514Council may make advances to owners

1. The council may make advances to the owner of any land within the district for the purpose of enabling him to do all things necessary to comply with any requirement of the council under section 511 or to cover in or improve any drainage channel or watercourse on the banks of which that land is situated.

2. Instead of making any such advance to any owner, the council may, by agreement with the owner, itself do all or any of the things referred to in subsection (1), and all money expended by the council pursuant to that agreement, together with an amount to cover the cost of supervision by the officer or agents of the council, is deemed to be an advance for the purposes of this section.

3. The council and the owner may agree that the amount of any advance shall be repayable in 1 amount at a fixed time with interest at a rate per annum fixed by the council, or by instalments extending over a number of years with interest not exceeding that rate. The agreement may contain any incidental provisions and may provide for the earlier payment of instalments, or any of them, on terms to be mentioned in the agreement: provided that, where the agreement makes no provision as aforesaid for early payment of instalments, the council shall accept payment of the whole of the unpaid instalments at any time when payment is tendered, and for the purpose of any such tender interest shall be paid up to and including the day of tender.

4. That agreement may, where the money is repayable in 1 amount, contain provisions for securing the repayment thereof, and, where the money is repayable by instalments, each such instalment is a charge on the land: provided that the owner for the time being of the premises shall in all cases be deemed the person primarily liable for payment.