Valuer-General may enter and inspect land and require information
53 Valuer-General may enter and inspect land and require information
The Valuer-General or an official valuer, or officer, appointed under the Valuation of Land Act 1916 or a Judge or an assessor of the Court may at all reasonable times, enter, for the purposes of this Part, any land.
Where a person enters land in pursuance of subsection (1), the owner, occupier or manager thereof shall answer any questions put by that person for the purpose of enabling a correct valuation to be made and, when required by that person to do so, generally furnish to that person all information within his or her knowledge or in his or her possession that is necessary for that purpose.
The Valuer-General may, by notice in writing served on the owner of any land within the Sydney region, require that owner, within such reasonable time as may be specified in the notice, to furnish to the Valuer-General such information and to produce to the Valuer-General such documents relating to the land as may be required by the Valuer-General for the purposes of this Part and as may be specified in the notice, whether generally or otherwise.
Without limiting the generality of subsection (3), a notice referred to in that subsection may—
require information as to any one or more of the following matters—
the area, portions, lots, deposited plans, references to title, situation, quality and use of the land the subject of the request,
the nature of the improvements thereon,
any of the matters specified in subsection (3) of section 42,
any reservations, restrictions, covenants, easements or rights in the nature of easements affecting the land, or
require the production of any contract, or a copy of any contract, for the purchase of the land, any instrument incorporated or referred to in any such contract and any instrument or option relating to the purchase of the land by the owner, where the contract, copy, instrument or option is in the owner’s possession or control.
Where an owner of land is not resident in the State, or is a corporation, the Valuer-General may serve a notice referred to in subsection (3) on the manager, secretary, agent or attorney of the owner and the person on whom the notice is served shall comply with the requirements of the notice as if the person were the owner.
A person shall not neglect or refuse to comply with the requirements of a notice served on the person under this section.
A person shall not—
in answer to any question put to the person under subsection (2) knowingly give an answer that is false or misleading in a material particular, or
furnish any information required of the person under that subsection or pursuant to a notice served on the person under subsection (3) that is false or misleading in a material particular.
A person shall not, after conviction for an offence arising under this section, continue to neglect or refuse to comply with the requirement for the non-compliance with which the person was convicted.
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units and the amount of any contribution, payment of which the offender has evaded or has attempted to evade.
It is a sufficient defence to a prosecution for an offence arising under subsection (7) if the defendant proves that he or she believed the truth of the answer or information given by the defendant and that it was given in good faith.
A prosecution for an offence arising under this section may be commenced at any time.
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