LBTT6028 - Reduction of rent or term or other lease variation

Variations are not generally treated under Scots law as creating new leases. However, there are three types of variation of a lease which are treated for the purposes of the tax as acquisitions of a chargeable interest:

• where a lease is varied to reduce the amount of the rent, the variation is treated as the acquisition of a chargeable interest by the tenant;
• where any consideration is paid by the tenant (other than an increase in rent) for any variation of the lease (other than a variation in the amount of rent or the term of the lease), the variation is treated as the acquisition of a chargeable interest by the tenant; and
• where a lease is varied to reduce the term, the variation is treated as the acquisition of a chargeable interest by the landlord.

LBTT(S)A 2013 schedule 19 paragraph 29