Tithe Act 1936

18 Ascertainment and registration of owners of land.

(1) The appropriate authority may serve upon the person who appears to them to be the owner of any land in respect of which an annuity is charged notice in writing that they propose to enter his name in the annuities register as the owner of that land.

(2) If a person, on whom a notice has been served by the appropriate authority under the foregoing subsection in relation to any land, by notice in writing served on the authority within three months of the date of the service on him of the authority's notice, denies that he is the owner thereof, the High Court or the county court may, if satisfied that he is the owner thereof, make, on the application of the authority, a declaration that he is the owner thereof.

(3) Where a person has been served by the appropriate authority with a notice under this section in relation to any land and has not within the period aforesaid served on the authority notice in writing denying that he is the owner thereof, or has been declared by the court on an application under this section to be the owner of any land, or has consented to the entry of his name in the annuities register as the owner of any land, then, notwithstanding any change in the ownership of the land, any sum becoming payable under this Act to the appropriate authority on any date thereafter from the owner of the land may be recovered by the authority from that person or, after his death, from his personal representative, and anything which is authorised or required by this Act to be done on any date thereafter by or to the owner of the land shall be deemed to be validly done if done by or to that person, or, after his death, by or to his personal representative, unless that person or his personal representative has before that date given to the appropriate authority notice in writing of the change of ownership and all information in his possession as to the identity of the person who has become the owner of the land or of any part thereof.

(4) Where under the last foregoing subsection a sum becoming payable to the appropriate authority on any date is recovered from a person who was not on that date the owner of the land in respect of which that sum became due, that person shall be entitled to recover from the owner as a simple contract debt the amount recovered by the authority from that person.

(5) When the requirements of subsection (3) of this section have been satisfied as respects any person, the appropriate authority shall make in the annuities register entries specifying the name of that person as the owner of the land in relation to which those requirements have been satisfied and indicating the land by reference to the annuities map or otherwise, and such entries shall be prima facie evidence that the said requirements were satisfied as respects that person in relation to that land before the date stated in the register as the date on which the entries were made.

(6) Where the appropriate authority are satisfied that a person other than the person specified in an annuities register as the owner of any land is the owner thereof, or that a person has been so specified otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of this section, they shall alter the register as appears to them to be requisite.

(7) Proof that a person paid a sum due on account of a tithe rentcharge which issued out of any land, or that a person was treated by the court as the owner of any land for the purposes of an order for the recovery of a tithe rentcharge which issued thereout, shall for the purposes of this Act be prima facie evidence that that person was the owner of that land on the date on which the payment or order, as the case may be, was made and that he remains the owner thereof.

(8) A person who is in occupation of, or who receives rent in respect of, land in respect of which an annuity is charged shall, on being required so to do by an officer of the appropriate authority, inform him of the name and address of any other person to whom that person pays rent in respect of that land or of any part thereof and give him any other information in that person's possession relevant to the ascertainment of the identity of the owner of the land, and any person who when required to give information under this subsection fails so to do, or gives any information which is to his knowledge false, shall, without prejudice to any other liability, be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

(9) Where an estate or interest in any land, in respect of which an annuity under the management of the Commission is charged, is disposed of or created in such manner as to bring about a change in the ownership of the land, it shall be the duty of the person who was the owner of that land immediately before the execution of the instrument whereby that estate or interest was disposed of or created, within one month from the date of the execution thereof, to furnish to the Commission particulars in the prescribed form of that instrument and of the name and address of every person who has thereby become an owner of the land or of any part thereof, and any person who fails to furnish within the period mentioned in this subsection any particulars which he is thereby required to furnish shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds.