Section 3 Crown property.

After section 65 of the 1988 Act there is inserted—

“ Crown property.

65A

(1)

This Part applies to the Crown as it applies to other persons.

(2)

Accordingly, liability to a non-domestic rate in respect of a hereditament is not affected by the fact that—

(a)

the hereditament is occupied by the Crown or by a person acting on behalf of the Crown or is used for Crown purposes, or

(b)

the Crown or a person acting on behalf of the Crown is the owner of the hereditament.

(3)

If (apart from this subsection) any property would consist of two or more Crown hereditaments, the property is to be treated for the purposes of this Part as if it were a single hereditament occupied by such one of the occupiers as appears to the billing authority to occupy the largest part of the property.

(4)

In this section, “Crown hereditament” means a hereditament which—

(a)

is occupied by a Minister of the Crown or Government department or by any officer or body exercising functions on behalf of the Crown, but

(b)

is not provided or maintained by a local authority or by a police authority established under section 3 of the M1Police Act 1996.

(5)

In this section—

(a)

references to this Part include any subordinate legislation (within the meaning of the M2Interpretation Act 1978) made under it, and

(b)

“local authority” has the same meaning as in the M3Local Government Act 1972, and includes the Common Council of the City of London.

(6)

The Secretary of State may by order amend subsection (4)(b) above so as to alter the persons for the time being referred to there.

(7)

Subsection (3) above does not affect the power conferred by section 64(3) above”.