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27 2009

Land And Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009

PART 1

Preliminary and General

Short title.

1 .— This Act may be cited as the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009.

Commencement.

2 .— This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes and different provisions.

Interpretation generally.

3 .— In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“ Act of 1957 ” means the Statute of Limitations 1957;

“ Act of 1963 ” means the Companies Act 1963;

“ Act of 1964 ” means the Registration of Title Act 1964;

“ Act of 1965 ” means the Succession Act 1965;

“Act of 1976” means the Family Home Protection Act 1976;

“Act of 1988” means the Bankruptcy Act 1988;

“Act of 1989” means the Building Societies Act 1989;

“Act of 1995” means the Family Law Act 1995;

“ Act of 1996 ” means the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996;

“Act of 2000” means the Planning and Development Act 2000;

“Act of 2005” means the Interpretation Act 2005;

“Act of 2006” means the Registration of Deeds and Title Act 2006;

“assent” has the meaning given to it by section 53 of the Act of 1965;

“consent” includes agreement, licence and permission;

“conveyance” includes an appointment, assent, assignment, charge, disclaimer, lease, mortgage, release, surrender, transfer, vesting certificate, vesting declaration, vesting order and every other assurance by way of instrument except a will; and “ convey” shall be read accordingly;

“ the court ” means—

(a) the High Court, or

(b) the Circuit Court when exercising the jurisdiction conferred on it by the Third Schedule to the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961;

“covenant” includes an agreement, a condition, reservation and stipulation;

“deed” has the meaning given to it by section 64 (2);

“development” has the meaning given to it by section 3 of the Act of 2000;

“development plan” has the meaning given to it by section 3(1) of the Act of 2000;

“disposition” includes a conveyance and a devise, bequest or appointment of property by will and “ dispose” shall be read accordingly;

“exempted development” has the meaning given to it by section 4 of the Act of 2000;

“fee farm grant” means any—

(a) grant of a fee simple, or

(b) lease for ever or in perpetuity,

reserving or charging a perpetual rent, whether or not the relationship of landlord and tenant is created between the grantor and grantee, and includes a sub-fee farm grant;

“freehold covenant” has the meaning given to it by section 48 ;

“ freehold estate ” has the meaning given to it by section 11 (2);

“housing loan” has the meaning given to it by section 2 (1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1995 , as substituted by section 33 of, and Part 12 of Schedule 3 to, the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Act 2004 and “housing loan mortgage” means a mortgage to secure a housing loan;

“incumbrance” includes an annuity, charge, lien, mortgage, portion and trust for securing an annual or capital sum; and “incumbrancer” shall be read accordingly and includes every person entitled to the benefit of an incumbrance or to require its payment or discharge;

“instrument” includes a deed, will, or other document in writing, and information in electronic or other non-legible form which is capable of being converted into such a document, but not a statutory provision;

“judgment mortgage” means a mortgage registered by a creditor under section 116 ;

“land” includes—

(a) any estate or interest in or over land, whether corporeal or incorporeal,

(b) mines, minerals and other substances in the substratum below the surface, whether or not owned in horizontal, vertical or other layers apart from the surface of the land,

(c) land covered by water,

(d) buildings or structures of any kind on land and any part of them, whether the division is made horizontally, vertically or in any other way,

(e) the airspace above the surface of land or above any building or structure on land which is capable of being or was previously occupied by a building or structure and any part of such airspace, whether the division is made horizontally, vertically or in any other way,

(f) any part of land;

“ Land Registry ” has the meaning given to it by section 7 of the Act of 1964;

“ landlord ” means the person, including a sublandlord, entitled to the legal estate immediately superior to a tenancy;

“ lease ” as a noun means an instrument creating a tenancy; and as a verb means the granting of a tenancy by an instrument;

legal estate ” has the meaning given to it by section 11 (1);

legal interest ” has the meaning given to it by section 11 (4);

“ lessee ” means the person, including a sublessee, in whom a tenancy created by a lease is vested;

“ lessor ” means the person, including a sublessor, entitled to the legal estate immediately superior to a tenancy created by a lease;

“ Minister ” means the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform;

“ mortgage ” includes any charge or lien on any property for securing money or money’s worth;

“ mortgagee ” includes any person having the benefit of a charge or lien and any person deriving title to the mortgage under the original mortgagee;

“ mortgagor ” includes any person deriving title to the mortgaged property under the original mortgagor or entitled to redeem the mortgage;

“ notice ” includes constructive notice;

“ personal representative ” means the executor or executrix or the administrator or administratrix for the time being of a deceased person;

“ planning permission ” means permission required under Part III of the Act of 2000;

“ possession ” includes the receipt of, or the right to receive, rent and profits, if any;

“ prescribed ” means prescribed by regulations made under section 5 ;

“ property ” means any real or personal property or any part or combination of such property;

“Property Registration Authority” has the meaning given to it by section 9 of the Act of 2006;

“purchaser” means an assignee, chargeant, grantee, lessee, mortgagee or other person who acquires land for valuable consideration; and “purchase” shall be read accordingly;

“ registered land ” has the meaning given to it by section 3(1) of the Act of 1964;

“Registry of Deeds” has the meaning given to it by section 33 of the Act of 2006;

“ rent ” includes a rent payable under a tenancy or a rentcharge, or other payment in money or money’s worth or any other consideration, reserved or issuing out of or charged on land, but does not include interest;

“ rentcharge ” means any annual or periodic sum charged on or issuing out of land, except—

(a) a rent payable under a tenancy, and

(b) interest;

“ right of entry ” means a right to take possession of land or of its income and to retain that possession or income until some obligation is performed;

“ right of re - entry ” means a right to forfeit the legal owner’s estate in the land;

strict settlement” has the meaning given to it by section 18 (1)(a);

“ subtenancy ” includes a sub-subtenancy; and a “ subtenant ” shall be read accordingly;

tenancy ” means the estate or interest which arises from the relationship of landlord and tenant however it is created but does not include a tenancy at will or at sufferance;

“ tenant ” means the person, including a subtenant, in whom a tenancy is vested;

“ trust corporation ” has the meaning given to it by section 30(4) of the Act of 1965;

trust of land ” has the meaning given to it by section 18 (1);

“ unregistered land ” has the meaning given to it by section 3(1) of the Act of 1964;

“ valuable consideration ” does not include marriage or a nominal consideration in money;

“ will ” includes codicil.

Service of notices.

[CA 1881, s. 67]

4.— (1) A notice authorised or required to be given or served by or under this Act shall, subject to subsection (2), be addressed to the person concerned by name and may be given to or served on the person in one of the following ways:

(a) by delivering it to the person; or

(b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address; or

(c) by sending it by post in a prepaid letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, to that address; or

(d) where the notice relates to a building with which the person is associated, and it appears that no person is in actual occupation of the building, by affixing it in a conspicuous position on the outside of the building or the property containing the building; or

(e) if the person concerned has agreed to service of notices by means of an electronic communication (within the meaning given to it by section 2 of the Electronic Commerce Act 2000) to that person (being an addressee within the meaning given to it by that section) and provided that there is a facility to confirm receipt of electronic mail and that such receipt has been confirmed, then by that means; or

(f) by sending it by means of a facsimile machine to a device or facility for the reception of facsimiles located at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or carries on business or, if an address for the service of notices has been furnished by the person, that address, provided that the sender’s facsimile machine generates a message confirming successful transmission of the total number of pages of the notice; or

(g) by any other means that may be prescribed.

(2) Where the notice concerned is to be served on or given to a person who is the owner, landlord, tenant or occupier of a building and the name of the person cannot be ascertained by reasonable inquiry it may be addressed to the person at that building by using the words “the owner”, “the landlord”, “the tenant” or “the occupier” or other like description, as the case may require.

(3) For the purposes of this section, a company shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

(4) Where a notice required or authorised to be served or given by or under this Act is served or given on behalf of a person, the notice shall be deemed to be served or given by that person.

(5) A person shall not, at any time during the period of 3 months after the notice is affixed under subsection (1)(d), remove, damage or deface the notice without lawful authority.

(6) A person who knowingly contravenes subsection (5) is guilty of an offence.

Regulations.

5 .— (1) The Minister may make regulations—

(a) for any purpose in relation to which regulations are provided for by any of the provisions of this Act,

(b) for prescribing any matter or thing referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed,

(c) generally for the purpose of giving effect to this Act.

(2) A regulation under subsection (1) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation is annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under it.

(3) (a) If in any respect any difficulty arises during the period of 5 years from the commencement of any provision of this Act (including a provision that amends another Act), either in bringing into operation or in giving full effect to the provision or the Act as amended, the Minister may by regulations do anything which appears to be necessary or expedient for removing that difficulty.

(b) In paragraph (a) a reference to another Act is a reference to an Act falling within either paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition of “Act” in section 2(1) of the Act of 2005.

(4) Regulations under subsection (3) may, in so far only as it may appear necessary for the removal of such difficulty, modify a provision referred to in that subsection provided such modification is in conformity with the purposes, principles and spirit of this Act.

(5) Where the Minister proposes to make regulations under subsection (3)

(a) he or she shall, before doing so, consult with such other (if any) Minister of the Government as the Minister considers appropriate having regard to the functions of that other Minister of the Government in relation to the proposed regulations, and

(b) he or she shall cause a draft of the regulations to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the regulations shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each such House.

(6) A regulation under this section may contain such consequential, supplementary and ancillary provisions as the Minister considers necessary or expedient.

Offences.

6 .— (1) A person convicted of an offence under this Act is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €3,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.

(2) Proceedings for an offence under this Act may be instituted at any time within one year after the date of the offence.

(3) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act the District Court shall, unless it is satisfied that there are special and substantial reasons for not so doing, order the person to pay the costs and expenses, measured by the Court, incurred in relation to the investigation, detection and prosecution of the offence.

Expenses.

7 .— The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Amendments and repeals.

8 .— (1) Each provision specified in column (2) of Schedule 1 opposite the mention in column (1) of that Schedule of an enactment is amended in the manner specified in column (3).

(2) Subject to subsection (1), and without prejudice to section 26(2)(f) of the Act of 2005—

(a) any reference in an enactment to—

(i) the Settled Land Acts 1882 to 1890,

(ii) an Act included in that collective citation, or

(iii) any provision of such an Act,

shall be construed as a reference to this Act or to the equivalent or substituted provision of this Act, as may be appropriate,

(b) any reference in an enactment to—

(i) the Conveyancing Acts 1881 to 1911, or

(ii) an Act (other than an Act repealed by this Act) included in that collective citation,

shall be construed as including a reference to this Act, and

(c) any reference in an enactment to—

(i) an Act that is included in the collective citation “the Conveyancing Acts 1881 to 1911” and that isrepealed by this Act, or

(ii) any particular provision of such an Act,

shall be construed as a reference to this Act or to the equivalent or substituted provision of this Act.

(3) Each enactment specified in column (2) of Schedule 2 isrepealed to the extent specified in column (3) of that Schedule.