March 1897.] FARMEKS AND ASSESSMENTS TO LOCAL RATES. 379 



FARMERS AND ASSESSMENTS TO LOCAL RATES* 



The following memorandum, which has been prepared by the 

 Local Government Board, directs the attention of occupiers of 

 land in England and Wales to the principles upon which assess- 

 ments are made to the poor rates and other local rates, and 

 explains the steps which may be taken, where an assessment is 

 objected to, to obtain a reduction of the amount on the ground 

 that the premises have been valued at too high a figure, or that 

 the valuation has been maintained at a level above the actual 

 value. The third part of the memorandum sets out the later altera- 

 tions effected by the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, as regards the 

 liability of occupiers of land not occupied by buildings to local 

 rates in the five years commencing 1st April 1897. 



Memorandum. 



Outside of London the basis for the assessment of the poor 

 rate, and practically of every other local rate levied under the 

 general law, is, where the Union Assessment Acts are in force> 

 the valuation list made under those Acts. There are only 10 

 places in England and Wales, outside London, where the Union 

 Assessment Acts are not in force, f 



I. — As to the Poor Bate. 



The poor rate is assessed upon the net annual, or rateable, 

 value of premises, as fixed by the valuation list. The rateable 

 value is arrived at by making certain deductions from the 

 gross estimated rental of the premises, which is the rent at 

 which the property might reasonably be expected to let from 

 year to year, if the tenant paid all usual tenant's rates and 

 taxes, and tithe rentcharge, if any. It is not necessarily the same 

 as the rent actually paid for the property. 



The deductions to be made fiom the gross estimated rental, 

 in order to arrive at the rateable value, are the probable 

 average annual cost of the repairs and insurance, and any other 

 expenses that may be necessary to maintain the property in a 

 state to command a rent equal to the gross estimated rental. 



If a person considers that his assessment to the poor rate is 

 too high, he must, in the first place, give notice to the assess- 



* Reprinted from a leaflet issued in February, 1897, of which copies can be 

 obtained on application to the Secretary, Board of Agriculture, 4, Whitehall 

 Place, S.W. 



t These places are the parishes of Alverstoke, Barrow-in-Furness, Birmingham, 

 East Stonehouse, Liverpool, and Stoke Damerel ; the Township of Manchester; and 

 the Poor Law Incorporations of Kingston-on-Hull, Plymouth, and Southampton. 



