Section 181: Purchaser of land giving consideration for fixture
656.This section is based on part of sections 54 and 56A of CAA 1990. The section sets out the conditions that need to be met if the purchaser of an interest in the relevant land is to be treated as the owner of the fixture.
657.This section only deals with cases in which a person purchases an existing interest in the relevant land.
658.The basic rule is dealt with in subsection (1). Subsections (2) and (3) provide that subsection (1) does not apply if another person is treated as the owner of the fixture in respect of a different interest in the relevant land.
Example
L Limited owns the fee simple estate in a building. The company incurs capital expenditure on the provision of a fixture for the purposes of its qualifying activity. Suppose, however, that the company does not make a claim in respect of its expenditure (as defined in section 202).
Suppose also that H Limited has a leasehold interest in the building and that H Limited assigns this interest to N Limited. Provided that N’s consideration for the lease includes a capital sum that falls to be treated as expenditure on the provision of the fixture, then N Limited would be treated as the owner of the fixture under this section.
However, if L Limited were to make a claim then subsections (2) and (3) of this section would prevent N Limited from being treated as the owner of the fixture.