Farm Tax Act, 1985

Farm tax to be a charge on land.

21.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, farm tax due and payable for any year in respect of a taxable farm or part of a taxable farm and any interest due and payable thereon shall, on the date upon which it becomes so due and payable, become and shall remain until payment thereof, a charge upon the land standing entered in the relevant classification list or classification lists on the date on which the rate of farm tax for that year is prescribed under section 9 of this Act as being the land comprised in the agricultural land holding constituting the farm and the tax and any such interest shall have priority over all charges and interests created in respect of the land:

Provided that where any settled property comprised in land subject to a charge under this section is subject to any power of sale, exchange or partition, the person entitled to exercise such power, or any person required to consent to the exercise of such power, shall not be precluded by the charge of farm tax or interest thereon on the land from exercising such power or consenting to its exercise, as the case may be; and where any such power is exercised, the farm tax and any interest thereon shall be charged upon the land acquired, in substitution for charging it on the first-mentioned land, and upon all moneys arising from the exercise of the power and upon all investments of such moneys.

(2) Where there is a bona fide sale for full consideration in money or money's worth or a mortgage of land charged with farm tax or interest thereon, the land shall not remain charged with farm tax or any interest thereon as against the purchaser or mortgagee unless the amount of the consideration or mortgage debt exceeds £20,000 or the amount of the consideration or mortgage debt, together with the amount of the consideration or mortgage debt for any other such sale or mortgage between the same parties within 2 years prior to the date of the sale or mortgage, exceeds in the aggregate £20,000.

(3) Land shall not, as against a bona fide purchaser or mortgagee, remain charged with or liable to the payment of farm tax or interest thereon charged on the land after the expiration of 12 years from the date on which the tax or interest became so charged.

(4) Farm tax or interest thereon shall not be a charge on land under subsection (1) of this section as against a bona fide purchaser or mortgagee of such property for full consideration in money or money's worth without notice or a person deriving title from or under such a purchaser or mortgagee.

(5) Whenever land is subject to a charge by virtue of this section, a local authority in whose functional area the land or part of the land is situated may sue the occupier of the land, or part of the land, by action or other appropriate proceeding in any court of competent jurisdiction for, and the court may make an order directing the occupier to pay—

(a) the farm tax or any interest thereon with which the land is charged, or

(b) if part only of the land is situated in the functional area of that local authority, the farm tax payable in respect of the part or any interest thereon

to that local authority.

(6) Section 72 of the Registration of Title Act, 1964 , shall apply as if references therein to estate duty included references to farm tax and interest payable under this Act on farm tax.