239 / 338
Acts, as extended by sections 31 and 35 of the
Housing Acts, 1952 and similar legislation, whether
by way of conveyance, assignment, or lease, the
Society approves of the adoption of a scale of costs
of i£% on the amount of the fine or purchase
money whether payable in a
lump sum or by
instalments with a minimum fee of £10, to include
the work of the solicitor for the local authority in
connection with the conveyance, assignment, cr
lease, and a fee of i|% as the costs of the solicitor
acting for the purchaser or lessee, to include the
costs of perusing and completing the conveyance,
assignment or lease, calculated on the amount of the
fine or purchase money whether payable in a lump
sum or by instalments with a minimum of £10,
provided that in all cases an additional fee of
2 guineas shall be chargeable if there is a separate
mortgage or other document to secure or guarantee
any moneys payable by the purchaser or lessee.
(Reprinted from Society's GAZETTE, June, 1955).
VALUATION OFFICE
A statement was published
in
the Society's
GAZETTE in March, 1956 and reprinted in issue for
February, 1960, under the title "Delays in the
Valuation Office", in which it was stated
that
in the course of an interview with representa
tives of Council
the Commissioner of Valua
tion had pointed out that a valuation for the
purpose of final determination required a very
detailed and thorough examination and that in such
cases it might be necessary to insist on a higher
figure than in cases in which the Valuation Office
accept the figures submitted by the tax payer without
any final determination. It was stated that this arose
by reason of the fact that after a final determination
the Valuation Office cannot reopen a figure even on
a subsequent sale at a higher sum while the client
can, on the other hand, claim repayment if the sale
is subsequently made at a lower figure. The Society
has had some further correspondence with the
Valuation Office on the subject of the statement
that the question of value may be reopened by the
client after final determination. It is now understood
that there is no authority for this proposition and
that in the event of the sale of property after a final
determination of value has been made the matter
cannot be reopened whether the sale price is above
or below the figure finally determined as the value.
STAMP DUTY ON LEASES OF SITES
FOR BUILDING DEVELOPMENT
Members have written about the practice recently
adopted by the Revenue Commissioners of requiring
building leases to be lodged for adjudication of the
stamp duty.
The Society has been in touch with officers of the
Revenue Commissioners and it may be taken that
the following sets out the Commissioners' practice
in dealing with building leases.
1. Where no buildings have been completed at
the date of the lease :—
If a lease of a site is granted in consideration of
(a)
a rent reserved by the lease and
(b)
of a
bona fide
covenant to expend moneys on the erection or
completion of buildings on the site, the duty is
charged only on the rent. Such a lease containing a
covenant to expend a specified sum in building
development and to employ a named builder, e.g.,
the lessor, is ordinarily regarded as exempt from
duty on the building expenditure, and adjudication
is not considered necessary in such cases.
2. Where buildings are completed or are in a
state of substantial completion at the date of the
lease.
(a)
Where there is a previous agreement with the
lessee to grant a lease, and a collateral building
agreement, the duty charged on the lease depends
upon the substance of the antecedent agreements.
If the agreement for the lease is such that the lessee
can enforce the grant of the lease independently of
the completion of the building contract the lease is
not normally regarded as chargeable with
ad valorem
duty in respect of the building price. If, however, the
documents show that the lessee cannot enforce the
grant of the lease until the building contract has been
completed
ad valorem
duty is charged in respect of
the building price.
(/>) On the granting of a lease of a site from A to
B, where buildings are erected on the site between
the date of the agreement and the date of the lease,
the fact that the buildings are mentioned in the
parcels clause of the lease does not of itself mean
that duty will be claimed on the value of
the
buildings, if they were erected under a collateral
independent agreement. If it appeared from a lease
that substantial buildings had been demised in
consideration of a ground rent only, or in considera
tion of expenses incurred by the lessee, the Revenue
Commissioners would be obliged to investigate the
facts of the case on adjudication to ascertain whether
or not there was in fact an independent building
agreement.
(c)
Adjudication may also be necessary in the case
of a lease or other document in order to establish
the facts on which duty has to be assessed. In some
cases of leases expressed to grant undeveloped sites
for terms of years, with covenants by the lessees to
erect buildings, it was found on investigation that