4Abandoned land notices

4 Abandoned land notices

(1)  *[Section 4 Subsection (1) amended by No. 46 of 1991, s. 4 and Sched. 3 ]*Where the Minister is satisfied as respects any land –

(a) that during the last preceding 6 years no payments by way of land tax or rates have been made in respect of the land;

(b) that no person is occupying the land; and

(c) that it has not been possible, after reasonable inquiry, to find any person who, by reason of an estate or interest vested in him, has a right to occupy the land –

he may cause an abandoned land notice in respect of the land to be published in accordance with this section.

(2)  *[Section 4 Subsection (2) amended by No. 46 of 1991, s. 4 and Sched. 3 ]*An abandoned land notice in respect of any land is a notice that specifies the land and states –

(a) that the Minister is of opinion that the land should be treated as having been abandoned by the owner thereof;

(b) that, subject to the determination of any objections that may be made to the notice, it is the intention to register the notice;

(c) that, on the registration of the notice, the land will revert to and revest in the Crown freed and discharged from all estates and interests subsisting in any other person, save only such as may expressly be excluded from the operation of the notice; and

(d) that objections with respect to the registration of the notice may be made to the Director before such date as may be specified therein.

(3)  The date specified in an abandoned land notice for the purposes of subsection (2) (d) shall not be earlier than 3 months after the notice has been published in accordance with this section, nor, if a copy of the notice is required to be furnished to the Recorder under subsection (6) , earlier than 3 months after being so furnished.

(4)  An abandoned land notice in respect of any land shall be published by causing it –

(a) to be published in the Gazette;

(b) to be published twice in a newspaper or newspapers circulating in the district in which the land is situated; and