Finance Act 2007

Land: special provisions.

110.— (1) The Principal Act is amended―

(a) by inserting the following after section 31:

“Resting in contract.

31A.― (1) Where―

(a) the holder of an estate or interest in land in the State enters into a contract or agreement with another person for the sale of the estate or interest to that other person or to a nominee of that other person, and

(b) a payment which amounts to, or as the case may be payments which together amount to, 25 per cent or more of the consideration for the sale has been paid to, or at the direction of, the holder of the estate or interest at any time pursuant to the contract or agreement, and

(c) within 30 days of the first such time a conveyance or transfer, made in conformity with the contract or agreement, and executed by the parties to the contract or agreement is not presented to the Commissioners for stamping with ad valorem duty chargeable on it,

then the contract or agreement shall be chargeable with the same ad valorem duty, to be paid by the other person, as if it were a conveyance or transfer of the estate or interest in the land.

(2) Where duty has been paid, in respect of a contract or agreement, in accordance with subsection (1), a conveyance or transfer made in conformity with the contract or agreement shall not be chargeable with any duty, and the Commissioners, on application, either shall denote the payment of the ad valorem duty on the conveyance or transfer, or shall transfer the ad valorem duty to the conveyance or transfer on production to them of the contract or agreement, duly stamped.

Licence agreements.

31B.― (1) In this section ‘ development ’, in relation to any land, means―

(a) the construction, demolition, extension, alteration or reconstruction of any building on the land, or

(b) any engineering or other operation in, on, over or under the land to adapt it for materially altered use.

(2) Where―

(a) the holder of an estate or interest in land in the State enters into an agreement with another person under which that other person, or a nominee of that other person, is entitled to enter onto the land to carry out development on that land, and

(b) by virtue of the agreement, otherwise than as consideration for the sale of all or part of the estate or interest in the land, the holder of the estate or interest in the land receives at any time a payment which amounts to, or as the case may be payments which together amount to, 25 per cent or more of the market value of the land concerned,

then within 30 days of the first such time, the agreement shall be chargeable with the same ad valorem duty, to be paid by that other person, as if it were a conveyance or transfer of the estate or interest in the land.”,

(b) by deleting section 36,

(c) by inserting the following after section 50:

“Agreements for more than 35 years charged as leases.

50A.― An agreement for a lease or with respect to the letting of any lands, tenements, or heritable subjects for any term exceeding 35 years, shall be charged with the same duty as if it were an actual lease made for the term and consideration mentioned in the agreement where 25 per cent or more of that consideration has been paid.”,

and

(d) by substituting “section 50 or 50A” for “section 50” in paragraph (4) of the Heading “LEASE” in Schedule 1.

(2) This section comes into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Finance may by order appoint and different days may be appointed for different purposes or different provisions.