48Dispossession of persons in unlawful occupations

### 48 Dispossession of persons in unlawful occupations > > (1)  Where any person obstructs the Minister or any person authorized by him in that behalf in resuming any land or entering thereupon, or remains in the unlawful possession thereof, or where any person is in the unlawful possession of any Crown lands and has not quitted the same upon being required by the Minister to do so or has erected any fence or other thing upon the land and has not taken down and removed the same upon being required by the Minister to do so within such time as the Minister fixes for that purpose, the Minister may issue on the Crown's behalf a warrant addressed to a bailiff of Crown lands requiring him forthwith to dispossess and remove that person from the land, and to repossess the same on behalf of the Crown or to take down and level any such erection, as the case may require. > > > (1A)  [*\[Section 48 Subsection (1A) inserted by No. 60 of 2000, s. 11, Applied:14 Nov 2000\]*](/view/html/inforce/2000-11-14/act-2000-060#GS11@EN) The powers conferred on the Minister by [subsection (1)](#GS48@Gs1@EN) are in addition to any powers the Crown may exercise under the [Residential Tenancy Act 1997](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-1997-082) . > > > (2)  The bailiff to whom a warrant issued under [subsection (1)](#GS48@Gs1@EN) is addressed shall execute the warrant according to the tenor and exigency thereof, and all police officers shall, on being required to do so by the bailiff, aid and assist him in the execution of the warrant. > > > (3)  No action shall be maintainable against any bailiff for anything done by him in accordance with the tenor or exigency of a warrant issued by the Minister under this section which may be lawfully necessary for the execution thereof, but in case any warrant is issued unlawfully, an action lies against the Minister.