The Control of Horses Act 2015
The Control of Horses Act 2015 (‘the Act’) amended the Animals Act 1971 as of the 26th May 2015. The amendments were designed to provide landowners and occupiers in England with additional rights to deal with horses that are unlawfully on their land. Nearly two years on and the application and use of the additional rights are still not without their risks.
It is vital that section 2 (Powers of freeholders and occupiers in England to detain horses) of the Act is only exercised in accordance with section 3. The initial period of detention will not extend beyond 24 hours unless notice has been given to the police and a notice displayed near to where the horses are being detained. If you know the owner of the horses then a notice of detention should be served on them. Each notice should display a date and time and provide contact details. The contact details do not have to be for the landowner or occupier and can be the local police if preferred. Taking a photograph of the notices will provide good evidence that they were served should a dispute arise.
Once the notices have been served the landowner/occupier must continue to detain the horses for a further 72 hours (96 hours from the initial detention). In calculating the time period you cannot include weekends, bank holidays, Good Friday or Christmas Day. The right to detain will cease if the owner makes a claim and complies with section 4 of the Act.
If 96 hours have passed and no claims have been made, then ownership of the horse will pass to the landowner/occupier and they can dispose of the horse as they wish. Any proceeds of sale can be kept by the landowner/occupier although be aware that it is an offence to buy, sell or re-home a horse without a passport. If the horse has been microchipped then this may assist with identifying whether a passport already exists.
Most importantly, the landowner/occupier will be liable for any damage caused to the horses by failure to treat them with reasonable care and supply adequate food and water whilst detained. There is a significant overlap of duties here as the landowner/occupier is also required to comply with the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which extends to providing adequate shelter and veterinary care. It is always worthwhile asking a vet to check the horses and note their condition and any injuries which may have occurred prior to them coming onto the land.
In the circumstances where an owner does not come forward and the horses have been abandoned, the landowner/occupier may find themselves in a position of having expended a reasonable sum of money in complying with their obligations but having no one to claim it back from. The best form of protection therefore is to lock all gates and entrances or, if possible, block them entirely. Grazing which is unused can also be made to look unattractive by removing water troughs which may deter an owner from leaving the horses in the first place.
Katy Moss is a solicitor in the Property department at Barker Gotelee Solicitors in Suffolk.
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