (supra). The stated case raises a doubt as to the status of the ratepayers' present appeals. There are various references in it to a material change of circumstances. The note of the parties' submissions to the Committee indicate that the appeals were discussed in the context of section 3(4) of the 1975 Act (supra). Counsel for the ratepayers relied on section 3(4) at the hearing of this appeal. If these are to be regarded as material change of circumstances appeals under section 3(4), they must fail, in my view, for the reasons that I have given in Ass for Fife v Mercat Kirkcaldy Ltd ([2012] CSIH 67). However, I agree with the submission of counsel for the assessor that since these appeals were lodged against the entries in the new Roll, they are in reality straightforward revaluation appeals under section 3(2) of the 1975 Act.
[7] The basis of each of the appeals is that since the rateable values entered in the 2010 Roll were values assessed as at 1 April 2008, the assessor's agreement that a material change of circumstances affecting the values in the 2005 Roll had occurred as at 1 April 2009 should be taken into account in the 2010 Revaluation, and that the values in the 2010 Roll should be reduced accordingly.
[8] The parties are agreed on the rateable values of each of the appeal subjects as at the tone date of the current Revaluation.
The Committee's findings and its decision
The findings in fact
[9] The Committee found that all of the appeal subjects were situated within the Lower Mall of the Centre.[j1] Entries in the 2005 Roll had originally been based on a Zone A rate of £1,050 psm.
[10] The parties were agreed that as at 1 April 2008, the tone date for the 2010 revaluation, the appropriate rate was £875 psm.
[11] The appeals against entries in the 2005 Roll on the basis of a material change of circumstances were settled on the basis that for subjects in the Lower Mall values based on a Zone A rate of £700 psm should be substituted with effect from 1 April 2009.
[12]...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
The Assessor For Fife V. Mercat Kirkcaldy Limited And Others
...40% (Argos Distributors Ltd v Ass for Fife 2011 SC 272). The legislation [3] In my Opinion in Ass for Tayside VJB v Land Securities plc ([2012] CSIH 68), which we heard with this case, I have set out the relevant legislation. The ratepayers' appeals [4] In the present case the basis of each......
-
Setting The Tone For Your Scottish Rateable Value
...roll was 1 April 2008. The Cases The two cases are (1) The Assessor for Tayside Valuation Joint Board v Land Securities PLC and Others [2012] CSIH 68 and (2) The Assessor for Fife v Mercat Kirkcaldy Ltd and Others [2012] CSIH 67. This Law-Now reports on the first of the cases, the second on......