Local Government Rates and other Matters Act 2019

Amendment of Valuation Act 2001

21. The Valuation Act 2001 is amended—

(a) in section 28 (amended by section 13 of the Act of 2015) by the substitution of the following for subsection (14):

“(14) An amendment of a valuation list made under subsection (10), (11) or (12) shall have full force, from the date of its making, for the purposes of the rating authority concerned making a rate in relation to the property concerned by reference to that list as so amended.

(15) Where—

(a) an amount of monies is paid on account of a rate made in respect of a property, and

(b) it appears, consequent on an amendment of the value of the property made pursuant to an exercise of the powers under this section, that that payment involved an overpayment or an underpayment of the amount due in respect of such a rate,

then the balance owing or owed, as the case may be, to or by the person concerned may be paid or recovered, as appropriate—

(i) in the case of an overpayment, by making a refund to the person concerned of an amount equal to that balance or allowing an amount equal to that balance as a credit against the amount owed by the person concerned on account of a rate made in respect of that or any other property, and

(ii) in the case of an underpayment, by recovering from the person concerned an amount equal to that balance as arrears of the rate concerned (and, accordingly, any of the means provided under any enactment for the recovery of a rate may be employed for that purpose).”,

(b) in section 53 (amended by section 29 of the Act of 2015)—

(i) in subsection (9), by the substitution of “2 months” for “4 months”,

(ii) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (11):

“(11) The Commissioner shall, on a date that is not less than 3 months before the date on which he or she issues, in its final terms, under subsection (10), a global valuation certificate, issue a copy of that certificate, in the terms he or she proposes to so issue it under that subsection, to the undertaking concerned, relevant rating authorities and the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Commissioner shall issue the notice referred to in subsection (12) to the undertaking concerned and that Minister of the Government.”,

(iii) in subsection (12), by the substitution of “40 days” for “28 days”,

(c) in section 54, by the substitution of “28 days” for “3 months”,

(d) by the substitution of the following section for section 56:

“Power to limit rates income

56. (1) In this section—

‘appropriate year’ means the financial year immediately following the effective date in relation to the valuation list that, for the time being, stands published in respect of the area of the rating authority concerned;

‘consumer price index number’ means the All Items Consumer Price Index Number compiled by the Central Statistics Office;

‘consumer price index number relevant to the appropriate year’ means the consumer price index number most recently published by the Central Statistics Office before the effective date mentioned in the definition of ‘appropriate year’ in this subsection;

‘consumer price index number relevant to the preceding year’ means the consumer price index number lastly published by the Central Statistics Office before the day that falls 12 months before the day on which the consumer price index number referred to in the preceding definition is published;

‘preceding year’ means the financial year that immediately precedes the financial year mentioned in the definition of ‘appropriate year’ in this subsection.

(2) The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government shall, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make an order requiring a rating authority to exercise its powers to make rates in such a manner as to secure that the total amount liable to be paid to it in respect of rates made by it in the appropriate year does not exceed an amount determined by the formula

(A x (B + C) +G) + (A x (H+I))

where

A is the figure specified in subsection (3),

B is the total amount liable to be paid to the rating authority in respect of rates levied by it in respect of relevant property on the existing valuation list (but excluding relevant property on the Central Valuation List in the preceding year), and

C is an amount determined by the formula

D x (E + F)

where

D is the annual rate on valuation that was levied by the rating authority for the preceding year pursuant to section 3 of the Local Government Rates and Other Matters Act 2019,

E is the aggregate valuation of relevant properties in the area that, pursuant to the exercise of a revision officer’s powers under section 28(4)(b) of this Act, were included on the valuation list for the preceding year, as that list was amended for that area in relation to those properties under section 28(10),

F is the aggregate of the increases, if any, in valuations for relevant properties in the area that occurred during the preceding year pursuant to the exercise of a revision officer’s powers under section 28(4)(a) and which exercise resulted in amendments to the valuation list for that preceding year in accordance with section 28(10),

G is an amount to be decided by the Minister in consultation with the Commissioner to represent, in so far as is reasonably practicable, the estimated reduction in the total amount liable to be paid to the rating authority in respect of rates in the appropriate year pursuant to the exercise of the Commissioner’s powers under section 38 so that any amendment of the valuation list pursuant to the Commissioner’s powers under section 38, does not affect the total amount liable to be paid to the rating authority in respect of rates in the appropriate year,

H is the total amount liable to be paid to the rating authority in respect of rates levied by it, in respect of relevant property on the Central Valuation List in the preceding year,

I is an amount determined by the formula

D x (J + K)

where

D is the annual rate on valuation that was levied by the rating authority for the preceding year pursuant to section 3 of the Local Government Rates and Other Matters Act 2019,

J is the aggregate of all global valuation amounts that have been apportioned to the relevant rating authority in accordance with section 53(8), and entered on the Central Valuation List pursuant to the exercise of the Commissioner’s powers under section 53(1) of this Act, during the preceding year, and which exercise resulted in amendments to the Central Valuation List for that preceding year in accordance with section 55,

K is the aggregate of the increases, if any, of the global valuation amounts that have been apportioned to the relevant rating authority in accordance with section 53(8), and entered on the Central Valuation List during the preceding year pursuant to the exercise of the Commissioner’s powers under section 53(6) and which exercise resulted in amendments to the central valuation list for that preceding year in accordance with section 55.

(3) The figure mentioned in subsection (2) is the quotient, rounded up to 3 decimal places, obtained by dividing the consumer price index number relevant to the appropriate year by the consumer price index number relevant to the preceding year.”.