107Meaning of “owner”
(1)In this Chapter “owner”, in relation to land, is to be read as follows.
(2)The owner of any land is the person in whom the freehold estate in the land is vested, but not if there is a qualifying leasehold estate in the land.
(3)If there is just one qualifying leasehold estate in any land, the owner of the land is the person in whom that estate is vested.
(4)If there are two or more qualifying leasehold estates in the same land, the owner of the land is the person in whom is vested the qualifying leasehold estate that is more or most distant (in terms of the number of intervening leasehold estates) from the freehold estate.
(5)In this section “qualifying leasehold estate”, in relation to any land, means an estate by virtue of a lease of the land for a term which, when granted, had at least 25 years to run.
(6)The appropriate authority may by order amend this section—
(a)for the purpose of changing the definition of “owner” for the time being given by this section;
(b)for the purpose of defining “owner” for the purposes of this Chapter in a case where, for the time being, this section does not define that expression.