§ [No. 2]
§
Clause 1, page 2, line 13, at end insert—
Where by virtue of this subsection a hereditament is for purposes of section 48 of the General Rate Act 1967 a mixed hereditament as at the 1st April in any year, it shall be treated as being a mixed hereditament throughout the rating year beginning with that date, notwithstanding that it appears to the rating authority or is determined to have ceased to be one.
§ Baroness BIRKMy Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 2. The purpose of this Amendment is to avoid the situation where the site operator might have to meet an extra bill for rates during the course of a rating year (because his site has lost its status as a mixed hereditament), after he has fixed his charges to the caravanners on the basis that the site is rated as a mixed hereditament. If this happens part way through the rating year, the site operator will have to pay the difference between commercial rate and the mixed hereditament rate for the rest of that year. He will, however, have set his charges on the basis of the lower level of liability for rates. This Amendment thus prevents the need for an extra charge to be made on the caravanners remaining in the single unit for the rest of the rating year. So it covers the position both of the site operator and of the caravanners.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(Baroness Birk.)
§ Lord ELTONMy Lords, noble Lords may recall that we raised this matter in this House, and I am glad to see that it was possible to meet it in the other place, and so we are very pleased to see this Amendment.