Occupying separate floors: an underrated way of doing business? ask Joseph Ollech & James Tipler
Local authority rates are a tax on units of property known as “hereditaments”. Section 64(1) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 defines a hereditament, by reference to s 115(1) of the General Rate Act 1967, as follows: “Property which is or may become liable to a rate, being a unit of such property which is, or would fall to be, shown as a separate item in the valuation list.”
Apart from the reference to “a unit of property” this definition is rather circular—it almost seems to say that a hereditament is a hereditament.
In the majority of cases, say, a single house owned by one person, the unit is reasonably self evident. But matters are more complex where, for example, one person owns two separate parcels of land, or one parcel of land which he uses in different ways. The difference in financial terms can also be significant—more units means higher rates, or fragmentation can lead to a discount.
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