135.Section 19 of the Act replaces section 9 of the 1996 Act with a new section 9 which extends the costs and expenses that SNH may recover in fulfilment of a control scheme.
136.Subsection (1) enables SNH to recover any expenses incurred by it in respect of the registration of a control scheme or the variation or revocation of such a scheme. While the primary costs will be the registration fees themselves, incidental costs such as those relating to any property searches required to establish how title is held may also be recovered. The expenses may be recovered from any or all of the owners and occupiers who are subject to the scheme. This ability to recover from specific persons may be particularly relevant where a control scheme has been necessitated by one or more owners and occupiers refusing to agree to or comply with a control agreement.
137.Before taking steps to recover the costs under subsection (1), SNH must (by virtue of subsection (2)) prepare and send to the owner or occupier from whom it is seeking to recover costs a statement detailing the registration fees and any other expenses incurred in connection with the registration. An owner or occupier who is aggrieved by the statement has 28 days to appeal to the Scottish Land Court against the statement and the Land Court may, if it considers it equitable to do so, vary the amount that SNH may recover from the person who appealed.
138.Subsections (3) and (4) enable SNH to recover any excess expenses(19) incurred by it in the performance of its duty under section 8(8) of the 1996 Act (which relates to SNH taking steps to carry out a requirement imposed under a control scheme that an owner or occupier has failed to carry out themselves) or section 10(4) (which relates to measures taken by SNH to prevent damage by deer).
139.As with recovering expenses under subsection (1), before taking steps to recover the expenses SNH must (by virtue of subsection (5)), provide the owner or occupier from whom the expenses are to be recovered with a statement detailing the expenses incurred, the amount received in respect of the sale of deer and the amount recoverable from the owner or occupier (which may not be the whole amount of the expenses incurred if action is taken in respect of a wider control area or multiple owners and occupiers). Again, as with recovery under subsection (1), an owner or occupier who is aggrieved with the statement has 28 days to appeal to the Scottish Land Court and the Court may, if it considers it equitable to do so, vary the amount that SNH may recover from the person who appealed.
140.SNH may only waive the excess costs incurred in connection with the performance of its duty under section 8(8) if it has obtained the approval of the Scottish Ministers to do so. However, they do not require approval in respect of waiving registration fees or the performance of their duties under section 10.
The Act Deer management plans, control agreements and control schemes Section 19 – Recovery of costs and expenses