Abandoned Lands Act 1973 (Tas)

Abandoned Lands Act 1973

An Act to repeal the Abandoned Lands Act 1965 and to make fresh provision for the reversion and revesting in Her Majesty of lands that have been abandoned [Royal Assent 4 October 1973]

Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Abandoned Lands Act 1973 .

2. Repeal The Abandoned Lands Act 1965 is repealed.

3. Interpretation In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears – abandoned land notice means such an abandoned land notice as is referred to in section 4 ; Director means the Director-General of Lands; Recorder means the Recorder of Titles; Register has the same meaning as it has in the Land Titles Act 1980 ; registered, when used in relation to an abandoned land notice, means registered in accordance with this Act.

4. Abandoned land notices (1) 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) 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 (c) to be posted at the municipal office of the municipality in which the land is situated in some conspicuous place on or near the outer door of that office. (5) A notice in a newspaper stating that, pursuant to an abandoned land notice published in a specified issue of the Gazette, it is intended to acquire specified land in accordance with this Act shall, if an abandoned land notice is so published with respect to that land, be deemed for the purposes of this section to constitute the publication of that abandoned land notice in that newspaper with respect to that land. (6) Where an abandoned land notice relates to land that is subject to the Land Titles Act 1980 the Director shall furnish to the Recorder a copy of the notice together with a notification of the folio of the Register to which it refers, and the Recorder shall record the notice on that folio. (7) Where a recording has been made in respect of any land under subsection (6) , the rights under the abandoned land notice to which that entry relates shall be deemed to be an interest for the purposes of section 40 of the Land Titles Act 1980 .