Chapter III

Purchase of Certain Cottages under Act of 1936

93. —(1) In this Chapter—

(a) “the Act of 1950” means the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1950 (repealed by this Act);

(b) “annuity” (except in section 101) has the same meaning as in the Act of 1936 and includes part of such annuity;

(c) “cottage” means a cottage provided under the Labourers Acts, 1833 to 1962, and, save where the context otherwise requires, includes the plot (if any) provided with such cottage;

(d) “purchase scheme” has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of the Act of 1936;

(e) “qualified person” means a qualified person for the purposes of section 16 of the Act of 1936.

(2) Notwithstanding the repeal by this Act of section 26 of the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1958 , the Act of 1936 together with section 1 and Part III of the Housing and Labourers Act, 1937 , shall continue in force until such time as they are repealed or terminated.

94. —(1) Where a housing authority have provided a cottage before the 1st day of January, 1966, and the authority have not complied with the requirement of subsection (2) of section 12 of the Act of 1936 (repealed by this Act) in relation to the cottage, the authority shall, not later than twelve months after the commencement of this section, prepare and submit to the Minister a purchase scheme in relation to the cottage.

(2) The provisions of the Act of 1936 shall apply as respects any purchase scheme prepared and submitted to the Minister under this section in like manner as if the scheme had been prepared and submitted under that Act.

95. —(1) Section 16 of the Act of 1936 shall have effect subject to the following modifications:

(a) where a purchase scheme in relation to a cottage is in force immediately before the commencement of this section and no application in respect of the cottage has been sent to the housing authority under the said section 16, an application may be sent under that section if, but only if, it is so sent not later than eighteen months after the commencement of this section;

(b) where a purchase scheme in relation to a cottage comes into force on or after the commencement of this section, an application in respect of the cottage may be sent to the housing authority if, but only if, it is so sent not later than eighteen months after the commencement of this section or six months after the day on which the purchase scheme comes into force, whichever is the later.

(2) A housing authority shall inform each tenant of a cottage within their functional area of the application which may be sent to the authority by a qualified person and the period within which the application must be sent and each such tenant shall be so informed as soon as practicable after,

(a) in case the relevant purchase scheme is in force immediately before the commencement of this section—such commencement, or

(b) in case the relevant purchase scheme comes into force on or after the commencement of this section—the day on which the purchase scheme comes into force.

96. —(1) Where a cottage in respect of which an application may be sent under section 16 of the Act of 1936 comes within an urban area not more than eighteen months either before or after the commencement of section 94 of this Act, the housing authority to whom the application may be so sent shall not, within the period during which the application may be so sent, transfer the cottage to the housing authority for the urban area.

(2) The right of a person to send an application under section 16 of the Act of 1936 shall not in any way be affected by reason only of the fact that the cottage is at any time situate within an urban area.

(3) Where a cottage purchased under the Act of 1936 comes within an urban area, whether before or after the commencement of this section, all the provisions of the Act of 1936 shall continue to apply in relation to the cottage and the functions in relation to the cottage which could formerly be performed by the authority by whom the relevant vesting order under section 17 of the Act of 1936 was made shall thenceforth be performed by the housing authority for the urban area and in case the cottage came within an urban area before the commencement of this section, the said provisions shall be deemed to have continued to so apply and the said functions shall be deemed to have been so performable as and from the date on which the cottage came within the urban area.

(4) In this section, “urban area” means a county or other borough or urban district.

97. —Where, immediately before the commencement of this section, a cottage is let by a housing authority under section 24 of the Act of 1950, the following provisions shall have effect:

(a) the authority may declare that the person to whom the cottage was so let is a qualified person, and thereupon such person shall become a qualified person;

(b) the making of a declaration under this subsection shall be a reserved function.

98. —(1) Notwithstanding sections 17 and 21 of the Act of 1936, and subject to the provisions of this section, any cottage, plot or part of a plot held with a cottage may be and shall be deemed always to have been capable, during the payment period in respect of the cottage, of being charged, mortgaged, subdivided or alienated otherwise than by devise or by operation of law, with the consent of the relevant housing authority.

(2) Without prejudice to any other power in that behalf, a housing authority may withhold their consent to the alienation of a cottage if they are of opinion that—

(a) the person to whom it is intended to alienate the cottage is a person who is not in need of housing, or

(b) the alienation would, if effected, cause or be likely to cause the person intending to make the alienation or any of his dependants to be a person without adequate or suitable housing.

(3) Where a cottage which is subject to and charged with the future payment of an annuity is intended to be sold or transferred, the housing authority may, before consenting to the sale or transfer, require the annuity to be redeemed under section 99 of this Act.

(4) Where a plot or part of a plot held with a cottage which is subject to and charged with the future payment of an annuity is charged, mortgaged, subdivided or alienated otherwise than by devise or by operation of law, after the commencement of this section, the housing authority shall apportion the annuity in such manner as they consider appropriate, and in the case of a sale or a transfer the authority shall require to be redeemed under section 99 of this Act the part of the annuity apportioned by them in respect of the plot or the part of a plot.

(5) A housing authority shall, before giving their consent to the alienation or subdivision of any cottage which is subject to and charged with the future payment of an annuity (other than an alienation or subdivision of a class specified by the Minister for the purposes of this subsection), require the payment to them of an amount approved by the Minister for the said purposes.

(6) In case any person, without the consent of a housing authority, attempts or purports to effect in relation to any cottage, plot or part of a plot held with a cottage, a charge, mortgage, subdivision or alienation as respects which the consent of a housing authority is required by this section or by a vesting order made under section 17 of the Act of 1936, such attempted or purported charging, mortgaging, subdivision or alienation shall be null and void against all persons; provided, however, that in any case where the consent of the authority is given after the attempted or purported charging, mortgaging, subdivision or alienation, such consent shall operate, if the authority so direct, to validate with retrospective effect, such attempted or purported charging, mortgaging, subdivision or alienation.

99. —An annuity at any time outstanding may, if the housing authority entitled to receive the annuity think fit, be redeemed by the person liable to pay the annuity by payment to the authority of such amount as may be approved by the Minister, and the premises, which but for this section would be subject to and charged with the payment of the annuity or the part, shall, on receipt by the authority of the amount so approved, stand freed and discharged from the payment of the annuity.

100. —(1) Where—

(a) a cottage, plot or part of a plot held with a cottage, subject to and charged with the future payment of an annuity is either alienated, or is acquired by the housing authority to whom, before the acquisition, the annuity was required to be paid, or

(b) an annuity is redeemed under section 99 of this Act,

all the provisions of the Act of 1936, including the statutory conditions which but for this subsection would continue to apply in respect of the cottage, plot or part of a plot during the payment period shall, in case the cottage, plot or part of a plot is so acquired or the annuity, as respects the cottage, plot or part of a plot is redeemed in full, cease so to apply, or in any other case, cease so to apply to such extent as the housing authority may, by order, determine.

(2) In this section, “statutory conditions” and “payment period” have the same meanings as in section 17 of the Act of 1936.

101. —(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Act of 1936 or in a purchase scheme, the provisions of subsection (2) of this section shall have effect.

(2) Where the rent of a cottage is revised, whether before or after the commencement of this section, otherwise than on account of any change in the amount of the municipal or county rate, or otherwise than on account of the provisions of a scheme providing for graded or differential rents, the following provisions shall apply:

(a) the amount of the terminable annuity to be paid in respect of the cottage as the consideration for the purchase thereof shall be the amount (in this section referred to as the revised amount) which bears the same proportion to the yearly amount payable in respect of such rent, when so revised, as the amount of the terminable annuity specified in the relevant purchase scheme bears to the amount which was payable annually as respects such rent when the purchase scheme came into force, and

(b) the amount of the terminable annuity specified in the relevant purchase scheme shall, for the purposes of the Act of 1936, be deemed to be equal to the revised amount.

102. —(1) The Act of 1936 shall be amended as follows:

(a) paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of section 17 is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (vi):

“(via) that subject to the provisions of subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph, the cottage shall be occupied as his normal place of residence by a person who is a person mentioned in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph,”;

(b) in section 24—

(i) “or if during such period the cottage for a continuous period of more than eighteen months, is not occupied as his normal place of residence by a person mentioned in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of section 17 of this Act,” is hereby inserted before “such board of health may” in subsection (1);

(ii) “any other grounds” is hereby substituted for “failure to comply with any other statutory condition” in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b) of subsection (2);

(iii) the following is hereby substituted for subsection (3):

“(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2) of this section, upon the hearing of an application under subsection (1) of this section the justice of the District Court hearing the application may—

(a) in case he is satisfied that the notice required by this section has been duly given and that a statutory condition mentioned in the notice has not been complied with, or

(b) in case he is satisfied that, for a continuous period of more than eighteen months during the payment period in respect of a cottage, the cottage has not been occupied as his normal place of residence by a person mentioned in subparagraph (ii) of subsection (2) of section 17 of this Act and on an undertaking by the applicant to pay to the person in whom, on the date of the application, the cottage is vested an amount approved by the Minister, being not less than the value of the aggregate of the moneys which have been received by the applicant towards the consideration for the purchase of the cottage to which the application relates,

issue the warrant.”;

(iv) in subsection (4), “sections 86 and 87” is hereby substituted for “section 86”, where that reference first occurs and “subject to the modification that where as respects an application under subsection (1) of this section, the name of the owner of a cottage cannot by reasonable enquiry be ascertained, a summons under the said section 86 may be addressed to ‘the owner’ without naming him” is hereby inserted after “this section.”

(v) “and thereupon the cottage shall for all purposes be deemed to be a dwelling provided under the Housing Act, 1966” is hereby inserted after “fee simple” in paragraph (b) of subsection (5);

(vi) the following is hereby inserted after subsection (5):

“(6) Upon the hearing of an application under subsection (1) of this section it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that, for a continuous period of more than eighteen months during the payment period in respect of the cottage, the cottage has not been occupied as his normal place of residence by a person mentioned in the said subparagraph (ii).”

(c) in section 27—

(i) “notwithstanding that the annuity relating to the cottage has been redeemed or has otherwise ceased to be payable,” and “(in this section referred to as the consolidated holding)” are hereby inserted after “the Irish Land Commission may” and “one holding” respectively in subsection (1);

(ii) the following is hereby inserted after subsection (1):

“(1A) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, the making of a consolidating order shall operate to transfer to the relevant consolidated holding every estate, interest, right, burden, charge (including an annuity payable under this Act, a purchase annuity payable under the Land Purchase Acts or a reclamation annuity within the meaning of the Land Reclamation Act, 1949 ), liability or equity which immediately before the date of consolidation, was charged upon, attached to or otherwise affected the cottage or holding to which the declaration in the order relates, and any such charge so transferred shall be deemed always to have been charged on the consolidated holding and the amount of the charge shall continue to be recoverable in the manner and with the priority in and with which it could have been recovered before the order was made.”;

(iii) the following is hereby inserted after subsection (2):

“(3) The registering authority under the Act of 1891 shall, on the application of the Irish Land Commission, register the ownership of the consolidated holding and shall make such changes in the appropriate register as appear to him to be necessary”;

(d) paragraph (d) of section 29 is hereby amended by the insertion of “addressing it to ‘the owner’, without naming him and” before “delivering” and by the substitution of “or” for “or by”.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (2) of section 17 of the Act of 1936, an order made under subsection (1) of that section and expressed to vest a cottage in a person in fee simple on a day being not later than the 31st day of December, 1964, shall be deemed never to have failed to operate to vest the cottage by reason only of the fact that the vesting day expressed in the order is a day other than the gale day which next followed the date of the order.

(3) The power of the Minister under section 20 of the Act of 1936 shall include, and shall be deemed always to have so included, power to amend a map referred to in an order described in that section.

(4) Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 29th day of June, 1936, and every order under section 17 of the Act of 1936 and made before the commencement of this section shall be deemed to have expressed and shall operate and shall be deemed always to have operated to apply the provisions contained in the amendment effected by the said paragraph (a).

103. — Section 46 of the Land Act, 1923 , shall be construed as if the references to the original holding included references to a cottage in respect of which an annuity has been fully paid, or has been redeemed under section 3 of the Labourers Act, 1965 , or section 99 of this Act.

104. — Sections 6 and 7 of the Land Act, 1946 , shall each be construed as if the references to the original holding included references to a cottage.

105. —Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed as enabling a housing authority to make a purchase scheme in relation to any of the following:

(a) a cottage in relation to which a special contribution within the meaning of section 44 of this Act is made by the Minister to the authority;

(b) a cottage containing two or more separate tenements;

(c) a cottage situate on state land (other than state land to which the housing authority have, within six months after the commencement of this section, become the owner in fee simple);

(d) a cottage which, immediately before the commencement of this section, was appropriated under section 3 of the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1942 (repealed by this Act);

(e) a cottage in relation to which subsection (1) of section 34 of the Act of 1948 would apply but for section 6 of this Act;

(f) a cottage provided under section 24 of the Act of 1950 other than a cottage in relation to which a declaration is made either under subsection (3) of the said section 24 or section 97 of this Act.