Interest in land to be offered first to former owner
121 Interest in land to be offered first to former owner
Where:
an acquiring authority acquired an interest in land by the vesting of the interest in the acquiring authority by paragraph 41(4)(a) of this Act or paragraph 10(4)(a) of the Lands Acquisition Act 1955;
the acquiring authority has not made substantial improvements to the land;
the Minister proposes to authorise the disposal of the interest; and
if authorised, the disposal would be likely to occur before the end of 7 years after the acquisition of the interest by the acquiring authority;
the Minister shall, in authorising the disposal, have regard to the general principle that the interest should, if practicable, be first offered for sale to the former owner at the market value of the interest at the time the offer is made.
An offer shall be made by the Minister by written notice given to the former owner and shall specify the amount that, in the opinion of the Minister, represents the market value of the interest at the time of the offer.
The acquiring authority shall not dispose of the interest to a person other than the former owner within 28 days after the day on which the offer is made.
If, within that period of 28 days, the former owner gives to the Minister notice that he or she wishes to purchase the interest from the acquiring authority, the authority shall not dispose of the interest to a person other than the former owner within 2 months after the notice is given.
The former owner may apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal for review of the Minister’s decision as to the amount specified in the offer as the market value of the interest.
The Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024 applies to the former owner’s application.
If the former owner makes an application to the Administrative Review Tribunal, the acquiring authority shall not dispose of the interest to a person other than the former owner:
until the end of 14 days after the decision of the Tribunal on the application comes into operation; or
if, within that period of 14 days, the owner gives the Minister written notice of his or her wish to purchase the interest from the Commonwealth at the market value determined by the Tribunal, until the end of 2 months after the decision of the Tribunal comes into operation.
The Minister may, by notice in writing given to the former owner, extend the period of 2 months referred to in paragraph (7)(b).
The validity of the disposal of an interest in land is not affected by a failure to comply with this section.
In this section:
former owner, in relation to an interest in land, means:
if the interest was acquired by the acquiring authority from only one person and that person is still alive or, in the case of a corporation, is still in existence—that person; and
in any other case—such persons (if any) as the Minister, having regard to the interests that existed in the land immediately before the acquisition, considers to be fairly entitled to the benefit of subsection (1).
market value has the same meaning as in section 56.
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