Clause 12

Section 25 of the principal Act is amended by deleting subsections (2) and (3) and substituting the following subsections:“(2) If the rent or any other consideration payable by the lessee under a lease cannot be ascertained or estimated at the time that the lease is presented for stamping (whether because the consideration depends on some future contingency or for any other reason), the Commissioner may assess the duty payable based on the open market rent for the leased property as if the open market rent were the rate or average rate of rent per annum under the lease and there were no other consideration payable under the lease.(3) If the consideration payable by the lessee under a lease can be ascertained or estimated at the time that the lease is presented for stamping but the duty that may be charged on the instrument (whether as a lease or a conveyance on sale or both) apart from this section is less than the duty that would be payable based on the open market rent for the property, the Commissioner may assess the duty payable based on the open market rent as if the open market rent were the rate or average rate of rent per annum under the lease and there were no other consideration payable under the lease.(4) For the purposes of this section, the Commissioner may cause a valuation to be made by the Chief Valuer of any property that is the subject of a lease for the purpose of determining the open market rent for the property.(5) In this section, “open market rent” for property means the consideration (including rent, payment for the hire of any furniture, chattels, fittings or equipment or for the provision of services, facilities or other things in connection with the property, and any other form of valuable consideration) that a lessee might reasonably be expected to pay under a lease of the property, if it were unoccupied and offered for renting, expressed as a rate of rent per annum.”.