Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012

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PART 3

Liable Person

Liable persons.

11.— (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person who holds any estate, interest or right in a relevant residential property entitling the person to—

(a) the immediate possession of such property for a period that may equal or exceed 20 years, or

(b) the receipt of rents or profits of such property for a period that may equal or exceed 20 years,

shall, for the purposes of this Act, be a liable person in relation to that property.

(2) If—

(a) 2 or more persons each have an equal estate, interest or right in a relevant residential property that entitles each of them to the possession or receipt referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b), all of those persons shall, for the purposes of this Act, be liable persons in relation to that property, or

(b) 2 or more persons have unequal estates, interests or rights in relevant residential property, such or so many of those persons as have an estate, interest or right in the property that, as against the estate, interest or right of the other or others, is the minimum estate, interest or right giving rise, in the circumstances, to an entitlement to the possession or receipt referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b) shall, for the purposes of this Act, be the liable person or persons in relation to that property.

(3) Without prejudice to subsections (1) and (2), the following persons shall, for the purposes of this Act, be liable persons in relation to a relevant residential property (the “property”)—

(a) a person having an equitable or beneficial estate, interest or right in the property that entitles the person to the possession or receipt referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b),

(b) a trustee that holds the property by an estate, interest or right in the property that entitles the trustee or a beneficiary to the possession or receipt referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b),

(c) a trustee or other person having a power to appoint in the property, an estate, interest or right that entitles a person to the possession or receipt referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b),

(d) a person having an exclusive right of residence in the property for—

(i) his or her life or the life or lives of one or more others, or

(ii) a period that may equal or exceed 20 years,

(e) the personal representative of the estate of a person who was a liable person by virtue of any of the preceding provisions of this section,

(f) a person occupying the property with the right to be registered, pursuant to the Registration of Title Act 1964 , in respect of any estate, interest or right that would entitle the person to the possession or receipt referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b).

(4) For the avoidance of doubt—

(a) in a case where a person is a trustee as referred to in subsection (3)(b), that person shall, for the purposes of this Act, be a liable person in relation to the relevant residential property concerned notwithstanding that the one or more beneficiaries under the trust is or are, for the purposes of this Act, also a liable person or persons in relation to that property, and

(b) a mortgagee not in possession of the relevant residential property concerned shall not, for the purposes of this Act, be a liable person in relation to that property.

(5) The circumstance of a person’s holding a relevant residential property under a periodic tenancy, under a Part 4 tenancy or a further Part 4 tenancy under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 or under any other tenancy not of a term certain, which circumstance, if it were to endure, could result in the person’s being in possession of that property for 20 or more years, does not operate to render him or her a liable person, for the purposes of this Act, in relation to that property.

(6) The absence of documentary evidence, or the demonstration by or on behalf of a person (the “disputant”) of the absence of documentary evidence, of title to property shall, not of itself, preclude—

(a) the making of an estimate or assessment to local property tax in relation to that property or, as the case may be, the making of an estimate or assessment to such tax on the disputant in relation to that property, or

(b) the making of a finding that a person or, as the case may be, the disputant is, for the purposes of this Act, a liable person in relation to that property.