Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993

Financial assistance to crofters, cottars and certain owner- occupiers etc

42 Crofters

(1) For the purpose of aiding and developing agricultural production on crofts, the Secretary of State may, after consultation with the Commission and with the approval of the Treasury, make schemes for providing grants and loans to crofters.

(2) Any scheme under subsection (1) above may—

(a) provide for the administration, through the agency of the Commission, of the grants and loans payable thereunder;

(b) make provision enabling the Secretary of State to recover the grant or loan in such circumstances and from such person as may be specified in the scheme;

(c) provide that, where the grant or loan is being given in respect of a common grazing and a grazings committee or a grazings constable has been appointed under section 47 of this Act, the Secretary of State shall pay the grant or loan to the clerk of the grazings committee or the constable for the benefit of the crofters concerned.

(3) Any scheme under subsection (1) above shall be embodied in a statutory instrument which shall be laid before Parliament after being made, and any such scheme may be varied or revoked by a subsequent scheme made in the like manner.

(4) The Secretary of State may, in accordance with arrangements made by him with the approval of the Treasury, provide assistance by way of grants or loans or by the supply for payment in cash of building or other materials towards the erection or improvement or rebuilding of dwelling-houses and other buildings for crofters or towards the provision or improvement of roads, or water or electricity or gas supplies.

(5) The Secretary of State may, in accordance with arrangements made by him with the approval of the Treasury, provide assistance by way of loan to the incoming tenant of a croft to enable him to pay to the outgoing tenant of the croft or to the landlord thereof the compensation for permanent improvements due to such outgoing tenant.

(6) Regulations shall be made by the Secretary of State—

(a) for securing that, where a grant has been made towards the erection, improvement or rebuilding of a dwelling-house or other building, conditions with respect to the occupation and maintenance thereof shall apply thereto for such period from the completion of the work (not being longer than 40 years) as may be specified in the regulations;

(b) for securing that in the event of a breach of any of the conditions the Secretary of State may recover from such person as may be specified in the regulations a sum bearing the same proportion to the grant made as the period between the date of the breach of the condition and the expiration of the period specified under paragraph (a) above bears to the last mentioned period, together with interest on such sum from the date on which the grant was made at such a rate as may be specified in the regulations;

(c) for providing that the conditions applied by the regulations to a dwelling- house or building shall cease to apply on payment to the Secretary of State by such person as may be specified in the regulations of such amount as may be so specified;

(d) for securing that, where any conditions apply to a dwelling-house or building by virtue of the regulations, the Secretary of State shall cause to be recorded in the Register of Sasines or, as the case may be, registered in the Land Register of Scotland a notice in a form prescribed by the regulations specifying the conditions which by virtue of the regulations apply to the dwelling-house or building; and that, where such conditions cease so to apply by virtue of such a payment to the Secretary of State as is referred to in paragraph (c) above, the Secretary of State shall cause to be so recorded or registered a notice in a form prescribed as aforesaid stating that the conditions no longer apply to the dwelling-house or building;

(e) for such other incidental and supplementary matters as appear to the Secretary of State to be requisite or expedient for the purposes aforesaid.

(7) The Secretary of State may make regulations providing that the conditions applied to any dwelling-house by regulations made under subsection (6) above shall not apply to such dwelling-house in such circumstances and to such extent as may be specified in the regulations made under this subsection.

(8) No assistance by way of grant shall be given under subsection (4) above towards the erection, improvement or rebuilding of any dwelling-house or other building or towards the provision or improvement of roads, or water or electricity or gas supplies if assistance out of public money by way of grant or subsidy has been given under any other enactment towards the works in question.

(9) A person shall not be disqualified for receiving assistance under subsection (4) above by reason only that, after he has applied for and the Secretary of State has undertaken to provide such assistance, he has become the owner of the croft in respect of which the application was made.

(10) If any person, for the purpose of obtaining for himself or any other person a grant or loan under a scheme made under subsection (1) above or under subsection (4) above, knowingly or recklessly makes a false statement he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

43 Supplementary provisions as to loans under s.42

(1) Where assistance is given under section 42(4) or (5) of this Act by way of loan, the following provisions of this section shall have effect.

(2) The Secretary of State shall give notice to the landlord of the giving of any such assistance as aforesaid.

(3) The agreement for the loan shall be sent to the principal clerk of the Land Court to be recorded in the Crofters Holdings Book and as recorded shall have the effect of transferring to the Secretary of State all rights of the crofter and his statutory successors to compensation for permanent improvements up to the amount of any outstanding liability to the Secretary of State.

(4) Any amount due by virtue of subsection (3) above to the Secretary of State by the landlord may, if the Secretary of State on the application of the landlord so determines, be deemed to be a loan by the Secretary of State to the landlord, and Schedule 5 to this Act shall apply in relation thereto.

(5) Where the outgoing tenant of a croft is under any liability to the Secretary of State in respect of a loan made to him, the Secretary of State and the incoming tenant may agree that the latter shall assume such liability, and if they so agree the amount thereof shall be deemed to be a loan made to the incoming tenant under section 42(5) of this Act and this section shall have effect accordingly.

(6) Schedule 5 to this Act shall apply in relation to any loan made by virtue of section 42(9) of this Act.

44 Cottars

The Secretary of State shall have the like powers to provide assistance by way of loan, grant and the supply of building or other materials for the erection, improvement or rebuilding of dwelling-houses and other buildings for cottars as he has to provide assistance for the erection, improvement or rebuilding of dwelling-houses and other buildings for crofters, and subsections (4), (6), (8), (9) and (10) of section 42 of this Act shall apply accordingly.

45 Former crofters and cottars who have acquired site of the dwelling-house

(1) The Secretary of State may provide assistance under section 42(4) of this Act but not in respect of buildings other than dwelling-houses to—

(a) a person, being a crofter who has acquired the site of the dwelling-house on or pertaining to his croft after 10th June 1976;

(b) the nominee of such a person, being a member of his family, to whom the site was conveyed by the landlord of the croft;

(c) a member of such a person’s family who has acquired the title to the site from that person or such nominee;

(d) a person, being a cottar who has acquired the site of the dwelling-house on or pertaining to his subject after 10th June 1976,

for a period of 7 years from the date of the acquisition from the landlord.

(2) Schedule 5 to this Act shall apply in relation to any loan made under section 42(4) of this Act by virtue of subsection (1) above.

(3) Where a person other than the landlord was infeft in the site of the dwelling-house immediately before the conveyance, the reference in subsection (1)(b) above to the landlord shall be construed as a reference to the landlord and such other person for their respective rights.

(4) If any person, referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (1) above, for the purpose of obtaining for himself or any other person a grant or loan under section 42(4) of this Act, knowingly or recklessly makes a false statement he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

46 Owner-occupiers of like economic status as crofters and other persons

(1) The Secretary of State shall have the like powers to provide assistance by way of loan, grant and the supply of building or other materials for the erection, improvement or rebuilding of buildings other than dwelling-houses or towards the provision or improvement of roads, or water or electricity or gas supplies for owners of holdings to which subsection (2) below applies as he has to provide such assistance for crofters; and subsections (4), (6), (8) and (10) of section 42 of this Act shall apply accordingly.

(2) This subsection applies to any holding which—

(a) is situated in the crofting counties; and

(b) is either—

(i) a holding of which the area does not exceed 30 hectares, or

(ii) a holding of which the annual rent, if it were a croft let to a crofter under this Act, would not in the opinion of the Secretary of State exceed £100, or

(iii) a holding which exceeds 30 hectares and of which the annual rent if it were a croft so let would in the opinion of the Secretary of State exceed £100, but which in the opinion of the Secretary of State is not substantially larger than 30 hectares or is capable of being let as a croft at an annual rent not substantially in excess of £100; and

(c) is owned by a person who in the opinion of the Secretary of State is of substantially the same economic status as a crofter; and

(d) is occupied by the owner thereof.

(3) Schedule 5 to this Act shall apply in relation to any loan made to the owner of a holding under subsection (1) above.

(4) The Secretary of State shall have the like power to provide financial assistance—

(a) for occupiers of crofts who are also the owners thereof and who in the opinion of the Secretary of State are of substantially the same economic status as a crofter; and

(b) for occupiers of holdings, other than crofts, situated in the crofting counties which are either holdings of which the area does not exceed 30 hectares (exclusive of any common pasture or grazing held therewith) or holdings the annual rent of which, if they were crofts let to crofters under this Act, would not, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, exceed £100, being occupiers who in the opinion of the Secretary of State are of substantially the same economic status as a crofter; and

(c) for occupiers of holdings, other than crofts, situated in the crofting counties which exceed 30 hectares (exclusive of any common pasture or grazing held therewith) and of which the annual rent if they were crofts so let would in the opinion of the Secretary of State exceed £100, but which in the opinion of the Secretary of State are not substantially larger than 30 hectares (exclusive of any common pasture or grazing held therewith) or are capable of being so let at an annual rent not substantially in excess of £100, being occupiers who in the opinion of the Secretary of State are of substantially the same economic status as a crofter; and

(d) for subtenants of crofts or parts of crofts occupying under subleases intimated or granted as mentioned in section 29(2) of this Act,

as he has by virtue of subsection (1) of section 42 of this Act to provide financial assistance for crofters; and accordingly the said subsection (1) shall have effect as if the reference therein to crofts included a reference to such holdings and to parts of crofts and as if the reference therein to crofters included a reference to occupiers of crofts who are also the owners thereof, to occupiers of such holdings and to subtenants of crofts or parts of crofts.

(5) If any person, for the purpose of obtaining for himself or any other person, a grant or loan under a scheme made under section 42(1) of this Act as applied by subsection (4) above, knowingly or recklessly makes a false statement he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.