Section 70 Stamp Duties Act

Section 70 of Stamp Duties Act 1939 is about Directions as to duty in certain cases. It provides as follows:

(1) A lease or agreement for a lease or with respect to any letting, is not to be charged with any duty in respect of any penal rent, or increased rent in the nature of a penal rent, thereby reserved or agreed to be reserved or made payable, or by reason of being made in consideration of the surrender or abandonment of any existing lease, or agreement, of or relating to the same subject matter.

(2) A lease made for any consideration in respect whereof it is chargeable with ad valorem duty, and in further consideration either of a covenant by the lessee to make, or of his having previously made, any substantial improvement of or addition to the property demised to him, or of any covenant relating to the matter of the lease shall not be charged with any duty in respect of such further consideration: Provided that if the further consideration in the lease consists of a covenant which if it were contained in a separate deed would be charged with ad valorem duty, the lease shall in any such case be charged with duty in respect of any such further consideration under section 8 of this Act.

(3) An instrument whereby the rent reserved by any other instrument chargeable with duty and duly stamped as a lease is increased shall not be charged with duty otherwise than as a lease in consideration of the additional rent thereby made payable.

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