12 JAMES AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUGDMENT Special provisions apply for extinguishing any intermediate lease where the occupying tenant claiming enfranchisement does not hold his lease direct from the freeholder (schedule 1 to the 1967 Act). These provisions do not, however, appear to be relevant in the present case. 24. The tenant may, at any time before the price of the property has been fixed, institute a procedure to have the rateable value of the house adjusted for the purposes of the legislation so as to leave out of account the value of structural improvements carried out by himself or his predecessors (section 118 and schedule 8 of the 1974 Act). The County Court is competent to determine disputes as to whether improvements are within the scope of the scheme and, since the 1980 Act came into force, there has been a right of appeal to the High Court from such decisions. 25. The legislation lays down procedures for carrying the relevant transactions into effect and for determining disputes. Where the tenant wishes to acquire the freehold, he must first give the landlord written notice of his desire to do so (section 8 of the 1967 Act). Disputes over the tenant’s entitlement to acquire the freehold under the Act and related matters are within the jurisdiction of the County Court (section 20 of the 1967 Act). In such proceedings, the County Court has powers to penalise in costs a tenant who is guilty of unreasonable delay or default in the performance of the obligations arising from the notice of enfranchisement (ibid.). In default of agreement, the price payable is now subject to determination by a local Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, with a right of appeal to the London-based Lands Tribunal which forms part of the High Court (section 142 and schedule 22 of the 1980 Act). Before the 1980 Act came into force, disputes as to price were within the jurisdiction of the Lands Tribunal (section 21 of the 1967 Act). It is open to a landlord who believes that the enfranchising tenant is deliberately or unnecessarily delaying the process of enfranchisement to refer the matter to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (or, formerly, to the Lands Tribunal). Regulations prescribe a timetable for completion of the purchase after the price has been determined (paragraph 6 of Part I of the schedule to the Leasehold Reform (Enfranchisement and Extension) Regulations 1967, S.I. 1967 No. 1879). 26. For the purpose of assessing the price payable, the house is valued as at the date of the tenant’s notice to the landlord of his desire to acquire the freehold (sections 9 (1) and 37 (1) (d) of the 1967 Act), and not as at the date when the valuation is being carried out. D. Transactions affecting the applicants 27. In transactions completed between April 1979 and November 1983, the tenants of some 80 long leasehold properties forming part of the residential Estate in Belgravia (London) which the Westminster family and its trustees have developed (see paragraph 10 above) exercised their powers