South Australian Repealed Acts

This legislation has been repealed.

RENMARK IRRIGATION TRUST ACT 1936 - SECT 114

114—Power to lease property for arrears of rates

        (1)         Where any rates declared by the trust in respect of any ratable land remain unpaid for three months after becoming due, the trust may, with the previous consent of the Governor, and subject as hereinafter appears, take possession of the land, and may hold the same as against any person interested therein, and from time to time grant leases of the same for any period not exceeding seven years. Every deed and other instrument entered into by the secretary in the name or on behalf of the trust as hereinafter appears for effectuating the letting shall be valid against and binding upon the owner of the land or any person claiming through or under him.

        (2)         The trust shall not take possession of any such land until three months after a notice in writing, setting forth that rates in respect of the land are unpaid, and demanding payment thereof, and stating that in default of payment the trust will take possession thereof under the provisions of this Act, has been served on or posted to every person appearing by the books of the Registrar-General to be a mortgagee of the land, and on or to every person who is rated in respect of the land or is entitled under any lease to the possession of the land whose name and address is known to the trust, or, if there is no such person whose name and address is so known, has been affixed to some conspicuous place on the property. Every such notice served on or posted to any person, or so affixed, shall contain a sufficient description of the land to identify the same, but every lease granted by the trust otherwise in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be valid, notwithstanding the non-compliance with any of the provisions of this subsection.

        (3)         On taking possession of any land as aforesaid the trust shall cause to be affixed on some conspicuous part thereof a notice that the land has been taken possession of by the trust under the provision of this section and is to let on lease.

        (4)         An entry in the minute book of the trust that notice has been served, posted, or affixed as required by subsections (2) and (3) or a certified copy of any such entry, shall be accepted as conclusive evidence of the giving of the notice, and of the rates therein referred to being unpaid.

        (5)         Every such lease shall be for such term not exceeding seven years as to the trust may seem fit, and shall reserve the best rent which can be reasonably obtained for the land, and shall contain and be subject to such other reservations and such exceptions, covenants, and conditions as to the trust may seem fit.

        (6)         The secretary shall, upon being directed by the trust so to do, execute in the name and on behalf of the trust a memorandum of lease or other deed or instrument, in such form as he may think fit, leasing the land to the lessee or lessees free from any mortgage, lease, tenancy, or encumbrance.

        (7)         The Registrar-General shall, on the receipt of a certified copy of the entry in the minute book mentioned in subsection (4), and without any further evidence of title or of the power of the trust to grant the lease, forthwith register the same in the certificate of title relating to the land, on payment of the usual fee therefor. The registration of the lease shall vest in the lessee an indefeasible estate during the term and subject to the provisions of the said lease.

        (8)         Within three months after demand by any person who, but for the provisions of this section, would be entitled to the possession of the land, made within twenty-one years after the taking possession thereof on the part of the trust, and after payment of all rates due in respect thereof and interest due in respect of those rates, and all costs, charges, and expenses incurred by the trust, in respect of the land, pursuant to this Act or any repealed Act, and interest upon those costs, charges, and expenses, at the rate of six dollars per centum per annum, the trust shall execute under the common seal of the trust a release of the land from all rates due in respect thereof. If the trust makes default in executing the release the Supreme Court may, upon the application of any person interested in that behalf, compel the trust so to do. Upon the execution of the release, subject to any lease theretofore legally granted by the trust under the provisions of this section, such person or persons shall be entitled to the land, and the possession thereof, as would have been so entitled if this section had not passed, and any tenant of the land under any such lease shall attorn to such person or persons accordingly.

        (9)         All rent and other moneys payable under any such lease shall, until the execution of a release as hereinbefore mentioned, or the expiration of twenty-one years from the trust taking possession, whichever shall first happen, be received by the trust, and shall be applicable—

            (a)         in defraying the expenses of and incidental to carrying into effect the provisions in this section contained, and to the execution of the lease, and the collection of the rents, and the expenses of any repairs and improvements to the land which the trust may consider it necessary to effect;

            (b)         in payment to the trust of—

                  (i)         all rates in arrear and interest due in respect of those rates; and

                  (ii)         interest on the expenses referred to in paragraph (a) at the rate of six dollars per centum per annum calculated from the time of the payment of those expenses; and

                  (iii)         any other payments due to the trust in respect of the land.

The residue of any such moneys shall belong to such person or persons as would when the same respectively were received have been entitled to receive the rents and profits of the land if this section had not been passed, and the trust shall deal with such residue in all respects as the Governor shall direct.

        (10)         Unless some person entitled in that behalf performs the conditions entitling him to demand a release of any land of which the trust has taken possession under the foregoing provisions within twenty-one years after the taking possession, the land and all accumulations of rent and other moneys on account thereof shall vest absolutely in the trust.

        (11)         Any land which becomes vested in the trust under the provisions hereinbefore mentioned may be sold by the trust at such price and upon such terms as may be determined by the trust, and the proceeds of any such sale may be used by the trust in improving or extending the irrigation works, or for any of the purposes to which the rates may be applied.

        (12)         The powers conferred on the trust by this section shall be exercisable in addition to any other powers with regard to the sale and letting of land, and to the collection, recovery, and enforcement of the payment of rates, conferred on the trust by this Act.