23Provisions as to requisitioned land
(1)Where, whether before or after the commencement of this Act,—
(a)possession has been taken of any land for agricultural purposes by the Minister or the War Agricultural Executive Committee for the county or county borough in which the land is situated (hereafter in this section referred to as "the Committee") in the exercise of any power conferred by regulations made under the [2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 62.] Emergency Powers (Defence) Act, 1939; and
(b)the Minister, on the advice of the Committee, has certified that at the time possession was so taken, the land was not being cultivated, or was not being cultivated in accordance with the rules of good husbandry;
the following provisions of this section shall have effect as respects that land.
(2)The Minister or the Committee may, after and notwithstanding the expiry of the said Act, continue in possession of the land, either by himself or themselves, or by any person with whom a contract has been made under the following provisions of this section, for any period not exceeding three years from the end of the war period.
(3)For the purpose of the [2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 75.] Compensation (Defence) Act, 1939, the powers conferred by the last foregoing subsection shall be deemed to be emergency powers within the meaning of that Act, and there shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament any increase attributable to the passing of this subsection in the sums authorised to be so paid by way of compensation under that Act.
(4)The Minister or the Committee, may, at any time before the end of the war period, make a contract for the occupation of the land by any person for any period expiring, or terminable by the Minister or the Committee, before the end of the said three years; and any such contract may incorporate with or without modifications any of the provisions of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1923.
(5)When possession of the land is given up, the owner thereof shall be liable to pay to the Minister within one month after the date of a demand made in writing by the Minister a sum equal to so much of the value of the land as is attributable to anything done on the land either—
(a)by the Minister or the Committee; or
(b)in a case where such a contract as aforesaid has been made, by the person occupying the land by virtue of the contract;
for the purpose of enabling the land to be properly farmed, or of securing increased efficiency in the farming of the land:
Provided that an owner by whom any sum is so payable may by notice in writing served on the Minister within the said one month elect to pay the said sum, together with interest thereon from the said date, by such number of equal annual instalments not exceeding five as may be specified in the notice, so, however that—
(i)the first such instalment shall be paid within one year from the said date; and
(ii)the rate of interest shall, in default of agreement between the owner and the Minister, be fixed by the Treasury.
(6)Any question whether any amount is payable under the last foregoing subsection, or as to what amount is so payable, shall, in default of agreement, be determined by a single arbitrator appointed by agreement between the parties, or, in default of such agreement, by the President of the Chartered Surveyors' Institution, and, in determining any such question, the arbitrator shall be entitled to take into consideration any reasonable use to which the owner proves that he intends to put the land.
(7)Any amount payable to the Minister under subsection (5) of this section shall be a charge on the land in respect of which it is payable, and the Minister shall, for the purpose of enforcing the charge, have the same powers and remedies under the Law of Property Act, 1925, and otherwise as he would have if he were a mortgagee by deed having powers of sale and lease, of accepting surrenders of leases, and of appointing a receiver.
(8)For the purposes of this section, the expression " rules of good husbandry " has the same meaning as it has for the purpose of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1923, or, in relation to land which is not an agricultural holding, the meaning which it would have for the purpose of that Act if the land were such a holding.