James Mackie (Paisley) Ltd v Assessor for Renfrewshire
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 19 March 1964 |
| Date | 19 March 1964 |
| Docket Number | No. 34. |
| Court | Lands Valuation Appeal Court (Scotland) |
Lands Valuation Appeal Court.
Lord Kilbrandon. Lord Hunter. Lord Fraser.
ValuationSubjectsAgricultural lands and heritagesStore occupied by potato merchants and used by them for storage of seed potatoesPotatoes grown by companyWhether store to be excluded from valuation rollValuation and Eating (Scotland) Act, 1956 (4 and 5 Eliz. II, cap. 60), sec. 1 (2) and (3)Local Government (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1963 (cap. 12), sec. 14 (1) (a).
ValuationOccupierCompany carrying on business as potato merchants contracting with farmers for use of fieldsCompany planting, harvesting and removing potatoesWeeding and cultivation of fields done by farmersWhether company occupier of fields.
The Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act, 1956, by sec. 7 (2) defines "agricultural lands and heritages" and "agricultural buildings" and by sec. 7 (3) enacts that no agricultural lands and heritages shall be entered in the valuation roll. The Local Government (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1963, enacts by sec. 14: "(1) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (2) of section 7 of the Act of 1956(a) a buildingwhich is occupied by any person, and is used solely in connection with agricultural operations carried on by that person on any agricultural land (other than the building) whether adjacent to the building or not, being agricultural land occupied by that personshall be treatedas agricultural lands and heritages for the purposes of subsection (3) of the said section 7."
A company carrying on business as potato merchants entered into contracts with farmers in Galloway and Ayrshire whereby the company acquired the right to enter upon certain fields which formed part of the lands occupied by the farmers and there to plant potatoes and subsequently to harvest and remove them. During the growing season any weeding and cultivation were generally done by the farmers. A field thus used by the company in any year was not used for any other purpose during that year. The company also owned and occupied a store in Paisley which was used solely for the storage of seed potatoes and agricultural implements used in connection with the production of potatoes. The assessor entered the store in the valuation roll upon the view that the company did not occupy the agricultural land in connection with which the store was used, and consequently that the requirements of sec. 14 (1) were not satisfied.
Held (1) applyingAssessor for Renfrewshire v. Old Consort Co., 1960 S. C. 226, that the company were in occupation of the lands in which the potatoes were grown, in respect that they had actual possession of them by virtue of planting, harvesting and removing the potatoes; that their possession had the necessary degree of permanency; and that any occupation of the lands had by the farmers was subordinate in character, the paramount occupation being that of the company; (2) that the store was used in connection with that part of the company's business which was of an agricultural, not a mercantile, character; and (3) that the requirements of sec. 14 (1) (a) of the 1963 Act were satisfied and accordingly the store should not be entered in the roll.
Per Lord Kilbrandon: "In my opinion where a person has obtained an exclusive right to exploit subjects in the only way in which they can be commercially exploited, and enjoys that right with the degree of permanency represented by a licence for a season, that season, although not extending to a whole year, being enough to exhaust the commercial potentiality for a whole year, then that person is in rateable occupation for the year out of which the season is carved."
At a meeting of the Valuation Appeal Committee for the county of Renfrew James Mackie (Paisley) Limited, a company carrying on business as ware and seed potato merchants, appealed against an entry m the valuation roll for the year ending Whitsunday 1963 in which they appeared as the owners and occupiers of a store in Scotts Road, Paisley, the gross annual value of which was shown as 880. They craved that this entry should be deleted in view of the terms of section 14 of the Local Government (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1963.1 The Committee dismissed the appeal, and at the request of the appellants stated a case on appeal to the Lands Valuation Appeal Court.
The case set forth that the following facts were admitted or were held by the Committee to be proved or within the knowledge of the Committee:"(1) The appellant company carries on a business of ware and seed potato merchants, in connection with which it owns and occupies a warehouse at Seedhill Road, Paisley, and a store at Scotts Road, Paisley. (2) The entry in the valuation roll against which this appeal is entered refers to the aforesaid store which is occupied by the appellant solely for the storage of seed potatoes and agricultural implements used in connection with the production of said potatoes. (3) These potatoes, which are the property of the appellant, are grown on lands generally in Galloway and Ayrshire, being then transported after harvesting to the said store in Paisley. (4) The appellant enters into licensing contracts with farmers, whereby certain fields, being part of the lands occupied by the farmers, are let to it for a season, enabling it in consideration of an agreed rent to enter thereon for the purpose of planting and harvesting potatoes and removing the resultant crop from the lands. During the growing season any weeding and cultivating are generally done by the farmers. (5) Such lands are not owned by the appellant. (6) During any year in which any particular field is used by the appellant in this
way no other use is made of that field. (7) The lands used by the appellant in this way vary from one year to another following on arrangements made between the appellant and different farmers. (8) The whole of the buildings the subject of this appeal are used for for storage as aforesaid and no part is used for any other purpose. (9) The seed potatoes stored in the buildings the subject of the appeal are wholly potatoes grown by the appellant under the conditions described in paragraph (4), and all will be used by the appellant as seed for the following year under similar arrangements."The contentions of the parties were stated as follows:
"It was contended by the appellant:(1) The subject of this appeal comes within the terms of section 14 of the Local Government (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1963. (2) Accordingly it should not appear in the valuation roll for the county of Renfrew for the year 19631964. (3) The subject of appeal is wholly used by the appellant company for agricultural purposes, to wit, the storage of potatoes and agricultural implements. (4) The business of the appellant is to grow and sell potatoes. (5) The potatoes are grown on ground of which the appellant is the true occupier for the whole of the growing season, notwithstanding that its name does not figure as an entry in any valuation roll. (6) As a potato merchant the appellant is subject to the rulings and regulations of the Potato Marketing Board. By virtue of these the appellant must make a return of the ground used for planting and give the acreage planted. (7) By a resolution of the said Board in 1959 the appellant became a registered producer, a licensed seed potato merchant and a licensed grower and salesman. (8) The Potato Marketing Board clearly looks on such licensees as the occupiers of the lands used under its schemes for producing potatoes. (9) Being so regarded as the occupier of the producing lands, it follows under the Act of 1963 aforementioned that the store the subject of this appeal forms part of an agricultural subject and should not be entered in the roll.
"It was contended by the assessor:(1) That the appellant was not the occupier of agricultural lands. (2) The benefit of exclusion from the valuation roll under section 14 of the Local Government (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1963, extends by the words of the statute only to a person who is holding any agricultural land as a rateable occupier. (3) Notwithstanding that there is, by reason of the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act, 1956, no rateable occupation of agricultural lands, the appellant could not, even prior to the passing of the said 1956 Act, be regarded as the rateable occupier, being merely a seasonal occupier. (4) The appellant's position is analogous to the position in law of a person taking a seasonal let of grazings, which has been established not to be occupation in a statutory sense by the case of Berwick v. Assessor for FifeshireUNK, (1888) 15 R. 629. (5) The store the subject of this appeal must therefore continue to be entered in the valuation roll because the...
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