PART IV

Stamp Duties

Chapter I

Special provisions relating to residential property

115. —In this Chapter—

“the Act of 1891” means the Stamp Act, 1891;

“the Act of 1978” means the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act, 1978 ;

“the Commissioners” means the Revenue Commissioners;

“the First Schedule” means the First Schedule, as amended by the Finance Act, 1970 , and subsequent enactments, to the Act of 1891;

“community hall”, “mixed hereditament”, “secondary school” and “valuation lists” have the meanings, respectively, assigned to them by section 1 of the Act of 1978.

116. —This Chapter shall have effect as respects instruments executed on or after the 23rd day of January, 1997:

Provided that this Chapter shall not apply as respects any instrument executed prior to the 1st day of May, 1997, in pursuance of a contract which was evidenced in writing prior to the 23rd day of January, 1997.

117. —The First Schedule is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of the Heading and the provisions thereto which are set out in Part I of the Eighth Schedule for the Heading (as amended by the Finance Act, 1992 ) “CONVEYANCE or TRANSFER on sale of any property other than stocks or marketable securities or a policy of insurance or a policy of life insurance” and the provisions thereto, and

(b) by the substitution of the subparagraph set out in Part II of the Eighth Schedule for subparagraph (a) of paragraph (3) of the Heading “LEASE” (inserted by the Finance Act, 1991 ).

118.— Section 122 of the Act of 1891 is hereby amended by the insertion of the following definition after the definition of “marketable security”:

“The expression ‘residential property’, in relation to a sale or lease, means—

(a) a building or part of a building which, at the date of the instrument of conveyance or lease—

(i) was used or was suitable for use as a dwelling, or

(ii) was in the course of being constructed or adapted for use as a dwelling, or

(iii) had been constructed or adapted for use as a dwelling and had not since such construction or adaptation been adapted for any other use,

and

(b) the curtilage of the residential property up to an area (exclusive of the site of the residential property) of one acre:

Provided that—

(i) where in the year ending on the 31st day of December immediately prior to the date of that instrument of conveyance or lease—

(I) a rate was made by a rating authority as regards any hereditament to which the provisions of section 3 of the Act of 1978 did not apply, or

(II) a rate was made by a rating authority, and an allowance made under that section of that Act, as regards any hereditament which was at the time the rate was made a mixed hereditament, secondary school or community hall, or

(III) a hereditament was described as exempt, or partially exempt, from rating in the valuation lists,

then the whole or an appropriate part of that hereditament as is referable to ordinary use other than as a dwelling at the date of that instrument of conveyance or lease or, where appropriate, when last ordinarily used, shall not be residential property, in relation to that sale or lease,

(ii) where the area of the curtilage (exclusive of the site of the residential property) exceeds one acre then the part which shall be residential property shall be taken to be the part which, if the remainder were separately occupied, would be the most suitable for occupation and enjoyment with the residential property.”.

119. —Section 58 of the Act of 1891 is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) Where—

(a) any property which consists partly of an interest in residential property is sold to any person and the sale (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as ‘the first-mentioned sale’) does not form part of a larger transaction or of a series of transactions, or

(b) the sale to any person of property consisting in whole or in part of such an interest forms part of a larger transaction or of a series of transactions,

the consideration attributable to the first-mentioned sale and the aggregate consideration (other than rent) attributable to that larger transaction or series of transactions, as the case may be, shall be apportioned, on such basis as is just and reasonable, as between that interest in residential property and the other property or part concerned, and that aggregate consideration shall likewise be apportioned as between each other such interest (if any) comprised in that larger transaction or series of transactions and the other property or parts concerned, and notwithstanding the amount or value of the consideration set forth in any instrument, the consideration so apportioned to that interest shall be the amount or the value of the consideration for the sale which is deemed to be attributable to that interest and the consideration so apportioned to the aggregate of all such interests comprised in that larger transaction or series of transactions shall be the amount or value of that aggregate consideration which is deemed to be attributable to residential property.”.

120. —Section 77 of the Act of 1891 is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsection after subsection (5):

“(6) Where—

(a) any property which consists partly of an interest in residential property is leased to any person and that lease (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as ‘the first-mentioned lease’) does not form part of a larger transaction or of a series of transactions, or

(b) the lease to any person of any property consisting in whole or in part of such an interest forms part of a larger transaction or of a series of transactions,

the consideration other than rent attributable to that first-mentioned lease and the aggregate consideration (other than rent) attributable to that larger transaction or series of transactions, as the case may be, shall be apportioned, on such basis as is just and reasonable, as between that interest in residential property and the other property or part concerned, and that aggregate consideration shall likewise be apportioned, as between each other such interest (if any) comprised in that larger transaction or series of transactions and the other property or parts concerned, and notwithstanding the amount or value of the consideration set forth in any instrument, the consideration so apportioned to that interest shall be the amount or the value of the consideration for the lease which is deemed to be attributable to that interest and the consideration so apportioned to the aggregate of all such interests comprised in that larger transaction or series of transactions shall be the amount or value of that aggregate consideration which is deemed to be attributable to residential property.”.

121. —(1) In this section—

(a) a reference to a sale includes a reference to a lease,

(b) a reference to a vendor includes a reference to a lessor,

(c) a reference to a vendee includes a reference to a lessee,

(d) a reference to subsection (1A) of section 58 of the Act of 1891 includes a reference to subsection (6) of section 77 of the Act of 1891, and

(e) “residential consideration” means—

(i) in the case of a sale to which paragraph (a) of subsection (1A) of section 58 of the Act of 1891 refers, the amount or value of the consideration for the sale which is deemed to be attributable to residential property, and

(ii) in the case of a sale to which paragraph (b) of subsection (1A) of section 58 of the Act of 1891 refers, the amount or value of the aggregate consideration (within the meaning of that subsection) which is deemed to be attributable to residential property.

(2) Where, in relation to any sale, the provisions of subsection (1A) of section 58 of the Act of 1891 apply, an estimate (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “vendor's estimate” or as the “vendee's estimate”, as the case may be) of the residential consideration shall be made by the vendor and by the vendee and those estimates together with the amount or value of the aggregate consideration (within the meaning of that subsection), shall be brought to the attention of the Commissioners in the statement delivered under the provisions of subsection (2) of section 5 of that Act and that statement shall be signed by the vendor and the vendee and where the requirements of this subsection are not complied with any person who executes the instrument whereby that sale is effected shall for the purposes of subsection (3) of section 5 of that Act be presumed, until the contrary is proven, to have acted negligently:

Provided that where—

(a) the aggregate consideration (within the meaning of subsection (1A) of section 58 of the Act of 1891), or

(b) in the case where the sale does not form part of a larger transaction or of a series of transactions, the consideration for the sale,

does not exceed £150,000, those estimates need not be brought to the attention of the Commissioners in that statement unless a request in that regard is made by the Commissioners.

(3) Where the vendee's estimate (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the “submitted value”) is less than the residential value agreed with, or ascertained by, the Commissioners (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the “ascertained value”) then, as a penalty, the duty chargeable upon the instrument shall be increased by an amount (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the “surcharge”) calculated according to the following provisions:

(a) where the submitted value is less than the ascertained value by an amount which is greater than 10 per cent. of the ascertained value but not greater than 30 per cent. of the ascertained value, a surcharge equal to 50 per cent. of the difference between the duty chargeable by reference to the ascertained value and the duty chargeable by reference to the submitted value;

(b) where the submitted value is less than the ascertained value by an amount which is greater than 30 per cent. of the ascertained value, a surcharge equal to the difference between the duty chargeable by reference to the ascertained value and the duty chargeable by reference to the submitted value:

Provided that—

(i) notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary in the Act of 1891, the vendee shall, subject to subparagraph (ii) of this proviso, be entitled to recover from the vendor one-half of that surcharge,

(ii) where the vendor's estimate is greater than the submitted value, the amount which the vendee shall be entitled to recover from the vendor shall not exceed one-half of what the surcharge would be if the submitted value were equal to the vendor's estimate.

122. —The furnishing of an incorrect certificate for the purpose of the First Schedule shall be deemed to constitute the delivery of an incorrect statement for the purposes of section 94 of the Finance Act, 1983 .