HC Deb 28 October 1909 vol 12 cc1240-3

(1) Any conveyance or transfer operating as a voluntary disposition inter vivos shall be chargeable with the like Stamp Duty as if it were a conveyance or transfer on sale, with the substitution in each case of the value of the property conveyed or transferred for the amount or value of the consideration for the sale.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in Section twelve of the principal Act, the Commissioners may be required to express their opinion under that Section on any conveyance or transfer operating as a voluntary disposition inter vivos, and no such conveyance or transfer shall be deemed to be duly stamped unless the Commissioners have expressed their opinion thereon in accordance with that Section.

(3) Sub-section (2) of Section fifteen of the principal Act, which enables certain instruments to be stamped after execution, shall apply to conveyances or transfers operating as voluntary dispositions inter vivos as if those conveyances or transfers were specified in the first column of the table in paragraph (d) of that Sub-section, and the grantor or transferor were specified in the second column of that table.

(4) Where any instrument is chargeable with duty both as a conveyance or transfer under this Section and as a settlement under the heading "Settlement" in the First Schedule to the principal Act, the instrument shall be charged with duty as a conveyance or transfer under this Section, but not as a settlement under the principal Act.

(5) Any conveyance or transfer (not being a disposition made in favour of a purchaser or incumbrancer or other person in good faith and for valuable consideration) shall, for the purposes of this Section, be deemed to be a conveyance or transfer operating as a voluntary disposition inter vivos, and (except where marriage is the consideration) the consideration for any conveyance or transfer shall not for this purpose be deemed to be valuable consideration where the Commissioners are of opinion that by reason of the inadequacy of the sum paid as consideration or other circumstances the conveyance or transfer has been made with a view of conferring a substantial benefit on the person to whom the property is conveyed or transferred.

(6) A conveyance or transfer made for effectuating the appointment of a new trustee or the retirement of a trustee, or under which no beneficial interest passes in the property conveyed or transferred, or a disentailing assurance not limiting a new estate, shall not be charged with duty under this Section.

Sir JOHN JARDINE moved to add to Sub-section (1) the words: "Provided that this Section shall not apply to a conveyance or transfer operating as a voluntary disposition of property to a body of persons incorporated by a special Act if that body is by its Act precluded from dividing any profit among its members and the property conveyed is to be held for the purposes of an open space or for the purposes of its preservation for the benefit of the nation."

I hope this Amendment will have the approval of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I move it on the suggestion of the National Society for the Preservation of Historical Buildings and Places of National Beauty. The society is bound not to make a profit out of what it gets. It often receives gifts of open spaces, historic buildings, and beautiful places from generous persons throughout the country. It may be that the gift consists of an open space in Devonshire overlooking the sea, or of woodlands somewhere else, or of some historic building. It has been pointed out to me that in the case of one of these gifts, consisting of 70 acres of woods near Clifton Bridge, at Bristol, made by a worthy citizen of that city, the Stamp Duty at present is 10s., but under this Bill it would be £100, which some one would have to pay. This Society, which exists for the benefit of the nation, could hardly pay that sum, its whole income being only about £400 or £500 a year. It would be ungracious to ask the private owner to add to the amount he has already given, the purchase price in this particular instance being £10,000. My Amendment refers to three things—open spaces, historical places, where the valour of our ancestors is commemorated, and also places of national beauty.

Mr. CECIL HARMSWORTH

I beg to second the Amendment.

Drafting Amendments also made.

Mr. EVELYN CECIL (for Mr. Cave) moved, in Sub-section (6) to leave out "a" ["limiting a new estate"], and to insert instead thereof the word "any."

There are two Amendments on the Paper in the name of my hon. and learned Friend. This, the first, is to exempt from duty any disentailing deed.

Mr. FELL

I beg to second the Amendment.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL (Sir Samuel Evans)

When in Committee I promised to exempt disentailing deeds, but I pointed out that we could not do so where the deed resettled the estate. The words of the second Amendment make it perfectly clear.

Question, "That 'a' stand part of the Bill," put, and negatived.

Further Amendment made: After the word "estate" ["not limiting a new estate"] to insert the words, "other than an estate in fee simple in the person disentailing the property."—[Mr. Evelyn Cecil.]