Local Government Act 1976 · Updated to 1 Dec 2012 · Part XV · Rating and Valuation
162. Refund on unoccupied buildings
Feedback & supportWhere any building is unoccupied and no rent is payable in respect thereof during a period of not less than one calendar month in any half year in respect of which a rate has been paid the local authority may order the refund or remission, as the case may be, of a part of such rate proportionate to the period during which the building has been unoccupied.
building
“building” includes any house, hut, shed or roofed enclosure, whether used for the purpose of human habitation or otherwise, and also any wall, fence, platform, underground tank, staging, gate, post, pillar, paling, frame, hoarding, slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing-stage, swimming pool, bridge, railway lines, transmission lines, cables, redifussion lines, overhead or underground pipelines, or any other structure, support or foundation;
No refund or remission shall be ordered unless the person claiming the same shall have within seven days from the commencement of the period in respect of which the refund or remission is claimed given written notice to the local authority of such vacancy and in the case of any refund shall have claimed payment thereof in writing not later than one month after the expiration of the half year in respect of which the claim is made.
Local Government 107
No refund or remission shall be ordered in respect of any building unless the owner of the holding in question proves to the satisfaction of the local authority—
holding
“holding” means any land, with or without buildings thereon, which is held under a separate document of title and in the case of subdivided buildings, the common property and any parcel thereof and, in the case of Penang and Malacca,
that such building is in good repair and fit for occupation;
that every reasonable effort to obtain a tenant has been made;
that the rent demanded is a reasonable one;
that the building has been vacant during the whole period for which the refund is claimed:
Provided that when a refund is claimed in respect of a period during which the building has been undergoing repairs for the purpose of rendering it fit for occupation or for bona fide reconstruction it shall not be necessary to prove, in respect of such claims the matters specified in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c).
Claims shall state the dates on which the building was unoccupied and the address to which communications in reference thereto may be sent.
For the purposes of this section the expression “building”
includes—
a self-contained flat in a building erected with the approval of the local authority;
any whole floor in a building with separate means of access;
floor space of not less than 1,000 square feet on the same floor of a building which may be let as an office, shop, factory, godown or other similar use.