Mourier vs The Municipal Council, Colombo – clr volume 1 page 091

In Mourier v. The Municipal Council, Colombo, the court addressed the issue of whether a property comprising a row of houses with a shared compound should be rated as a single tenement based on an en bloc lease or as multiple separate tenements for assessment under Ordinance No. 7 of 1887, sections 127 and 133. It was held that assessment should be based on the separate annual rental value of each component tenement, rather than on the value of the property as a whole. The principle reaffirmed is that each “house, building, land, or tenement” must be valued individually according to its reasonably obtainable rent, irrespective of the manner in which the lease is held or practical factors such as absentee ownership or sub-letting. Emphasis was placed on adhering to statutory directives and