The responsibility was placed on the municipality to be aware of the restrictive condition and to act in accordance with it. A conflict may arise between the provisions of a restrictive condition and a town-planning or land-use scheme. Where this occurs, the restrictive condition usually takes precedence. Restrictive conditions cannot be removed automatically. Before an owner may implement or take advantage of the terms of a town-planning scheme, he must remove any existing legal impediment. Failing that the Town Planning Authority may institute proceedings against such an owner to compel him/her to comply with the town planning regulations. When an owner uses his property in a manner contrary to the provisions of a restrictive condition, a number of remedies are available to the person or entity whose rights are thereby infringed:   A possible defence to an action instituted to enforce the provisions of a restrictive condition is that the character of the area has changed so much that the original restrictive condition is no longer applicable, has become valueless and need not be enforced. The removal of and amendments to a restrictive condition can occur in a number of different ways, most broadly by court application and by statute. "Ex parte Optimal Property Solutions" confirms the procedure for an "ex parte" application, while the Removal of Restrictions Act, for example, contains procedures whereby certain restrictions and obligations in respect of land, including restrictive conditions, may be altered, suspended or removed. The procedure stipulates, "inter alia", that the application must be in a prescribed form and accompanied by payment of fees and notice in the provincial gazette, to provide for the raising of objections. There are numerous advantages and disadvantages to these procedures. The acquisition, use and disposal of mineral rights is now governed by the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), which came into effect on 1 May, 2004. The old common-law principles relating to the acquisition, use and disposal of mineral rights are therefore no longer applicable. The MPRDA entrenches state power and control over the mineral and petroleum resources of the country. Historically, the right to minerals fell within the ambit of property law. Mineral rights could be severed from the title to the land. Severance of the mineral rights from the surface rights enabled third parties to become holders of the mineral rights. The right to minerals could thus exist separately from ownership of the land once the right had been severed. To determine the nature and content of mineral rights, the courts relied on the established property-law principles of servitudes.