Land Act.

An Act to regulate the acquisition of land by the State and the alienation or lease of land of the State, to establish a Land Board, to define powers of officers of the State in relation to land, to prescribe offences in relation to land, to regulate the fencing of land and various other matters relating to land.The Act consists of 182 sections which are divided into 28 Parts: Preliminary (I); National title to land (II); Acquisition of land by the State (III); Compensation (IV); Reservation of land (V); Aerodromes (VI); The Land Board (VII); Appeals and reports (VIII); Alienation of Government land (IX); State leases (X); Grant of State leases of improved Government land to the National Housing Corporation (XI); Variation of purposes, relaxation of covenants, etc. (XII); Payment for improvement of expiration of leases (XIII); Surrender of State lease (XIV); Forfeiture of State lease and fines (XV); Licences (XVI); Approval of dealings (XVII); Subdivision of State leases (XIX); Special provisions relating to customary land (XX); Powers in relation to land (XXI); Appeals (XXII); Delegation by Departmental Head (XXIII); Offences (XXIV); fencing of land (XXV); Miscellaneous (XXVI); Repeal (XXVII); Savings and transitional provisions (XXVIII).Section 1 defines the relationship of the present Law to the Constitution, whereas section 3 defines the application sphere of the present Act with respect titles, licences, permits, powers, etc. granted under the repealed Land Act. All land other than customary land (defined in section 2) is declared property of the State under section 4. Any land that appears to the Minister not to be customary land may be declared State land under section 5. Any Government land or land subject of a State Lease may be reserved from lease or further lease by the Minister by Notice in the Official Gazette (sect. 49). The Minister may appoint trustees for land so reserved under section 50. The Land Board is established under section 55. The Land Board shall consider and make recommendations on any matter referred to it by the Minister or the Department responsible for land matters. Government land shall not be alienated otherwise than under this Act or any other law (sect. 64, Part IX). Part X lays down rules relative to the leasing of State land assigned by either tender or granted directly by the Minister. Sections 87 and 88 regulate the lease of land for agricultural purposes, whereas sections 89 to 91 concern pastoral leases. Section 102 provides for the grant of special agricultural leases. Leases shall be generally granted for a period of 99 years. Section 118 concerns variation of purposes or covenants of leases. Licences may be granted by the Minister under section 125 for purposes of grazing of stock, fishermen's residence, etc. Leases or licences shall not be granted in contravention of zoning requirements pursuant to the Physical Planning Act, 1989. Customary land shall be sold or leased only to citizens in accordance with custom and based on a contract (sect. 132 of Part XX). The Minister may declare State to be customary land under section 133. Section 134 defines the duty of the Custodian for Trust Land appointed under the Land Registration Act to protect interests of customary landowners.

Implemented by: Land Regulation 1999. (2006-11-25)
Amended by: Land (Amendment) Act, 2016 (No. 18 of 2016). (2016-12-13)