Cap. 110 Art. 2Definitions.

In this Ordinance and in any rules made under this

Ordinance, unless the subject or context otherwise requires-

"annual value" means, subject to the provisions of articles 3 and

4 -

(a) unless the developed tenement was on the 31st March, 1939, let furnished, the gross annual rent at which it was let on the 31st March, 1939, or, if it was not, on that day, let or let separately or in existence, then the gross annual rent for which it might on that day reasonably be expected to have been let unfurnished, from year to year, having regard to the purposes for which it was then being used or occupied or would, disregarding, at the date of assessment, intervening damage, if any, arising from enemy or counter-enemy action, and ordinary wear and tear and any works in connection with an air raid shelter or for temporary purposes arising out of the war, have been suitable, less in every case, whether falling for treatment under any part of this definition or under article 3 and 4, the yearly amount of any pious burden (other than tithes) affecting the developed tenement and a deduction of ten per centum;

(b) if the developed tenement was on 3lst March, 1939, let furnished but had been let unfurnished at any time during the five years preceding that date, the last gross annual rent at which the developed tenement was let unfurnished;

(c) if the developed tenement was on the 3lst March. 1939, let furnished and had not been let unfurnished at any time during the five years preceding that date, a sum computed at three and one half per centum on its capital value as determined in connection with the last conveyance by way of onerous title, or in connection with the last partition or judicial valuation executed or made in respect of that developed tenement during the five years preceding the 31st March, 1939, or, in default of any change of ownership thus affected Valuation; "date of assessment" means the 20th June, 1941, or, in the case only of developed tenements which were unfinished or not in existence on that day, the day of completion of such development tenements; "developed tenement" means a tenement which consists or, apart from damage, if any, from enemy or counter-enemy action, would, at the date of assessment still consist of a building or part of a building for whatever purpose it was built and includes any land (including any subsidiary building) which might be expected ordinarily to be or to have been occupied with the first mentioned building or part of a building and includes the domestic garden of such first mentioned building or part of a building but does not include any plant and machinery, if any, therein or any open park or waste or agricultural land, if any, included in the tenement of which such developed tenement (then referred to herein as a "developed tenement within a larger tenement") forms a part; "Land Valuation Officer" means the officer appointed by the Prime Minister as Land Valuation Officer for the purposes of this Ordinance;

"lease" does not include emphyteusis but includes occupation in virtue of a requisition order;

"owner" means the person who on a given date receives, or would immediately be entitled to let and to receive the rental on lease of a tenement, and the tutor, curator, administrator, procurator or other representative of any such owner, or when such owner cannot readily be traced, such person as shall, without further evidence, be appointed on the application of the Land Valuation Officer by the Civil Court, Second Hall, and includes also, from the date of transfer, any person to whom the interest of the owner has been transferred between the date of assessment and the ascertainment of the assessed annual value of a tenement: Provided that in the case of a developed tenement held in common and in respect of which it is not to the knowledge of the Land Valuation Officer that there is a common administrator, the owner shall be deemed to be the common administrator whom the co-owners, within ten days from the date when the Land Valuation Officer shall require them to do so, shall advise that officer that they have appointed, or, in default of such advice, the co-owner or a third party either of whom the Land Valuation Officer at his discretion shall appoint to be the common administrator (who shall be entitled to let the developed tenement and receive the rent thereof and otherwise to administer the property as if he were an administrator duly appointed by a competent court to administer immovable property) on such further conditions as may seem equitable to him in his discretion, including the right to retain out of the gross income of the developed tenement administered a Ordinance;

"tenement" means, subject to its special application in the case of a developed tenement within a larger tenement, any land owned as a homogenous unit, but does not include-

(a) tenements or parts of tenements used as mortuary chapels or used solely as churches, chapels or places of public worship, or

(b) tenements the whole legal interest in which, other than any lease, is vested in the Government of Malta;

(c) tool-rooms, watch-rooms or other isolated huts or small buildings, in fields, which are not intended to be used habitually as a permanent dwelling place, and are not such as to be reasonably suitable for letting independently of the field on which they stand.