Land Transaction Tax and Anti-avoidance of Devolved Taxes (Wales) Act 2017 section Schedule 6, paragraph 11

Adjustment of the first five-year period where the rent review date is linked to a date shortly before the lease term begins

Schedule 6, paragraph 11 deals with how the statutory "first five years" of a lease term is interpreted when a rent review clause ties the review date to a specified date that falls just before the lease actually starts.

• Where a lease includes a rent review clause and the first adjustment is to an amount that is uncertain before the review takes place, the timing of the review may affect how the five-year reference period is calculated.
• The review date must be expressed as falling five years after a specified date, and that specified date must fall within the three months immediately before the lease term begins.
• When these conditions are met, the statutory references to the "first five years of the term" are treated as meaning the period from the start of the lease term up to the actual review date, rather than a strict calendar five years from the start of the term.
• References elsewhere in the Act to the "fifth year of the term" are also adjusted accordingly, so that they align with the review date rather than the literal fifth anniversary of the lease term.