Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) (No. 2) Bill

Lord Hope of Craighead Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Monday 18th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hope of Craighead (CB) [V]]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas of Winchester. My interest is in the second of the two Bills before us about the exemption from rates for public lavatories. I too am glad to see it back again, following its having been dropped at the end of the last Parliament. I was one of a very small number of speakers at Second Reading on the previous occasion. It is remarkable and very encouraging that, for whatever reason, so much more interest has been shown in the Bill this time round.

I join with others in welcoming the measure; it addresses a very real problem, which is not much talked about in public but is nevertheless very real. This is not just a matter of convenience, as these places are increasingly difficult to find; it is also a serious health issue, particularly for people with special lavatory requirements or other health problems, who need to be able to easily find such places and have them within easy reach. There are some who dare not go to places where they are not assured of such support; there are others who find taking the risk very worrying and uncomfortable. The cost of providing and maintaining such places is not inconsiderable, so something needs to be done. The help that this Bill offers, however small, is overdue and much to be commended.

The other point that interests me about it and has led me to contribute to this debate relates to my past. I spent some time, during an earlier stage in my career as an advocate, in cases about valuation for rating. I was also the joint editor of the leading textbook on this subject in Scotland. To me, it is of interest to find that public lavatories appear as separate entries in the valuation list. I did not encounter them at any time in my practice, and they are not mentioned in the list of unusual subjects to which the book refers, such as advertising hoardings and radio masts. However, there is no doubt that they should be in the list wherever they exist as separate subjects, with the consequence that, according to the ordinary rules, they will be chargeable to non-domestic rates.

This is the result of two basic rules. The first is that every hereditament or structure that is capable of separate occupation should be the subject of its own entry on the list. The other is that the annual value that must be attached to it for rating purposes is, in theory, the rent at which the hereditament might reasonably be expected to be let from year to year, assuming that the tenant undertakes to pay all the rates and to bear the cost of repairs and other expenses necessary to maintain the structure in a state to command that rent. That may seem rather fanciful in the case of public lavatories, but it is what the rule requires. Nowadays, in practice, that figure is obtained, in cases such as this, by applying a prescribed formula which probably does not bear much relationship to actual rents but is intended to maintain some kind of balance across the entire valuation list.

In this case, we are concerned only with self-standing public lavatories that are in separate occupation, such as one might hope to find in a town centre or a public park or in or near a children’s playground. The Bill is designed to deal with that situation only, as is the method that it applies to ensure that rates do not have to be paid by those who occupy them, by which I mean those who are in rateable occupation as their owners or tenants, not the people who find it convenient to use them. However well disposed their owners or tenants may be to the public need for such facilities in these places, it is unlikely that they would be able to claim relief on the ground that they are charities. The subjects cannot be taken out of the list altogether, as that would be contrary to one of the basic principles. So, the solution is to provide by statute that they are to be entered in the list at zero value, which is what this Bill seeks to do.

Like other noble Lords, I would like to see something done to encourage the more frequent provision of public lavatories in public places such shopping malls, public libraries and bus stations. However, the problem is that facilities of that kind have to be included in the value of the larger hereditament of which they form part. They cannot be extracted from it to form a separate entry, as in the case of the subjects dealt with in the Bill. That is not to say that this is not a very important issue, but the fact is that it is not easy to provide a simple solution for them such as we have in this case. Nevertheless, I hope that the Minister can assure the House that minds are not closed on that issue and that something may be done, perhaps by adjusting the relevant formula, to address it.

I support the Bill and would like it to pass into law as soon as possible.