PART 1General

Citation and commencement1.

These Regulations may be cited as the Non-Domestic Rates (Coronavirus Reliefs) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 and come into force on 1 April 2021.

Interpretation - general2.

In these Regulations—

“lands and heritages” has the meaning prescribed by and under section 42 (interpretation) of the Lands Valuation (Scotland) Act 18542,

“rateable value”, in relation to lands and heritages and a particular date, means—

(a)

in the case of part residential subjects, the rateable value entered in the valuation roll made up under section 1 (the valuation roll and revaluation) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 19753 for that date and apportioned to the non-residential use of those subjects, and

(b)

in any other case, the rateable value entered in that roll for that date in respect of those lands and heritages,

and includes a rateable value so entered with retrospective effect, and

“rates” means non-domestic rates levied under section 7B (provisions as to setting of non-domestic rates) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 19754.

Applications for relief3.

(1)

An application for relief under these regulations must—

(a)

be signed by the ratepayer or a person authorised to sign on behalf of the ratepayer, and

(b)

be made to the rating authority in whose roll the entry for the lands and heritages appears by—

(i)

addressing it to the authority, and

(ii)

delivering it or sending it to the authority’s office by post or electronic communication.

(2)

For the purposes of paragraph (1)—

“electronic communication” has the meaning given to it by section 15(1) (interpretation) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”)5

“person authorised to sign on behalf of the ratepayer” means, where the ratepayer is—

(a)

a partnership, a partner of that partnership,

(b)

a trust, a trustee of that trust,

(c)

a body corporate, a director of that body, and

“sign” or “signed”, in relation to an application made by electronic communication, means an electronic signature, as defined in section 7(2) (electronic signatures and related certificates) of the 2000 Act6.