General Rate Act 1967

49 Right to rebate in respect of rates on dwelling.

(1) Any person to whom this section applies who makes application therefor in accordance with the provisions of this section shall, subject to subsections (2) and (7) of this section and to section 16(2) of the [1966 c. 20.] Ministry of Social Security Act 1966, be entitled in respect of any period of six months beginning with 1st April or 1st October in any year (hereafter in this Act referred to as a " rebate period ") to a rate rebate of such amount, if any, as represents—

(a) two-thirds of the amount by which the applicant's reckonable rates determined in accordance with Part I of Schedule 9 to this Act exceeds £3 15s., less

(b) five shillings for every complete pound by which the applicant's reckonable income determined in accordance with Part II of that Schedule exceeds the appropriate limit so determined.

(2) The amount which under subsection (1) of this section would otherwise fall to be afforded by way of rebate shall be reduced—

(a) if—

(i) the applicant did not become entitled to make the rebate application until after the beginning of the rebate period to which it relates ; and

(ii) the application is made more than one month after the date on which he became entitled to make it,

by a sum bearing the same proportion to that amount as the period between that date and the making of the application bears to the period between that date and the end of the rebate period ;

(b) if in any other case the application is made more than one month after the beginning of the rebate period to which it relates, by a sum bearing the same proportion to that amount as the part of that rebate period falling before the date of the making of the application bears to the whole of that rebate period:

Provided that the rating authority may in any particular case determine that the amount aforesaid shall not be reduced under this subsection, or shall be reduced by a lesser sum than that provided for by this subsection, if they are satisfied that it is reasonable and proper so to do having regard to the reason for the application being made after the expiration of the month referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) or, as the case may be, paragraph (b) of this subsection, and to any difference between the amount aforesaid and what that amount would have been if the application had been made immediately before the expiration of that month.

(3) This section applies to the following persons, namely—

(a) a person who is the occupier of, and resides or is usually resident in, a hereditament which is a dwelling-house ;

(b) a person who is the occupier of, and resides or is usually resident in, a hereditament which, though not a dwelling-house, is within the meaning of section 115(3) of this Act used mainly for the purposes of a private dwelling or private dwellings ;

(c) a person who, not being the occupier of such a hereditament as is mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection, is the tenant of, and resides or is usually resident in, a part of any such hereditament in respect of which he makes payments to the occupier by way of rent.

(4) A rebate application shall be made in writing to the rating authority not earlier than two months before the beginning, and not later than the end, of the rebate period to which it relates; and the Minister may by regulations require any such application to contain such particulars as may be prescribed by the regulations.

(5) Subject to subsection (7) of this section, it shall be the duty of the rating authority to consider any application made to them under this section and, if satisfied that the application has been duly made by a person qualified to make it, the authority shall grant the rebate, if any, to which the applicant is entitled under this section; and any rebate granted shall be afforded in accordance with Part III of Schedule 9 to this Act.

(6) Where the rating authority have granted any person a rebate in respect of the rebate period beginning with 1st April in any year and have no reason to believe that there has been, or is likely by 1st August in that year to be, any material change in that person's circumstances which is relevant to the calculation of any rebate in respect of the next succeeding rebate period, they may not later than 31st July in that year notify that person in writing that, unless a rebate application in respect of the rebate period beginning with 1st October in that year is received by them from that person before that date, they propose to grant him a rebate in respect of that rebate period calculated on the assumption that there has been no change in his relevant circumstances; and if no such application is so received before 1st October, the authority may grant the rebate accordingly and that person shall not be entitled to make a rebate application in respect of that rebate period on or after that date.

(7) Where two or more persons are joint occupiers of a hereditament such as is mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b), or joint tenants of such a part thereof as is mentioned in paragraph (c), of subsection (3) of this section, then for the purposes of rebates under this section each of those persons shall be treated separately as if he were the sole occupier of the hereditament or, as the case may be, sole tenant of that part thereof, except that where a husband and wife are such joint occupiers or tenants a rebate may be granted to either but not to both of them.

(8) Any person who, with intent to obtain a rebate under this section—

(a) furnishes any information which he knows to be false in a material particular ; or

(b) withholds any material information,

shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both.

(9) Without prejudice to any other right to recover the amount of any relief by way of rebate under this section which has been wrongly afforded, where any person convicted of an offence under subsection (8) of this section has as a result of that offence been afforded such relief to which he was not entitled, the amount of that relief may be recovered by the rating authority summarily as a civil debt; and proceedings for that purpose may, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act, be brought at any time within twelve months from the time when that relief was afforded or, where the proceedings are for the recovery of a consecutive series of amounts by way of such relief, within twelve months from the date on which the last amount of the series was afforded.

(10) Subject to section 10(1) of the [1966 c. 9.] Rating Act 1966, the amount of any rebates granted under this section in respect of any year shall be treated as loss on collection for that year within the meaning of the [S.I. 1959/258.] Rate-product Rules 1959 or the [S.I. 1959/259.] Rate-product (County Boroughs) Rules 1959, as the case may require.

(11) This section shall not apply to the Temples.