New South Wales Consolidated Acts

LORD HOWE ISLAND ACT 1953 - SECT 22

22 Special leases

(1) Subject to this section the Minister may lease Crown lands for cultivation or grazing or cultivation and grazing or for such other purpose as the Minister on the recommendation of the Board may approve.

(2) The term of a lease under this section may be fixed for any period not exceeding ten years, but such term may, on the recommendation of the Board, be extended by the Minister for such period as the Board may recommend.

(3) A lease may only be granted under this section to the holder of a lease under section 21.

(4) An application for a lease under this section shall be made to the Board in the manner and in or to the effect of the prescribed form.

(5) The Board shall report to the Minister as to whether there is any objection in the public interest or otherwise to the granting of the application either as to the whole or any part of the land the subject of the application and generally as to the merits thereof. If the Board deems it expedient to recommend the granting of the application either as to the whole or any part of the land the subject of the application it shall also report as to what conditions (if any) should attach to the lease and shall proceed to determine the rent of the land.

(6) After receipt of such report the Minister may grant a lease either as to the whole or any part of the land the subject of the application if the Board so recommends, or the Minister may at his or her discretion refuse the application.

(7) The Minister may annex to any such lease such conditions reservations and provisions as the Minister may think fit. Any such condition reservation or provision annexed to such lease or the purpose for which the lease has been granted may on application by the lessee in the prescribed manner and on the recommendation of the Board be varied modified or revoked by the Minister.

(8) The Minister may, on the recommendation of the Board, withdraw from any lease under this section any land required for home sites or public purposes.

(9) A lessee from whose lease land has been withdrawn under subsection (8) is entitled to compensation, as determined by the Valuer-General, for the loss of that land from the lease and for the loss of the improvements on that land.

(10) The compensation payable under subsection (9), in so far as it relates to the loss of land, is to be calculated having regard to the unexpired period of the lease or, if the unexpired portion of the lease is less than 5 years, as if the unexpired portion of the lease were 5 years.

(11) Without limiting any other ground on which the Minister may refuse to renew a lease under this section, the Minister may, on the recommendation of the Board, refuse to renew such a lease if the land concerned is required for home sites or public purposes.

(12) A lessee in respect of whose lease the Minister:

(a) has refused to grant a renewal, and

(b) has notified the lessee that the reason for the refusal is that the land concerned is required for home sites or public purposes,

is entitled to compensation, as determined by the Valuer-General, for the loss of his or her expectation that the lease would be renewed.

(13) The compensation payable under subsection (12) is to be calculated on the basis that the period for which the lease would have been renewed, but for the refusal, would have been 5 years.

(14) The regulations may make provision, not inconsistent with subsection (13), for or with respect to the making and notification of determinations under subsections (9) and (12).

(15) A person who is dissatisfied with the Valuer-General’s determination of compensation under subsection (9) or (12) may appeal to the Land and Environment Court against the determination.

(16) An appeal under subsection (15) must be lodged within 90 days after notice of the determination is served on the person concerned.