I move:
Immediately before Section 12 to insert a new section as follows:—
(1) In this section the expressions "The Commissioner" and "new building" and the word "valuation" have the same meaning as in the preceding section; the word "tenement" means any rateable tenement or hereditament; and the expression "the exemption period" when used in relation to a tenement the valuation of which has been increased means either a period of five years from the date of such increase or the period from such date to the next date on which a general revision of valuation in an area in which such tenement is situate becomes effective, whichever of such periods is the shorter.
(2) This section shall apply to every building except the following, that is to say:—
(a) Houses erected under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919.
(b) Houses erected under the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Acts, 1890 to 1921.
(c) Houses in respect of which grants are made under the Housing Acts, 1925 and 1926.
(d) Buildings which are new buildings.
(3) This section shall apply to any increase in the valuation of a tenement, not forming part of a general revision of valuation in an area including such tenement, on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason of the erection, enlargement or improvement of a building to which this section applies which is included in such tenement, which erection, enlargement or improvement has been begun and completed during the period from the passing of this Act to the 1st day of October, 1930.
(4) Where an increase to which this section applies is made in the valuation of any tenement, the valuation of such tenement shall, for the purposes of the assessment and levying of any rate raised by a local authority for the service of any local financial year commencing during the exemption period, be deemed to be reduced to either
(a) the valuation of such tenement immediately before the making of such increase, or
(b) one-third of such valuation as so increased,
whichever of such amounts is the greater; and any reduction in the valuation of such tenement which under Section 69 of the Principal Act or this section has, previous to the making of such increase, been deemed to be made for the purposes of the assessment and levying of rates for the service of any local financial year, shall be made for the same purposes in the valuation determined under this sub-section after the making of such increase.
(5) The Commissioner shall determine whether any increase in the valuation of a tenement made after the passing of this Act and not forming part of a general revision of valuation in an area including such tenement was so made on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason of the erection, enlargement or improvement of a building to which this section applies which is included in such tenement, and such decision shall be indicated by the Commissioner on the appropriate revised valuation list, and as so indicated shall be final and conclusive and not subject to any appeal.
(6) Where an increase to which this section applies is made in the valuation of any tenement and at the time of or after the making of such increase a separate valuation is assigned by the Commissioner to a portion of such tenement not previously valued separately, the valuation of such portion immediately before the making of such increase shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to have been an amount bearing to the total valuation of such tenement then in force the same proportion as the valuation of such portion after such separate valuation bears to the total valuation of all the component parts of such tenement after such separate valuation.
(7) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (5) of this section any doubt, dispute or question which shall arise as to whether an increase in the valuation of any tenement is an increase to which this section applies, or as to the duration of the exemption period for any tenement shall be decided by the Circuit Court on an application by any person interested, and such decision shall be final and conclusive and not subject to any appeal and any amendments which may be necessary to give effect to such a decision shall be made in the rate books and demand notes for rates.
(8) Section 15 of the Finance Act, 1925 shall have effect in relation to any tenement the valuation of which is deemed to be reduced under this section for the purposes of the assessment and levying of rates as it has effect in respect of a new building under Section 69 of the Principal Act.
This amendment is really a reconstruction of Section 11 as it stands in the Bill. As it stands, the object of that section is to extend the relief given by Section 69 of the Local Government Act, 1925, to persons who have either erected a new building or substantially improved or enlarged an existing building. The object of Section 69 of the Act of 1925 was to encourage building in the shape of new buildings and the improvement of existing buildings, with consequential benefit to the country and the giving of employment. The effect of that section was that where a person erected, or substantially improved, a building he only paid one-third of the increased valuation over a period of seven years. The section, however, only applied to buildings which were either erected or improved, that is, begun to be erected or improved after the 1st April, 1920, and which were completed before the 1st April, 1927. The Act of 1925, therefore, only gave two years for the operation of Section 69. That was found to be quite inadequate. I am afraid that the public really never understood the benefit they would get in the shape of reduced rates under that section, but, be that as it may, the object of Section 11 in the existing Bill, which is now before us, is to extend the period during which this beneficial reduction in rates will take place and also to do away with the defects which have been found to arise. There were two defects in Section 69 of the Act of 1925. The first defect was that the period was too short, and the second was that it might mean, in the case of substantial improvement, that the local authority would get a smaller amount of rates during the seven years, that is, that one-third of the new valuation, provided by Section 69 of the Act of 1925, might be less than the old valuation, and the local authority might suffer in the diminution of the amount that the rates produced. That last effect under Section 69 of the Act of 1925 had a curious result. The Act only relieved in a case where the enlargement or improvement was substantial, and the question of whether an improvement or an enlargement of an existing building was substantial arose in practically every case, and where there was a dispute about whether an improvement or enlargement was substantial it led to an appeal to the Minister under Section 69, and, very probably, with the laudable object of not allowing the local authority to get less from the new building, or the improved building, during the seven years, the Minister always decided that an improvement or enlargement was not substantial unless practically it increased the valuation by something like 100 and sometimes 200 per cent. That, of course, was very unsatisfactory because it hit the small man. It did not matter so much to a person who was making a very large improvement running into thousands of pounds, in an existing building, but the small man who wanted to enlarge his shop, or enlarge the factory in which he was working, found himself very badly hit because the Minister decided that the improvement which he had made was not substantial and that, therefore, he was not entitled to get a reduction under Section 69. Clause 11, as it stands in this Bill, remedies, to some extent, one of these defects; that is to say, it extends the date for erecting and improving a building until the 1st April, 1930. That is, the house would have to be erected and finished, or the improvement or enlargement made, between the present date and the 1st April, 1930. That only gives three summers, and practically the summer is the time that building goes on fastest and best. Therefore, one of the amendments that appears in the new section which I am now moving to insert in this Bill is that that period until 1st April, 1930, should be extended until 30th October, 1930, and so giving them a fourth summer for building. To that, I understand, there will be no objection. But Clause 11, as it stands in the Bill, did not remedy the defect. It leaves the case of the substantial improvement just where it was, and it would lead to the same result. Nobody who had not made an improvement which increased the valuation to this very great extent would get the benefit of the section.
The amendment that I am moving is, perhaps, not a perfect solution of the difficulty. I do not think it is, but at any rate it is the best solution that I have been able to arrive at. Of course the simplest way would have been to say that in the case of anybody who built a new house, or substantially improved an old one, the owner would pay on the old valuation for a period of, say, five years. That would be perfectly simple and would require very little working out. However, there were certain objections to that, and what this amendment does is to make the valuation on the enlarged or improved building during five years one-third of the increase. That does not injure the local authorities. There is no loss of rate. In fact, there must be a gain, and it is a very substantial relief. I have stated that this is the effect of the amendment I am going to make because I am going to ask the House to allow me to alter sub-clause 4. Sub-clause 3 reads:
This section shall apply to any increase in the valuation of a tenement, not forming part of a general revision of valuation in an area including such tenement, on an application for the revision of such valuation by reason of the erection, enlargement or improvement of a building to which this section applies which is included in such tenement, which erection, enlargement or improvement has been begun and completed during the period from the passing of this Act to the 1st day of October, 1930.
That gives four summers.
