Hewavitharane v. Rathnapala – sllr 1988 volume 1 page 240

In the case between the landlord and the tenant of business premises, the court addressed the issue of whether the status of “excepted premises” under Regulation No. 3 of the Rent Act No. 7 of 1972 should be determined by the annual value as at January 1968 or by the revised assessment made in October 1975. It was held that the January 1968 assessment remains operative and that the subsequent 1975 consolidation and reassessment do not alter the statutory position or transform the premises into “excepted premises.” The decision reaffirmed the principle that alterations in assessment due to physical changes, such as the installation of an intercommunication door and the council’s administrative allocation of a new assessment number, do not affect the legal basis for determining rent control