BAILII [Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Search] [Feedback]

Northern Irish Legislation

You are here:  BAILII >> Databases >> Northern Irish Legislation >> RATES (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1977

[Index] [Table] [Search] [Notes] [Noteup] [Previous] [Download] [Help]


RATES (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1977 - SECT 41



41.(1) Subject to the provisions of this Article, where the Commissioner or
the district valuer is satisfied that a hereditament is a hereditament of a
description mentioned in paragraph (2), he shall distinguish the hereditament,
or cause it to be distinguished, in the valuation list as exempt from rates in
accordance with paragraph (3).

(2) The hereditaments referred to in paragraph (1) are

(a)any hereditament which is altogether of a public nature and is occupied and
used for purposes of the public service;

(b)any hereditament which consists of either or both of the following

(i)a church, chapel or similar building occupied by a religious body and used
for purposes of public religious worship;

(ii)a church hall, chapel hall or similar building occupied by a religious
body and used for purposes connected with that body or for purposes of any
charity;

(b)together, in either case, with buildings ancillary thereto;

(c)any hereditament, other than a hereditament to which sub-paragraph (b)
applies, which

(i)is occupied by a charity; and

(ii)is used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes (whether of that charity
or of that and other charities);

(d)any hereditament, other than a hereditament to which sub-paragraph (b)
applies, which is occupied by a body

(i)which is not established or conducted for profit; and

(ii)whose main objects are charitable or are concerned with science,
literature or the fine arts;

(d)where the hereditament is used wholly or mainly for the purposes of those
main objects;

(e)any hereditament which is used wholly or mainly for purposes which are
declared to be charitable by the Recreational Charities Act (Northern Ireland)
1958;

[(f)any hereditament, other than a hereditament to which sub-paragraph (e)
applies,

(i)which is occupied by a body that is not established or conducted for
profit; and

(ii)which is used, either by the occupying body or by some other person
(whether that body or person is a charity or not), to an extent of not less
than 10 per cent. for purposes which are declared by the Recreational
Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 1958 to be charitable; and

<(iii)which is made available by the occupying body for that use


(aa)where the use is by that body, subject to charges, if any, not more than
necessary to defray reasonable expenses actually incurred by the body by
reason of that use, or

(bb)where the use is not by that body, for a consideration, if any, not more
than necessary to defray such expenses;]

[(g)any hereditament, other than a hereditament to which sub-paragraph (c)
applies, which is occupied by a body and which is used for one or more of the
following purposes (either wholly or in conjunction only with its use for
purposes ancillary thereto), that is to say,

(i)the provision of residential accommodation for the care of persons
suffering from illness or the after-care of persons who have been suffering
from illness;

(ii)the provision of facilities for training or keeping suitably occupied
persons suffering from illness or persons who have been suffering from
illness;

<(iii)the provision of such accommodation or facilities as are mentioned in head (i) or (ii) for disabled persons not falling within that head;


<(iv)the provision of personal social services for disabled persons;


(v)the provision of facilities under section 15 of the Disabled Persons
(Employment) Act (Northern Ireland) 1945;

(g)so however that heads (i), (ii) and (iii) do not apply where the purpose is
wholly or mainly to provide medical, surgical or dental treatment for the
persons in question; and heads (i) and (iii) do not apply to the provision of
residential accommodation where the purpose is wholly or mainly to provide
such accommodation for persons who by reason of age are in need of care and
attention which is not otherwise available to them.]

(3) The hereditament shall be distinguished as exempt

(a)as to one-half of the extent (if any) to which it is used for such of the
purposes mentioned in sub-paragraph (a), (b)(i) or (ii), (c), (d), [(e), (f)
or (g)] of paragraph (2) as are domestic purposes; and

(b)as to the whole of the extent (if any) to which it is used for such of
those purposes as are not domestic purposes;

(i)for the purposes mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) (if any);

(ii)for the purposes mentioned in sub-paragraph (b) (if any);

(ii)for other purposes (if any);

(4) Subject to paragraph (5), any use (whether by way of letting or otherwise)
for profit shall not be treated as a use for the purposes mentioned in
sub-paragraph (a), (b)(i) or (ii), (c), (d), [(e), (f) or (g)] of paragraph
(2), unless it directly facilitates the carrying out of those purposes.

(5) Notwithstanding anything in paragraph (4) and without prejudice to the
generality of paragraph (2)(c)(ii), a hereditament shall be treated as used
for charitable purposes to the extent that it is used for the sale of goods
donated to a charity, so long as the proceeds of sale (after any deduction of
expenses) are applied for the purposes of a charity.

(6) This Article does not apply to

(a)a hereditament which is occupied for the purposes of a public utility
undertaking; or

(b)a hereditament which

(i)is occupied by a body specified in Schedule 13; or

(ii)if hereditaments of any description are included in that Schedule, is a
hereditament of that description.

(7) The Department may, by order made subject to affirmative resolution amend
Schedule 13 by

(a)including hereditaments of any description;

(b)adding or omitting any body or any description of hereditaments;

(c)altering the description of any body or hereditament.

(8) A hereditament, or a distinct part of a hereditament, an interest in which
belongs to, or to trustees for, a religious body and

(a)in which (in right of that interest)

(i)the persons from time to time holding any full-time office as clergyman or
minister of any religious denomination, or

(ii)any particular person holding such an office,

(a)have or has a residence from which to perform the duties of the office; or

(b)in which (in right of that interest) accommodation is being held available
to provide such a residence for such a person as is mentioned in sub-paragraph
(a);

(9) In this Article

any reference to a body includes a reference to persons administring a trust;
and any reference to a hereditament which is occupied by a body includes a
reference to a hereditament which is occupied for the purposes of a body by
trustees for the body or by a person charged with the administration of, or
otherwise acting on behalf of the body;

"charity" means a body established for charitable purposes only;

"domestic purposes" means the purposes of providing living accommodation for
one or more than one person who is a member or employee of a body by or on
behalf of which the hereditament is occupied;

"employee" means a person employed under a contract of service;

["illness" has the same meaning as in the Health and Personal Social Services
(Northern Ireland) Order 1972;]

[(10) In accordance with sub-paragraph (f) of paragraph (2), in paragraphs
(3), (4) and (5) as they apply in relation to a hereditament such as is
mentioned in that sub-paragraph any reference to use of a hereditament is a
reference to its use either by the occupying body or by some other person; and
any calculation for any year of the extent of use of such a hereditament for
the purposes mentioned in head (ii) of that sub-paragraph, and any
apportionment for any year of its net annual value between uses in pursuance
of paragraph (3), shall be made on the basis of comparing

(a)the number of sessions actually devoted to use for such purposes in that
year, with

(b)the total number of sessions that might reasonably be regarded as available
for all active uses in that year (that is to say, for use for the purposes
mentioned in paragraph (2)(f)(ii) or for meetings, functions or other
activities),



[Index] [Table] [Search] [Notes] [Noteup] [Previous] [Download] [Help]

© 1977 Crown Copyright

BAILII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback
URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_act/rio1977273/s1977.html