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[F.A.Q.]
Vanuatu Consolidated Legislation |
Commencement: 17 October 1983
LAWS
OF THE REPUBLIC OF
VANUATU
REVISED
EDITION 1988
CHAPTER 148
Act
15 of 1982ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
1. Lands
Referee
2. Jurisdiction of
Referee
3. Referee to act as expert
and not as arbitrator
4. Decision of
Referee to be
final
5. Costs
6. Rules
for regulating proceedings before the
Referee
7. Powers of
Referee
8. Indemnity for acts and
omissions
9. Power of entry upon
land
10. Offences
------------------------------------------
LANDS REFEREE
To provide for a Lands
Referee.
LANDS
REFEREE
1. (1) There shall be a
Lands Referee who shall exercise the jurisdiction hereafter
mentioned.
(2) The Referee shall
be appointed by the President on the advice of the Judicial Service
Commission.
(3) The person so
appointed shall be a qualified valuation surveyor experienced in the management
of
land.
JURISDICTION
OF REFEREE
2. The Referee shall
have jurisdiction to determine the following matters-
(a) the amount of rent payable for a lease of land whether originally or on periodic reassessment;
(b) the value of improvements on or to land;
(c) any matter referred to him by any party to a lease of land relating to the interpretation of a provision in a lease;
(d) any matter which is by any Act or Order directed to be determined by him.
REFEREE
TO ACT AS EXPERT AND NOT AS
ARBITRATOR
3. (1) In exercising
jurisdiction under sections 2(a) and (b) the Referee shall act as an expert and
not as arbitrator. He shall consider
any valuation and reasons submitted to him
by the parties to an application but shall not be in any way limited or fettered
thereby
and shall reach his decision in accordance with his own
judgment.
(2) In exercising
jurisdiction other than under sections 2(a) and (b), he may act as
arbitrator.
DECISION
OF REFEREE TO BE FINAL
4. A
decision of the Referee shall be
final:
Provided that any person
aggrieved by the decision as being erroneous in point of law may require the
Referee to state a case for
the decision of the Supreme
Court.
COSTS
5.
The Referee may order that the costs of any proceedings before him incurred by
any party shall be paid by any other
party.
RULES
FOR REGULATING PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE
REFEREE
6. Subject to the
provisions of this Act, the Judicial Committee established under the Courts Act,
Cap. 122 may make rules for regulating proceedings before the Referee and for
the fees chargeable in respect of those
proceedings.
POWERS
OF REFEREE
7. (1) In exercising
the jurisdiction hereby conferred a Referee shall have like powers to those of
the Supreme Court to summon witnesses,
to call for production of books, plans
and documents and to examine on oath witnesses and parties
concerned.
(2) Where the Referee
considers it desirable he may receive evidence by affidavit or administer
interrogatories and require the person
to whom the interrogatories are
administered to make a full and true reply
thereto.
INDEMNITY
FOR ACTS AND OMISSIONS
8. No
action shall lie and no proceedings shall be taken against the Government or the
Lands Referee or other person in respect of
anything done or omitted to be done
by the Lands Referee or any person acting under his directions in good faith in
the performance
of his functions under any
law.
POWER OF
ENTRY UPON LAND
9. The Lands
Referee may with or without assistants enter upon and inspect any land for the
purpose of the exercise of his functions
under any
law.
OFFENCES
10.
Any person who-
(a) obstructs or otherwise unlawfully interferes with the performance by the Lands Referee or any person acting under his directions in good faith in the performance of his functions under any law; or
(b) knowingly supplies to the Lands Referee or any person acting under his directions any information for the purposes of this Act which is false in any material particular,
shall
be guilty of an offence.
Penalty:
a fine of VT100,000 or imprisonment for 6 months or both such fine and
imprisonment.
_____________________________________
SUBSIDIARY
LEGISLATION
LANDS
REFEREE PROCEDURAL RULES
(Published 15/10/84)
ARRANGEMENT OF RULES
RULES
1.
Application
2. Applicant to contact
respondent
3.
Communications
4.
Fees
5. Disputes concerning rent or
the value of improvements
6. Disputes
concerning the interpretation of provisions contained within
leases
7.
Hearings
8. Number of persons
present
9. Rules of
evidence
10. Burden of
proof
11. Witnesses to be
segregated
12. Expert
witnesses
13.
Cross-examination
14. Authority to
inspect land
15.
Costs
16. Notification of
decisions
17. Defaulting
parties
18. Right of
appeal
19. Lands Referee
discretion
20. Right to refuse
applications
SCHEDULE:
Fees
-----------------------------------------
LANDS REFEREE PROCEDURAL RULES
To provide for the
procedural rules and prescribe the
fees.
APPLICATION
1.
All applications to the Lands Referee shall be made on the required form and be
accompanied by the appropriate
fee.
APPLICANT
TO CONTACT RESPONDENT
2. The
applicant shall not less than 14 days before making an application inform the
respondent of his intention to do
so.
COMMUNICATIONS
3.
It shall be the responsibility of the applicant to provide the Lands Referee
with the appropriate information to ensure that he
can communicate with the
parties.
FEES
4.
The fee shall be payable by the applicant in the amount set out in the
Schedule.
DISPUTES
CONCERNING RENT OR THE VALUE OF
IMPROVEMENTS
5. The Lands Referee
shall require the parties to provide a statement of agreed facts as directed.
The Lands Referee may-
(a) interrogate the parties and receive evidence from them.
(b) undertake his own investigations, asking such questions and considering such evidence as in his opinion are relevant.
(c) invite the parties to attend a hearing.
DISPUTES
CONCERNING THE INTERPRETATION OF PROVISIONS CONTAINED WITHIN
LEASES
6. In an arbitration the
Lands Referee may-
(a) require the parties to provide a statement of agreed facts as directed.
(b) require the parties to exchange statements of case and supporting evidence.
The
Lands Referee may make his decision without a hearing, provided that any party
shall have the right to apply for a hearing which
may be held at the discretion
of the Lands
Referee.
HEARINGS
7.
The Lands Referee shall in all cases have the right to call a hearing and such
hearings shall take place in private with only the
parties and their
representatives
present.
NUMBER
OF PERSONS PRESENT
8. The Lands
Referee may summon in advance of a hearing the names of those persons whose
presence is required and reserves the right
to limit the
numbers.
RULES
OF EVIDENCE
9. The Lands Referee
is not bound by the rules of
evidence.
BURDEN
OF PROOF
10. The burden of proof
of an assertion in the Lands Referee proceedings shall be upon the party making
the
assertion.
WITNESSES
TO BE SEGREGATED
11. Witnesses who
are to give evidence at a hearing shall be kept separate from the proceedings so
that no witnesses hears the evidence
of others before he is called to give his
evidence.
EXPERT
WITNESSES
12. Where it is the
intention of any party to call an expert witness, this must be notified to the
Lands Referee on application. A
written proof of the expert's evidence shall be
supplied to the Lands Referee in advance of any
hearing.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
13.
The Lands Referee may direct that cross-examination be undertaken
either-
(a) only through the officials of the Lands Referee Office; or
(b) directly between the parties or their representatives.
AUTHORITY
TO INSPECT LAND
14. The Lands
Referee may inspect any land in connection with any dispute. He may inspect the
land before or after receiving evidence
and may make arrangements with the
parties with a view to carrying out an
inspection.
COSTS
15.
The Lands Referee may invite applications for costs to be submitted to him
within 14 days of the notification. Costs may be awarded
either in full or in
part at the Lands Referee's discretion, and may be referred by him to the
Supreme Court for
taxation.
NOTIFICATION
OF DECISIONS
16. Decisions of the
Lands Referee will be notified to the parties in writing. Alternatively, at the
discretion of the Lands Referee,
they may be read out at a time, date and place
notified to the
parties.
DEFAULTING
PARTIES
17. The Lands Referee may
treat any dispute ex-party where-
(a) there is no response from the respondent within 28 days from the date of the Lands Referee's notification;
(b) a party fails to attend a hearing or in the opinion of the Lands Referee does not supply a satisfactory excuse for his absence.
RIGHT
OF APPEAL
18. There is no right of
appeal against the decisions of the Lands Referee except where an aggrieved
person claims that it is erroneous
in point of law. Such appeal shall be made to
the Supreme Court within 30 days of the notification by the Lands Referee of his
decision
to the appellant. A defaulting party has no right of appeal
whatsoever.
LANDS
REFEREE DISCRETION
19. The Lands
Referee may change the order of proceedings, contact the parties in such manner,
and make such directions as in his
opinion are appropriate in the
circumstances.
RIGHT
TO REFUSE APPLICATIONS
20. The
Lands Referee shall refuse any application if it concerns a matter outside his
jurisdiction, and may refuse any application
which has been submitted to him
incorrectly or if the subject matter in the dispute is in his opinion
trivial.
--------------------------
SCHEDULE
(rule 4)
FEES
1.
On application on a dispute relating to the rent of land within an urban area,
the fee shall be assessed as 2 per cent of that
figure representing the rent
based on the longest unexpired term to which possession may extend as at the
date of valuation. Where
an interest is not registered then the figure is to be
estimated by the Lands Referee. VT20,000
(minimum).
2. On application on a
dispute relating to the rent of land in a rural area the fee shall be based on
VT100 per hectare. The minimum
fee shall be
VT20,000.
3. On application on a
dispute relating to the value of improvements made on or to land the fee shall
be calculated as 2 per cent
of the value of the improvements contended for by
the party making the application. The minimum fee shall be
VT20,000.
4. On application on a
dispute concerning the terms contained within a lease,
VT15,000.
An additional fee of
VT5,000 will be included in the Lands Referee's award of costs, for each day (or
part thereof) of any subsequent
hearing.
5. On application by an
applicant for registration for a valuation required by the Director of Land
Records, VT6,000.
6. On
application under section 43(2)(b) of the Land Leases Act, Cap. 163 for the
enforcement of the right to the forfeiture of a lease,
VT15,000.
7. On application under
section 46(1) of the Land Leases Act, Cap. 163 for the lessee's relief from
forfeiture of a lease,
VT15,000.
8. On application under
section 46(2) of the Land Leases Act, Cap. 163 for an order vesting the leased
land in either the mortgagee or the sublessee,
VT15,000.
9. On application on a
dispute arising from the failure to agree the terms of compensation following
the utilisation of public land
in the rural areas,
VT5,000.
10. On application for
the Lands Referee to state a case for the decision of the Supreme Court,
VT3,000.
11. On application for a
copy of a decision of the Lands Referee, VT200 (per page).
12. (a) Where a dispute relates to rent on part of the land and to the value of improvements on another part of the land, the fee will be taken as the higher of either-
(i) that as calculated for the rent on the whole; or
(ii) that as calculated for improvements on the whole.
(b) Where a property crosses a boundary between an urban and a rural area, then the fee will be calculated on the rural scale.
(c) Where an application relates to a dispute arising from the failure to agree the terms of compensation following the utilisation of public land in an urban area, the fee will be charged at the discretion of the Lands Referee, having regard to the nature of the dispute and the extent of the land in question.
(d) Where the Minister refers a matter to the Lands Referee for a decision the application fee will normally be considered to have been borne by the Government. However, where a matter is referred by the Minister under section 22, of the Alienated Land Act, Cap. 145, where delay has been caused by either or both parties, the fee will be payable by the party deemed by the Referee to have been the principal cause of any delay. Where all parties are responsible for the delay then the cost of the fee will be shared equally. In such cases where the value of improvements is disputed, the fee will be based upon the median point of the amounts in dispute.
(e) No fee shall be payable in excess of VT100,000 excepting where in the opinion of the Lands Referee special circumstances justify fees at a higher rate.
(f) Fees will be payable in cash or by cheque, and will be officially receipted.
(g) The Lands Referee may at his discretion remit in whole or in part any fee.
(h) An urban area referred to in this schedule relates to the land falling within the physical planning boundaries of the towns of Port Vila and Luganville.
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