HC Deb 20 October 1966 vol 734 cc521-2
Mr. MacColl

I beg to move Amendment No. 34, in page 15, line 30, to leave out from 'and' to 'relevant' in line 35.

Again, this is mainly a drafting Amendment. The Clause provides that "relevant hereditaments" may be rated when they have been unoccupied for more than three months, or six months in the case of newly erected dwelling-houses. Subsection (3) defines what we mean by a "relevant hereditament". Generally speaking it is a building with or without ancillary land. The subsection provides specifically for the inclusion of rateable plant and machinery in or on the building, but this specific provision is unnecessary, because in the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, all rateable plant and machinery in or on the hereditament is deemed to be a part of the hereditament.

These words are, therefore, superfluous. The Amendment shortens the definition a good deal and does not in any way make the position obscure.

Mr. Costain

How does the hon. Gentleman decide when a house is completed in this way, when the six months should start?

Mr. MacColl

That comes up later. It is dealt with in the Schedule.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr. MacColl

I beg to move Amendment No. 35, in page 15, line 41, to leave out subsection (5) and to insert: (5) Where a relevant hereditament which is unoccupied becomes occupied on any day and becomes unoccupied again on the expiration of a period of less than six weeks beginning with that day, then, for the purpose of ascertaining any period of three months during which the hereditament has been continuously unoccupied and any relevant period of vacancy in respect of the hereditament, it shall be deemed to have remained unoccupied on that day and during that period. This, again, is a drafting Amendment. It corrects a defect which the learned editor of the Rating and Valuation Reporter—to whom we have been much indebted during our deliberations—pointed out on 21st July. We have taken his advice and have made the appropriate Amendment.

Mr. Temple

I should like to add a personal tribute to the work of the learned editor of the Rating and Valuation Reporter, without whose regular weekly journal my contributions to the debates on this Bill could have been nothing like so learned or so well informed. We are particularly indebted to him for getting rid of some of the ghastly draftsmen's jargon. Who would have thought of using the words "six continuous weeks"—a term never used in any public Bill before? The Amendment gets rid of that ghastly jargon. We are extremely grateful to all those outside experts who have been keeping an even more careful eye on the Government than I have been able to do.

Amendment agreed to.