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42 1960

RENT RESTRICTIONS ACT, 1960

Chapter 2..

Determination of Rent and Recovery of Overpayments.

Information as to basic rent or lawful rent.

12. —(1) The landlord or the tenant of a controlled dwelling shall, on being so requested by the Court, supply the Court with a statement in writing affording any information in his possession or procurement requisite to enable the Court to determine the basic rent or the lawful rent of the dwelling.

(2) The landlord of a controllod dwelling shall, on being so requested in writing by the tenant, supply the tenant with a statement affording any information in the landlord's possession or procurement requisite to enable the tenant to determine the basic rent or the lawful rent of the dwelling or have it determined by the Court.

(3) The tenant of a controlled dwelling shall, on being so requested in writing by the landlord, supply the landlord with a statement in writing affording any information in the tenant's possession or procurement requisite to enable the landlord to determine the basic rent or the lawful rent of the dwelling or have it determined by the Court.

(4) There shall be implied in every contract, made on or after the 12th day of March, 1946, and before the operative date or made on or after the operative date, for the sale of any interest in a controlled dwelling (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 or the lawful rent of the dwelling or any part thereof.

(5) Every stipulation in a contract for the sale of a dwelling, whereby the purchaser is precluded from making requisitions as to the matters mentioned in subsection (4) of this section shall be void.

(6) If, without reasonable excuse, a person requested under subsection (1), (2) or (3) of this section to supply a statement 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 and shall, on summary conviction thereof, be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

Determination of rent to be paid by tenants.

13. —(1) The rent to be paid by a tenant in respect of a controlled dwelling 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 dwelling, 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 dwelling;

(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 dwelling;

(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 dwelling;

(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 dwelling 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 dwelling;

(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 dwelling 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 dwelling.

(2) In the case of a controlled dwelling to which section 9 of this Act applies and of which the basic rent has not been determined under that section, where the landlord serves on the tenant a notice under this section increasing the rent to a rent consisting of the aggregate of—

(a) the rent (to be specified in the notice) which the landlord considers would be determined by the Court as the basic rent, and

(b) the lawful additions (to be specified in the notice) which he considers could properly be added to that basic rent,

such increased rent shall, until varied by agreement or by the Court, be and continue to be the rent to be paid by the tenant in respect of the dwelling.

(3) 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.

(4) The following provisions shall have effect with respect to notices under subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section:

(a) in case—

(i) 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, and

(ii) the increase is not an increase based solely on an increase of the rates payable on a dwelling any tenant of which has availed himself of this Act or of any of the former enactments relating to restriction of rent to obtain a reduction of the rent of the dwelling,

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.

(5) 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 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.

(6) At any time after the expiry of a notice under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) or under subsection (2) of this section increasing the rent of any controlled dwelling by an amount consisting of or including any sum in respect of the matters mentioned in paragraph (c), (d) or (e) of subsection (2) of section 10 of this Act, the Court may, on the application of the tenant, if satisfied either—

(i) 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, or

(ii) that the improvements, structural alterations or repairs have not been carried out satisfactorily,

disallow or reduce the increase accordingly, as from such date (whether before the date of the application or otherwise) as the Court thinks fit.

Effect of transfer to tenant of burdens previously borne by landlord.

14. —(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 controlled dwelling is 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 controlled dwelling is 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.

Reduction of rent owing to default of landlord in keeping controlled dwelling in repair.

15. —(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 dwelling to which Chapter 1 of Part II of the Act of 1946 applied on the ground that the dwelling is not in all respects in good and tenantable repair.

(2) Where any application is made under this section, the Court, on being satisfied that the dwelling is not in all respects in good and tenantable repair and on being further satisfied that the condition of the dwelling 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 dwelling be reduced by such amount, not exceeding twenty per cent. of the lawful rent, as the Court thinks proper.

(3) For the purposes of this section, a certificate of the sanitary authority that the controlled dwelling to which the application relates is 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 any such application by the landlord, the Court refuses to make an order terminating the reduction and 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 dwelling 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, where that fee has been paid by the tenant, the Court may order that he shall be entitled to deduct it from any subsequent payment of rent.

(6) In this section the expression “sanitary authority” means the sanitary authority under the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Acts, 1878 to 1952.

Sums declared to be irrecoverable.

16. —If—

(a) the rent of a controlled dwelling (being a dwelling to which section 7 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 that dwelling in respect of that period, or

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

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

Recovery of overpayments.

17. —(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 16 of this Act to be irrecoverable from the tenant,

such sum shall, subject to section 18 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 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 and that the entry was made in respect of a period during which proceedings in respect of the controlled dwelling were pending.

Limitation on recovery of overpayments.

18. —(1) No person shall be entitled to recover in any manner any sum paid on account of rent which is by section 16 of this Act declared to be irrecoverable from the tenant save within two years next after the payment of that sum.

(2) Without prejudice to any proceedings instituted before the passing of this Act, no person shall be entitled to recover in any manner any sum paid on account of rent which is by section 23 of the Act of 1946 declared to be irrecoverable from the tenant.