Office of Public Sector Information
Section 1.
1 The Commission shall be a body corporate and shall have a common seal.
2 Every member of the Commission shall hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms of the instrument under which he is appointed; but notwithstanding anything in such an instrument any member of the Commission may resign his office by a notice given under his hand to the Secretary of State, and a member of the Commission who ceases to hold office shall be eligible for re-appointment to the Commission.
3 The Secretary of State shall pay to the members of the Commission such remuneration and such allowances as he may, with the approval of the Treasury, determine.
4 The Secretary of State shall, in the case of any member of the Commission to whom he may with the approval of the Treasury determine that this paragraph applies, pay such pension, allowance or gratuity to or in respect of the member on his retirement or death, or make such payments towards the provision of such a pension, allowance or gratuity, as he may, with the like approval, determine.
5 If a person ceases to be a member of the Commission and it appears to the Secretary of State that there are special circumstances which make it right that that person should receive compensation he may, with the approval of the Treasury, pay to that person a sum of such amount as he may, with the like approval, determine.
6 The quorum of the Commission shall be three or such larger number as the Commission may from time to time determine.
7 The proceedings of the Commission shall not be invalidated by any vacancy in the membership of the Commission or by any defect in the appointment of any member thereof.
8 If at any meeting of the Commission the votes are equally divided on any question, the person acting as chairman of the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.
9 The Commission shall refer to one or more of their number for report and recommendation such matters as may be determined by the Commission and shall delegate to one or more of their number such of the functions conferred on the Commission by this Act, to such extent and subject to such conditions or restrictions, as may with the approval of the Secretary of State be so determined.
10 In any application or other proceeding coming before them the Commission may order that the evidence shall be taken on oath.
11 Subject to the foregoing provisions of this Schedule, the Commission shall have power to regulate their own procedure.
12 The Commission shall have an office in the crofting counties at which communications and notices will at all times be received.
13 The Secretary of State may provide the services of such officers and servants as the Commission may require.
14 The application of the seal of the Commission to any document shall be attested by at least one member of the Commission and by the person for the time being acting as secretary to the Commission.
15 Every document purporting to be an instrument issued by the Commission and to be sealed and attested as aforesaid or to be duly signed on behalf of the Commission shall be received in evidence and shall be deemed to be such an instrument without further proof unless the contrary is shown.
Section 5.
1 The crofter shall pay his rent at the terms at which it is due and payable.
2 The crofter shall not, except in accordance with the provisions of this Act, execute any deed purporting to assign his tenancy.
3 The crofter shall, by himself or his family, with or without hired labour, cultivate his croft, without prejudice to the right hereby conferred on him to make such use thereof for subsidiary or auxiliary occupations as, in case of dispute, the Land Court may find to be reasonable and not inconsistent with the cultivation of the croft.
4 The crofter shall provide such fixed equipment on his croft as may be necessary to enable him to cultivate the croft.
5 The crofter shall not, to the prejudice of the interest of the landlord, persistently injure the croft by the dilapidation of buildings or, after notice in writing has been given by the landlord to the crofter not to commit, or to desist from, the particular injury specified in the notice, by the deterioration of the soil.
6 The crofter shall not sublet his croft or any part thereof otherwise than with the consent in writing of the Commission and in accordance with such conditions (which shall not include conditions relating to rent) as the Commission in giving their consent may impose:
Provided that nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as debarring a crofter from subletting any dwelling-house or other building forming part of his croft to holiday visitors.
7 The crofter shall not, except in accordance with the provisions of this Act, subdivide his croft.
8 The crofter shall not, without the consent in writing of the landlord, erect or suffer to be erected on the croft any dwelling-house otherwise than in substitution for a dwelling-house which at the commencement of this Act was already on the croft:
Provided that, if at the commencement of this Act there was no dwelling-house on the croft, the crofter may erect one dwelling-house thereon.
9 The crofter shall not persistently violate any written condition signed by him for the protection of the interest of the landlord or of neighbouring crofters which is legally applicable to the croft and which the Land Court shall find to be reasonable.
10 The crofter shall not do any act whereby he becomes apparently insolvent within the meaning of the [1985 c. 66.] Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985.
11 The crofter shall permit the landlord or any person authorised by the landlord in that behalf to enter upon the croft for the purpose of exercising (subject always to the payment of such compensation as in case of dispute the Land Court may find to be reasonable in respect of any damage done or occasioned thereby) any of the following rights, and shall not obstruct the landlord or any person authorised as aforesaid in the exercise of any of such rights, that is to say—
(a) mining or taking minerals, or digging or searching for minerals;
(b) quarrying or taking stone, marble, gravel, sand, clay, slate or other workable mineral;
(c) using for any estate purpose any springs of water rising on the croft and not required for the use thereof;
(d) cutting or taking timber or peats, excepting timber and other trees planted by the crofter or any of his predecessors in the tenancy, or which may be necessary for ornament or shelter, and excepting also such peats as may be required for the use of the croft;
(e) opening or making roads, fences, drains and water courses;
(f) passing and re-passing to and from the shore of the sea or any loch with or without vehicles for the purpose of exercising any right of property or other right belonging to the landlord;
(g) viewing or examining at reasonable times the state of the croft and all buildings or improvements thereon;
(h) hunting, shooting, fishing or taking game or fish, wild birds or vermin;
but nothing in this paragraph shall be held to preclude the crofter from recovering any compensation for damage by game which is recoverable under section 52 of the [1991 c. 55.] Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991, by a tenant, and that section shall apply accordingly, with the substitution, however, of the Land Court for arbitration.
12 The crofter shall not on his croft, without the consent in writing of the landlord, open any house for the sale of intoxicating liquors.
13 In this Schedule—
“cultivate” includes the use of a croft for horticulture or for any purpose of husbandry, including the keeping or breeding of livestock, poultry or bees, the growing of fruit, vegetables and the like and the planting of trees and use of the land as woodlands;
“game” means deer, hares, rabbits, pheasants, partridges, grouse, blackgame, capercailzie, ptarmigan, woodcock, snipe, wild duck, widgeon and teal.
Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993