Rating and Valuation Act 1961

11 Reduction and remission of rates payable by charitable and other organisations

(1) If notice in writing is given to the rating authority that—

(a) any hereditament occupied by, or by trustees for, a charity and wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes (whether of that charity or of that and other charities); or

(b) any other hereditament, being a hereditament held upon trust for use as an almshouse,

is one falling within this subsection, then, subject to the provisions of this section, the amount of any rates chargeable in respect of the hereditament for any period, beginning not earlier than the rate period in which the notice is given, during which the hereditament is one falling within either paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this subsection shall not exceed one-half of the amount which would be chargeable apart from the provisions of this subsection:

Provided that where a hereditament ceases to be one falling within the said paragraphs (a) and (b), a previous notice given for the purposes of this subsection shall not have effect as respects any subsequent period during which the hereditament falls within either of those paragraphs.

(2) No relief under the foregoing subsection shall be given in the case of a hereditament falling within paragraph (a) thereof for any period during which the hereditament is occupied by an institution specified in the First Schedule to this Act.

(3) The Minister may by order amend the provisions of the First Schedule to this Act by adding any institution which in his opinion ought to be classified with the institutions mentioned in that Schedule or omitting any institution or altering the description of any institution.

An order under this subsection may be made so as to have effect from any date not earlier than the beginning of the rate period in which it is made, and any statutory instrument containing an order under this subsection shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(4) Without prejudice to the powers conferred by subsection (4) of section two of the Act of 1925, a rating authority shall have power to reduce or remit the payment of rates chargeable in respect of—

(a) any hereditament falling within paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) of this section ;

(b) any other hereditament which is occupied for the purposes of one or more institutions or other organisations which are not established or conducted for profit and whose main objects are charitable or are otherwise philanthropic or religious or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts;

(c) any other hereditament which is occupied for the purposes of a club, society or other organisation not established or conducted for profit and is wholly or mainly used for purposes of recreation,

for any such period as is mentioned in the following subsection:

Provided that any such reduction or remission shall cease to have effect on a change in the occupation of the hereditament in respect of which it was granted.

(5) Any reduction or remission of rates determined under the foregoing subsection may at the discretion of the rating authority be granted—

(a) for the year in which, or the year next following that in which, the determination to grant it is made; or

(b) for a specified term of years, not exceeding five, beginning not earlier than the year in which the determination was made nor more than twenty-four months after the date of the determination ; or

(c) for an indefinite period beginning not earlier than the last mentioned year subject, however, to the exercise by the rating authority of their powers under the following subsection.

(6) Where any such reduction or remission is granted for an indefinite period the rating authority may, by not less than twelve months' notice in writing given to the occupiers of the hereditament, terminate or modify the reduction or remission as from the end of a year specified in the notice.

(7) The foregoing provisions of this section shall not apply to any hereditament to which section seven of the Act of 1955 (which provides for relief from rates in the case of places of religious worship and church and chapel halls) applies or to any hereditament occupied (otherwise than as trustee) by any authority having, within the meaning of the Local Loans Act, 1875, power to levy a rate.

(8) Section fifty-nine of the Act of 1925 (which relates to the service of notices) shall apply to notices authorised to be served for the purposes of this section as it applies to notices authorised to be served for the purposes of that Act.

(9) In this section " charity " means an institution or other organisation established for charitable purposes only and " organisation " includes any persons administering a trust; and a hereditament an interest in which belongs to a charity or any ecclesiastical corporation and in which (in right of that interest)—

(a) the persons from time to time holding any full-time office as clergyman or minister of any religious denomination, or

(b) any particular person holding such an office,

have or has a residence from which to perform the duties of the office, or in which (in right of the said interest) accommodation is being held available to provide such a residence for such a person, shall be treated for the purposes of this section as occupied by a charity and wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes, whether apart from this provision it would be so treated or not.