Agriculture Act 1967

Breach of condition

7 (1) A person by whom the condition specified in paragraph 3 or paragraph 4 above is breached as respects any unit of land shall be liable to pay to the appropriate Minister—

(a) an amount equal to the relevant Exchequer payments, together (except in the case of relevant Exchequer payments representing a loan or interest on a loan) with interest until payment from such date, not being earlier than the relevant date, and at such rate, as may be determined by the appropriate Minister with the approval of the Treasury, and

(b) subject to sub-paragraph (2) below, an additional amount equal to so much of the value of the unit, when subject to the conditions imposed by this Schedule, as is attributable to the land which is the subject of the breach,

and the amount which that person is liable to pay under this sub-paragraph shall be a charge on all the estate and interest in the land comprised in the unit which he had at the time of the breach, binding him and his successors in title.

(2) The additional amount payable by virtue of sub-paragraph (1)(b) above shall not exceed—

(a) the amount by which the value of the land which is the subject of the breach, when freed from all conditions under this Schedule, exceeds the value attributable thereto as mentioned in that sub-paragraph, or

(b) one thousand pounds,

whichever is the greater, taking, where the breach consists of a sale of land, the value of what is sold, when freed from all conditions under this Schedule, as not less than the purchase price.

(3) Before commencing proceedings against any person to enforce the liability imposed on him by, or the charge arising under, sub-paragraph (1) above, the appropriate Minister shall serve on him a notice specifying the condition alleged to have been breached and, if it is the condition relating to use, the nature of the use constituting the breach; and, unless within two months of the service of the notice that person has—

(a) admitted in writing the breach and his liability in respect thereof or, as the case may be, the breach and the existence of the charge, and

(b) agreed in writing the amount recoverable by virtue of paragraph (b) of that sub-paragraph,

the matter or matters still in issue shall be determined by arbitration.

(4) Section 77 of the [1948 c. 63.] Agricultural Holdings Act 1948 (procedure for arbitrations) shall have effect as if any such matter were one required by that Act to be determined by arbitration under that Act.

(5) Sections 75 and 77 of the [1949 c. 75.] Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1949 (provisions regarding arbitrations) shall have effect as if any question in sub-paragraph (3) above were a matter required by that Act to be determined thereunder; and sections 78 and 87(2) of that Act shall have effect as if the parties to the dispute were the landlord and tenant of an agricultural holding.

(6) For the purposes of the [1939 c. 21.] Limitation Act 1939, no cause of action or right to receive money shall be deemed to have accrued to the appropriate Minister by virtue of sub-paragraph (1) above until the date on which he served the notice referred to in sub-paragraph (3) above.

(7) If a breach of either of the said conditions constitutes a breach of the terms of any lease, agreement for a lease or tenancy (whether written in by paragraph 1 of this Schedule or not) any person who is or was at any time entitled under the lease, agreement or tenancy to enforce those terms, or to exercise by forfeiture or otherwise any sanction for their breach, shall be liable to pay to the appropriate Minister the amounts specified in sub-paragraph (1) above so far as not recovered from any other person unless he shows to the satisfaction of the court in which proceedings for recovery are taken against him that he has, in exercise of those rights, taken all reasonable steps to prevent the breach, and to make good the results of the breach.

(8) On the receipt by the appropriate Minister of all sums due to him under this paragraph in consequence of a breach or, if he accepts a lesser amount in satisfaction of those sums, on the giving by him of a written discharge therefor, the conditions specified in this Schedule, so far as applied by reference to the relevant Exchequer payments taken into account in arriving at those sums or by reason of the making of any grant under section 27(1)(a) of this Act, shall cease to be applicable to the unit of land.

(9) A person shall not be liable to pay any part of the relevant Exchequer payments both under this Schedule and under some other provision of this Act, or where he has already become so liable by reason of a previous breach of condition.

8 If the appropriate Minister is satisfied that a breach of any of the conditions specified in paragraph 3 or 4 above is capable of being remedied he may, subject to any conditions he may impose, direct that the operation of the last foregoing paragraph shall in relation to the breach be suspended for such period as appears to him to be necessary for enabling the breach to be remedied, and if the breach is remedied to his satisfaction within that period he shall direct that the last foregoing paragraph shall not apply to the breach.