Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979

2 (1) The Secretary of State may refuse to entertain an application for scheduled monument consent unless it is accompanied by one or other of the following certificates signed by or on behalf of the applicant, that is to say—

(a) a certificate stating that, at the beginning of the period of twenty-one days ending with the application, no person other than the applicant was the owner of the monument;

(b) a certificate stating that the applicant has given the requisite notice of the application to all the persons other than the applicant who, at the beginning of that period, were owners of the monument;

(c) a certificate stating that the applicant is unable to issue a certificate in accordance with either of the preceding paragraphs, that he has given the requisite notice of the application to such one or more of the persons mentioned in paragraph (b) above as are specified in the certificate, that he has taken such steps as are reasonably open to him to ascertain the names and addresses of the remainder of those persons and that he has been unable to do so ;

(d) a certificate stating that the applicant is unable to issue a certificate in accordance with paragraph (a) above, that he has taken such steps as are reasonably open to him to ascertain the names and addresses of the persons mentioned in paragraph (b) above and that he has been unable to do so.

(2) Any certificate issued for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) above—

(a) shall contain such further particulars of the matters to which the certificate relates as may be prescribed by regulations made for the purposes of this paragraph ; and

(b) shall be in such form as may be so prescribed ;

and any reference in that sub-paragraph to the requisite notice is a reference to a notice in the form so prescribed.

(3) Regulations made for the purposes of this paragraph may make provision as to who, in the case of any monument, is to be treated as the owner for those purposes.

(4) If any person issues a certificate which purports to comply with the requirements of this paragraph and which contains a statement which he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular, or recklessly issues a certificate which purports to comply with those requirements and which contains a statement which is false or misleading in a material particular, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction or, in Scotland, on conviction before a court of summary jurisdiction, to a fine not exceeding £200.