Chapter 3.

Determination of Rent and Recovery of Overpayments.

19. —(1) The landlord of controlled premises shall, on being so requested in writing, supply the tenant with a statement in writing affording any information in the landlord's possession or procurement requisite to enable the tenant to determine the basic rent of the premises or have it determined by the Court, and if, without reasonable excuse, the landlord fails within twenty-eight days to do so or supplies a statement which is false or misleading in any material particular and not proved to have been made innocently and without intent to deceive, he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall, on summary conviction thereof, be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

(2) There shall be implied in every contract, made on or after the operative date, for the sale of any interest in controlled premises (if not already expressly included) a provision binding the vendor to give to the purchaser any information in the vendor's possession or procurement requisite to enable the purchaser to determine the basic rent of the premises or any part thereof.

(3) Every stipulation in a contract for the sale of controlled premises, whereby the purchaser is precluded from making requisitions as to the matters mentioned in subsection (2) of this section, shall be void.

20. —(1) The rent to be paid by a tenant in respect of controlled premises shall, subject to this Act, be determined in accordance with the following provisions:—

(a) where the landlord and the tenant agree upon the rent to be paid by the tenant and the rent so agreed upon does not exceed the amount which is then the lawful rent of the premises, the rent so agreed upon shall, until varied by agreement or by a notice under this section, be and continue to be the rent to be paid by the tenant in respect of the premises;

(b) where the rent for the time being payable by the tenant is less than the lawful rent for the time being and the landlord serves on the tenant a notice under this section increasing the rent to an amount not exceeding the lawful rent for the time being, then, as from the date on which the notice takes effect, the rent as so increased shall, until varied by agreement or by a notice under this section, be and continue to be the rent to be paid by the tenant in respect of the premises;

(c) where the rent for the time being payable by the tenant exceeds the lawful rent for the time being and the tenant serves on the landlord a notice under this section reducing the rent to an amount equal to the lawful rent for the time being, then, as from the date on which the notice takes effect, the rent as so reduced shall, until varied by agreement or a notice under this section, be and continue to be the rent to be paid by the tenant in respect of the premises;

(d) where the rent to be paid by a statutory tenant has not been determined under any of the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection, the rent payable by the tenant for the time being in respect of the premises on the operative date, or the then lawful rent (whichever is the lesser), or if the statutory tenant has since the operative date held under any contract of tenancy, the rent last payable by him under that contract or the then lawful rent (whichever is the lesser) shall, subject to this section, be and continue to be the rent to be paid in respect of the premises;

(e) where the rent to be paid by a non-statutory tenant has not been determined under any of the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection, the rent payable by the tenant for the time being in respect of the premises on the operative date, or the then lawful rent (whichever is the lesser), or if the tenant holds under any contract of tenancy, the tenancy whereunder commenced subsequent to the operative date, the rent payable by him at the commencement of the tenancy or the then lawful rent (whichever is the lesser) shall, subject to this section, be and continue to be the rent to be paid in respect of the premises.

(2) Every notice served under this section shall be in the prescribed form, or a form substantially to the same effect, and shall contain the relevant particulars indicated by the form.

(3) The following provisions shall have effect with respect to notices under subsection (1) of this section:

(a) in case the notice purports to increase the rent payable by a non-statutory tenant to an amount exceeding the amount which would, under the terms of his contract of tenancy and disregarding any enactment (including this Act) by which any term thereof relating to rent is modified, be payable at the time when the notice is expressed to take effect, the notice shall take effect on the date mentioned in whichever of the following subparagraphs is applicable:

(i) if the tenancy could be legally determined on any day subsequent to service of the notice but not later than the date on which the notice is expressed to take effect, that date;

(ii) if the tenancy could not be so determined, the earliest date on which, if the notice were a notice to quit, it would be effective to determine the tenancy;

(b) in any other case, the notice shall take effect on the expiry of seven clear days from the date of service.

(4) If a notice served under this section contains any statement or representation which is false or misleading in any material respect the person making or causing to be made such statement or representation shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall, on summary conviction thereof, be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds unless he proves that the statement or representation was made innocently and without intent to deceive.

(5) At any time after the expiry of a notice under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section increasing the rent of any controlled premises by an amount consisting of or including any sum in respect of the matters mentioned in paragraph (b), (c), (f) or (g) of subsection (2) of section 11, or paragraph (b), (c), (d) or (e) of subsection (2) of section 17 , of this Act, the Court may, on the application of the tenant, if satisfied that the expenditure (in so far as it is applicable to any of the said matters) in respect of which the notice was served was not incurred or was unnecessary in whole or in part, disallow or reduce the increase accordingly, as from such date (whether before the date of the application or otherwise) as the Court thinks fit.

21. —(1) Any transfer to a tenant of any burden or liability previously borne by the landlord shall, for the purposes of this Act, be treated as an alteration of rent, and where, as the result of such a transfer, the terms on which any premises are held are on the whole less favourable to the tenant than the previous terms, the rent shall be deemed to be increased, whether or not the sum periodically payable by way of rent is increased, and any increase of rent in respect of any transfer to a landlord of any burden or liability previously borne by the tenant where, as the result of the transfer, the terms on which any premises are held are, on the whole, not less favourable to the tenant than the previous terms, shall be deemed not to be an increase of rent for the purposes of this Act.

(2) For the purpose of this section, the rent shall not be deemed to be increased where the liability for rates is transferred from the landlord to the tenant if a corresponding reduction is made in the rent.

22. —(1) The tenant or the sanitary authority may at any time apply to the Court on notice to the landlord for an order reducing the rent of any controlled (1923 Act) premises on the ground that the premises are not in all respects in good and tenantable repair.

(2) Where an application is made under this section the Court, on being satisfied that the premises to which the application relates are not in all respects in good and tenantable repair and on being further satisfied that the condition of the premises is wholly or mainly due to the failure of the landlord to carry out such repairs as he is by virtue of any covenant, agreement, or otherwise by operation of law (including this Act) bound to carry out, may order that the rent to be paid for the premises be reduced by such amount, not exceeding twenty per cent. of the lawful rent, as the Court thinks proper.

(3) In any application under this section, a certificate of the sanitary authority that the premises to which the application relates are not in all respects in good and tenantable repair shall be prima facie evidence of the facts so certified.

(4) Where an order is made under subsection (2) of this section, the following provisions shall have effect:—

(a) the order shall remain in force unless and until the Court, on the application of the landlord, being satisfied that all repairs, the neglect to carry out which was the ground for the making of the order, have been carried out, makes an order terminating the reduction;

(b) if, on such application, the Court is satisfied that such repairs have wholly or mainly been rendered necessary by the persistent neglect or default of the landlord, the Court may, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, order that the said reduced rent, or such other amount, not being less than eighty per cent. of the lawful rent, as the Court shall determine, shall be and continue to be the rent to be paid for the premises for such time as the Court thinks proper.

(5) On any application to a sanitary authority for a certificate for the purposes of this section a fee of five shillings shall be payable but on an application made to the Court under this section the Court may order that the tenant shall be entitled to deduct the fee from any subsequent payment of rent.

(6) Where on the operative date proceedings are pending under subsection (2) of section 8 of the Act of 1923, the proceedings shall continue and shall be treated as if they were proceedings under subsection (1) of this section.

(7) In this section the expression “sanitary authority” means the sanitary authority under the Public Health Acts, 1878 to 1931.

23. —If—

(a) the rent of controlled premises (being premises to which section 8 or section 14 of this Act applies) in respect of any period beginning on or after the operative date exceeds the rent to be paid (in accordance with this Act) for those premises in respect of that period, or

(b) the rent of controlled premises (being premises to which section 9 or section 16 of this Act applies) in respect of any period beginning on or after the date on which the basic rent is determined by the Court exceeds the rent to be paid (in accordance with this Act) for those premises in respect of that period,

the amount of the excess shall, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, be irrecoverable from the tenant of the premises.

24. —(1) Where any sum—

(a) has been paid on account of any rent which has accrued due after the operative date, and

(b) is a sum declared by section 23 of this Act to be irrecoverable from the tenant,

such sum shall, subject to section 25 of this Act, be recoverable from the landlord who received the payment or his legal personal representative by the tenant by whom it was paid or his legal personal representative.

(2) If any person in any rent book or similar document makes an entry showing or purporting to show any tenant as being in arrear in respect of any sum declared by this Act to be irrecoverable that person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall, on summary conviction thereof, be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, unless he proves that he acted innocently and without intent to deceive.

25. —No person shall be entitled to recover in any manner any sum paid on account of rent which is by section 23 of this Act or section 12 of the Act of 1923 declared to be irrecoverable from the tenant save within six years next after the payment of that sum.