Duchy of Lancaster Act 1808

XXVDiscretionary Power veiled In Lords of the Treasury in certain Cafes, to admit of Consideration being paid, either in Rent only, or partly in Rent and partly in Fine.

And whereas it is necessary to vest a discretionary Power in the Lord High Treasurer or Commissioners of the Treasury, to determine the Rent upon Leases of Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments belonging to the Crown, within the ordering and Survey aforesaid, in certain Cafes not provided for by Law; be it therefore enacted, That for and in respect of any Lease or Grant under the Great Seal, or the Seal of the Exchequer, of any Houses or other Buildings which shall be certified by Surveyors not to require rebuilding, arid which shall be of greater yearly Value than the Ground on which they are built, but which a Lessee may desire to pull down in order to erect other Houses or Buildings of greater Value for his own Accommodation or Advantage, of Houses or other Buildings which may have been damaged or destroyed by Fire, or Ground on which such Buildings have been erected, and also of Houses or other Buildings which shall be only in part rebuilt, or to which new Buildings shall be added, and also of Ground to be granted as Gardens, Yards, or Curtilages to Houses already erected or to be erected, whether on Ground belonging to His Majesty, or to any other Proprietor, it shall be lawful, for the Lord High Treasurer, or the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury at their Discretion, to admit of the Consideration being paid, either in Rent only or in Rent and Fine; provided always, that where a Fine shall be taken it shall not exceed the Proportion of One Third Part of the net annual Value of the Premises, in respect of which the same shall be paid, nor be computed at a higher Rate than the highest legal Interest.