Clause 1 - Mandatory rate relief onformer agricultural premises
Rating (Agricultural Premises and Rural Shops) Bill
12:00 pm
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire, Conservative)
I rise very briefly indeed because it was an intervention from me on Second Reading that prompted the Minister to say:
``the Bill will apply to any premises which used to be used for farming and which will now be used for other purposes, whether the premises are rented out; whether the farmer still lives on and runs the farm but rents out a part of it to someone else; whether the farmer himself uses the premises; and whether the farmer is a tenant or an owner.''—[Official Report, 30 April 2001; Vol. 367, c. 655.]
That is in stark contrast to the excellent document ``Words and Phrases legally defined'' produced by the House of Commons Library, which states that a hereditament is
``whatever is capable of devolving upon death.''
It must be something that one owns, which one passes on upon death, so it does not apply to something that one rents--leaving aside the technical matter of agricultural tenancies, which are hereditaments on the grounds that the tenant of a farm can pass his tenancy on to his son when he dies.
Wiltshire Tracklements, a company in my constituency, rents a building from Pinkney Park farm to make mustards, but there is no suggestion that the excellent Mr. William Tullberg, the owner of Wiltshire Tracklements, can pass on the tenancy of that building to his son on his death. On his death, the tenancy lapses unless some other agreement has been made in the normal commercial way between Mr. Tullberg and the farm owners. Wiltshire Tracklements' tenancy at Pinkney Park farm is not a hereditament and therefore would not benefit from rate relief under the Bill. The Minister's answer on Second Reading was extremely plain, and I look forward to her explanation of that distinction.