Coast Protection Act 1949

10 Recovery of coast protection charges

(1) A coast protection charge levied upon any person under a works scheme shall become due—

(a) in the case of a charge the amount of which is specified in the scheme, on the completion of the work provided for by the scheme, and

(b) in any other case, on the service upon him of a notice specifying the amount of the charge :

Provided that if the charge is disputed, either by any question being required to be determined by arbitration or by an appeal to the Minister in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Act in that behalf, the charge shall not become due until the dispute is finally determined.

(2) A coast protection authority to whom a coast protection charge is payable by any person may, if he so requires, by order declare that it shall be payable by instalments over a period specified in the order not exceeding thirty years, with interest at such rate as may be determined by regulations made by the Minister.

(3) Any such instalment, or any part thereof, may, at any time after it has fallen due, be recovered from the person for the time being entitled to the interest in land by reference to which the charge was levied; and where that person is the owner the instalment, or any part thereof, may be recovered from the occupier for the time being of the land, and, if recovered from the occupier, may be deducted by him from the rent of the land:

Provided that an occupier shall not be required under this subsection to pay at any one time any sum in excess of the amount which was due from him on account of rent at, or has become due from him on account of rent since, the date on which he received a demand from the authority together with a notice requiring him not to pay rent to his landlord without deducting the sum so demanded.

(4) An order may be made under subsection (2) of this section at any time with respect to the unpaid balance of any coast protection charge, so however that the period for repayment shall not in any case extend beyond thirty years from the time when the charge first became due.

(5) The making of an order under the said subsection (2) as respects a coast protection charge shall not prevent the charge from being discharged at any time by the payment to the coast protection authority of the unpaid balance of the charge together with any accrued interest thereon.

(6) Where the interest by reference to which a coast protection charge is levied is subject to a mortgage, then, at the time while the mortgagee is in possession or in receipt of the rents or profits, the charge or any instalment in respect thereof for the time being due and remaining unpaid shall be payable by the mortgagee, and not by the person entitled to the interest.

(7) Where at a time when a coast protection charge or any instalment in respect thereof is due and remains unpaid a person is in receipt of the rents and profits of land as agent for the person entitled to the interest by reference to which the charge is levied, the charge or instalment may, subject to the next following subsection, be recovered from the agent.

(8) Where a coast protection authority claim to recover any sum in respect of a coast protection charge from a person who proves that—

(a) he acts, in the capacity by reason of which the claim is made, merely as agent or trustee for some other person; and

(b) he has not, and since the date of the service on him of a demand for payment has not had, in his hands on behalf of that other person sufficient money to discharge the whole demand of the authority,

his liability shall be limited to the total amount of the money which he has or has had in his hands as aforesaid; but an authority who are, or would be, debarred by the foregoing provisions of this subsection from recovering the whole of any such sum from an agent or trustee may recover the whole or any unpaid balance thereof from the person on whose behalf the agent or trustee acts.

(9) References in this section to the payment or recovery of an instalment in respect of a coast protection charge shall be construed as including references to the payment or recovery, as the case may be, of any accrued interest in respect of the charge.