PART 13

Miscellaneous

57. —(1) A property in relation to which an application has been made under subsection (1) of section 3 of the Act of 1988, being an application in respect of which a determination under subsection (3) of that section has not been made before the commencement of this Act or in respect of which such a determination has been so made but that determination has not been issued under the said subsection (3) before such commencement, shall be deemed to be property in relation to which the Commissioner has made an appointment of an officer of the commissioner under section 28 .

(2) The person who was assigned by the Commissioner under the Act of 1852 to deal with that application shall be deemed to have been the officer of the Commissioner so appointed.

(3) Such an application is referred to in subsection (4) as a “relevant application”.

(4) Subject to subsection (9), so much of subsections (4) to (9) of section 28 in Part 6 and the other Parts of this Act as are appropriate, having regard to the steps that may already have been taken under the Act of 1988 in relation to the application concerned, shall apply to a relevant application with any necessary modifications.

(5) An appeal made to the Commissioner under, and in accordance with, section 19 or 31 of the Act of 1852, being an appeal in respect of which a determination by the Commissioner under that Act has not been made before the commencement of this Act or in respect of which such a determination has been so made but that determination has not been published under that Act before such commencement, shall be deemed to be an appeal made to the Commissioner under section 30 (1).

(6) Subject to subsection (9), so much of this Act (other than section 31 ) as is appropriate, having regard to the steps that may already have been taken under the Act of 1852 in relation to such an appeal, shall apply to the appeal with any necessary modifications.

(7) An appeal made to the Tribunal under, and in accordance with, section 3(5) of the Act of 1988, being an appeal which has not been heard by the Tribunal under that Act before the commencement of this Act or which has been so heard but in respect of which a determination has not been made by the Tribunal before such commencement, shall be deemed to be an appeal made to the Tribunal under section 34 .

(8) Subject to subsection (9), so much of this Act (other than section 35 ) as is appropriate, having regard to the steps that may already have been taken under the Act of 1988 in relation to such an appeal, shall apply to the appeal with any necessary modifications.

(9) The officer of the Commissioner, the Commissioner or the Tribunal, as the case may be, in considering, by virtue of this section, an application referred to in subsection (1) or an appeal referred to in subsection (5) or (7), where he or she or it is of opinion that the property concerned is property of a nature that could not have been the subject of an appointment such as is referred to in subsection (1) or an appeal such as is referred to in subsection (5) or (7) if this Act had been in operation at the time of the making of the application or appeal—

(a) shall give notice to the person or persons concerned of that opinion and invite, by means of that notice, that person or those persons to make submissions in relation to the matter to him or her or it within a specified period (and that person or those persons may make such submissions within that period accordingly),

(b) may, subject to section 67 , having considered any such submissions made to him or her or it within that period, dispose of the application or appeal in such manner as he or she or it considers appropriate.

58. —(1) An order under section 53 (8) may provide that, in respect of the period for which an existing valuation list remains in force by virtue of section 43 in relation to the area of a rating authority, the valuation referred to in that subsection which is apportioned to that authority by the order shall stand adjusted in a manner specified in the order to make it relative to the value of other properties appearing on the said list.

(2) If provision as aforesaid is made by an order under section 53 (8), the Commissioner shall ensure that, in respect of the period referred to in subsection (1), the central valuation list specifies, in addition to the amounts respectively provided by paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 55 (1) to be specified in that list, but in a separate part of that list from the part in which those amounts are specified, the said amounts as they stand adjusted pursuant to the said order.

59. —(1) A mine which has been opened on a date before the commencement of this Act (not being a date that falls more than 7 years before such commencement) shall not be rateable until the year after the year in which the mine shall have been opened for 7 years.

(2) An abandoned mine which has been reopened on a date before the commencement of this Act (not being a date that falls more than 7 years before such commencement) shall not be rateable until the year after the year in which the mine shall have been reopened for 7 years.

(3) A right to drill for and take away petroleum in respect of a particular oil pool, being a pool from which oil was first produced on a date before the commencement of this Act (“the date of first production”), not being a date that falls more than 20 years before such commencement, shall not be rateable until the 20th year from the date of first production.

(4) An apartment—

(a) which ceases to be used as part of an apart-hotel for a period of 12 months or less, and

(b) which, but for this subsection, would not be rateable during that period by reason of its being a domestic premises,

shall be rateable during that period, unless otherwise exempted from being rateable by virtue of this Act.

60. —(1) A copy of a valuation list or part of such a list which is certified by an officer of the Commissioner, duly authorised by the Commissioner in that behalf, to be such a copy shall, until the contrary is proved, be regarded as a true copy of that list or part.

(2) The production to the Tribunal or a court of a document purporting to be a copy of a valuation list or part of such a list and to be certified as such a copy by an officer of the Commissioner shall, without proof of the signature of that officer or that he or she was an officer of the Commissioner duly authorised by the Commissioner to so certify the document, be sufficient evidence, until the contrary is proved, of the matters stated in the document.

61. —(1) If a relevant property is situated partly in one rating authority area and partly in another rating authority area or areas, the Commissioner may, if he or she considers appropriate to do so, treat the property, for the purposes of this Act (including for the purposes of subsection (2)), as if the property—

(a) were situate in such one of those areas as he or she determines, or

(b) in case the property is situate in more than 2 such areas (without prejudice to the power to treat it in the manner provided for by paragraph (a)), were situate in such lesser number of areas than it is in fact situate as he or she determines.

(2) In relation to relevant property that is situate in 2 or more rating authority areas, the Commissioner shall apportion between each of the rating authorities concerned the value of the property determined under this Act in such manner as he or she considers appropriate and so much of that value as is so apportioned to each such authority shall, accordingly, be the value of the part of the property situate in the area of the authority.

(3) Any provision of this Act conferring a power to issue a valuation certificate or a new valuation certificate shall, in relation to property that is the subject of an apportionment under subsection (2), be construed as requiring that there be issued, on the occasion of the power being exercised, a separate such certificate to each rating authority in respect of which that apportionment is made.

(4) The value of the property which is stated in such a certificate shall be the value of the property as provided for in the apportionment under subsection (2).

62. —(1) The Commissioner may, whenever he or she considers it appropriate to do so, revoke the appointment of an officer of the Commissioner made under—

(a) section 19 (2) (which relates to valuation managers), or

(b) subsection (2) or (3) of section 28 (each of which relates to revision officers),

and appoint another officer of the Commissioner for the purpose concerned under section 19 (2) or subsection (2) or (3) of section 28 , as appropriate.

(2) An officer of the Commissioner appointed in succession to another such officer whose appointment under an aforesaid provision is so revoke may carry on and complete anything commenced by his or her predecessor.

(3) A reference in this Act to the valuation manager who secured the carrying out of a valuation under section 19 shall—

(a) if the power of revocation and appointment of another officer of the Commissioner referred to in subsection (1) has been exercised in relation to that particular office, be construed (unless the case falls within paragraph (b)) as a reference to the officer of the Commissioner who for the time being stands appointed under section 19 (2) for the purpose concerned, and

(b) if the power of revocation as aforesaid has been exercised in relation to that particular office after the carrying out of the valuation to which the appointment revoked relates but before the completion of any act required by this Act to be done, or caused to be done, by that manager in consequence of the carrying out of that valuation, be deemed to be a reference to the officer of the Commissioner who for the time being stands appointed by the Commissioner to do or complete, or organise and secure the doing or completion of, that act (which appointment the Commissioner is hereby empowered to make).

63. —(1) The statement of the value of property as appearing on a valuation list shall be deemed to be a correct statement of that value until it has been altered in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(2) The omission from a valuation list of any matter or particular required by this Act to be entered therein or the presence of any inaccuracy in such a list shall not, of itself, deprive of its effect for the purposes of this Act, or any other enactment, any other matter or particular entered in that list.

(3) The fact that a valuation certificate or new valuation certificate, or a draft of such a certificate proposed to be issued to the person concerned—

(a) has not been issued, as required by this Act, to the person concerned, or

(b) has been issued in accordance with this Act to that person but has not been received by him or her,

shall not deprive of its effect for the purposes of this Act, or any other enactment, any matter or particular entered in the relevant valuation list.

64. —(1) Subject to subsection (2), proceedings for an offence under this Act may be brought and prosecuted by the Commissioner.

(2) Proceedings for an offence under paragraph 13(4) of Schedule 2 shall not be brought and prosecuted by the Commissioner save with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

(3) Notwithstanding section 10(4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, proceedings for an offence under this Act may be instituted within 12 months from the date of the offence.

65. —(1) A person guilty of an offence under this Act (other than under paragraph 9 of Schedule 2) shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph 9 of Schedule 2 shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.

(3) If the contravention in respect of which a person is convicted of an offence under this Act is continued after the conviction, the person shall be guilty of a further offence on every day on which the contravention continues and for each such offence the person shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £250.

66. —(1) A certificate, notice or other document under this Act shall, subject to subsection (2), be addressed to the person concerned by name, and may be issued to, given to or, as the case may be, served on the person in one of the following ways:

(a) by delivering it to the person,

(b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address,

(c) by sending it by post in a prepaid letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, to that address,

(d) where the address at which the person ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry and the certificate, notice or other document relates to land, by delivering it to some person over 16 years of age resident or employed on the land or by affixing it in a conspicuous position on or near the land, or

(e) by such other means as may be prescribed.

(2) Where a certificate, notice or other document under this Act is to be issued or given to, or served on, a person who is the owner or occupier of land and the name of the person cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry, it may be addressed to the person by using the words the owner or, as the case may require, the occupier.

(3) A person who, at any time during the period of 3 months after a certificate, notice or other document is affixed under subsection (1)(d), removes, damages or defaces the certificate, notice or other document without lawful authority shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) For the purposes of this section, a company shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

67. —(1) In this section “property concerned” means property referred to in subsection (9).

(2) Notwithstanding the preceding sections of this Act, the Commissioner may, in relation to property concerned that falls within Schedule 4 and for the purpose of the provision referred to in subsection (9), on application being made to him or her in that behalf by a person who appears to the Commissioner to have a sufficient interest in the matter, cause the value of the property to be determined as if the property were relevant property rateable under this Act.

(3) The value of the property so determined shall be deemed to be the rateable valuation of the property within the meaning, and for the purpose, of the provision referred to in subsection (9).

(4) The Commissioner shall issue to the person referred to in subsection (2) a certificate stating the value of the property referred to in that subsection as determined thereunder.

(5) The Commissioner shall, before deciding whether to accede to an application under subsection (1) in relation to property that appears on an existing valuation list which is for the time being in force, require the applicant to show cause why the valuation of the property appearing on that list will not suffice for the purpose of the provision referred to in subsection (9).

(6) If an officer of the Commissioner, the Commissioner or the Tribunal, in dealing with an application or appeal referred to in subsection (9) of section 57 , considers, having received a submission to that effect under and in accordance with that subsection, that—

(a) the property, the subject of the application or appeal, is property concerned, and

(b) the application or appeal ought to be dealt with under that subsection so as to secure a determination of the value of the property for the purpose of the provision referred to in subsection (9),

he or she or it shall deal with the application or appeal under subsection (9) of section 57 accordingly.

(7) The value of the property that is determined or confirmed by virtue of the property being so dealt with shall be deemed to be the rateable valuation of the property within the meaning, and for the purpose, of the provision referred to in subsection (9).

(8) The officer of the Commissioner concerned or, in the case of an appeal referred to in subsection (6), the Commissioner shall issue to the person who made the application or appeal referred to in that subsection a certificate stating the value of the property as determined or confirmed by virtue of its being dealt with in the manner referred to in that subsection.

(9) The provision mentioned in the preceding subsections of this section is any provision of a statute passed before the commencement of this Act, or of an instrument made under such a statute, which imposes as a condition or as one of the conditions for the enjoyment of, or the entitlement to, any right under the statute or instrument a condition expressed to relate to the rateable valuation of a property.

(10) In subsection (9) “statute” has the same meaning as it has in the Interpretation Act, 1937 .