HOUSING (BUILDING FACILITIES) ACT, 1924

AN ACT TO FACILITATE THE PROVISION OF DWELLING-HOUSES, AND FOR THAT PURPOSE TO AUTHORISE THE MAKING OF GRANTS TO PERSONS PROVIDING SUCH HOUSES, TO ENSURE THE SUPPLY OF BUILDING MATERIALS AT REASONABLE PRICES, AND TO MAKE OTHER PROVISIONS CONTRIBUTING TO AN INCREASED SUPPLY OF DWELLING-HOUSES. [21st April, 1924.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the word “house” means dwelling-house;

the word “erect” means to erect a new house, and the words “erecting,” “erection” and other cognate words shall be construed accordingly;

the word “re-construct” means to repair or re-construct an existing house or building, including the making of alterations and additions, so as to convert the same into one or more houses or self-contained flats to which this Act applies, and the words “reconstructing,” “re-construction” and other cognate words shall be construed accordingly;

the expression “existing house or building” means a house or building which is in existence at the passing of this Act; the expression “local authority” means the council of a county, county borough, or urban district and the commissioners of a town;

the expression “appointed officer” means a person nominated by the Minister;

the word “prescribed” means prescribed by the Minister;

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government.

2 Grants to persons erecting or reconstructing houses.

2.—(1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make grants out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas to persons erecting or re-constructing houses to which this Act applies.

• (2) The amount of any grant made under this section in respect of any particular house shall not exceed the appropriate sum specified in Part I. of the Schedule to this Act.

• (3) The aggregate amount of the grants to be made under this section shall not exceed the sum of £250,000 in respect of the erection of houses, or the sum of £50,000 in respect of the reconstruction of houses.

3 Houses to which this Act applies.

3.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, this Act applies to a house which fulfils the following conditions—

• (a) the house shall, in respect of its site, aspect, planning, construction sanitation and number per acre, comply with the prescribed conditions;

• (b) the house shall in respect of the size and number of rooms and necessary appurtenances be in general accordance with prescribed plans or with such other plans as may be approved of by the Minister;

• (c) the total area of all floors of the house measured inside the external walls shall not be less than 520 square feet, and shall not exceed in the case of a house erected by a person who is permanently employed in the Civil Service of Saorstát Eireann for his own use and occupation, 1,500 square feet, and in the case of any other house 1,000 square feet, and the total area of any self-contained two-roomed flat in the house measured as aforesaid shall not be less than 400 square feet;

• (d) the house shall be certified by an appointed officer to have been completed in a proper and workmanlike manner;

• (e) the erection or reconstruction of the house shall be begun after the passing of this Act, or, in special cases approved of by the Minister, within six months before the passing of this Act, and shall in any case be completed within eighteen months after the passing of this Act, or within such further period not exceeding four months as the Minister may in any particular case allow;

• (f) in the case of the reconstruction of an existing house or building, that existing house or building shall be certified by an appointed officer to be capable of reconstruction as a house fulfilling the foregoing conditions, and except where the reconstruction is begun before the passing of this Act, such certificate shall be given before the reconstruction is begun.

• (g) in the case of the erection of a new house, such house shall not be a house erected in fulfilment of a re-instatement condition within the meaning of the Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923 (No. 15 of 1923), and shall not be erected on or on any part of the site of a former house which has or shall have been the subject of a claim under the said Act or any other Act relating to compensation for criminal injuries;

• (h) in the case of the reconstruction of an existing house or building, such existing house or building shall not have been the subject of a claim under the Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923 (No. 15 of 1923), or any other Act relating to compensation for criminal injuries.

• (2) The provisions of this Act in relation to the reconstruction of houses or buildings shall apply only to houses or buildings situate in a county borough or urban district, or in a town having commissioners under the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, or to a house or building situate within 880 yards of the nearest point of the boundary of such county borough, or urban district or town having commissioners, or in a town having a population according to the latest census of not less than five hundred.

4 Conditions attaching to receipt of grant.

4.—(1) A house in respect of the erection or reconstruction of which a grant is made under this Act shall not at any time before the 26th day of June, 1926, be sold or leased at a price, fine or rent exceeding the appropriate price, fine or rent specified in Part I. of the Schedule to this Act:

Provided that in the case of a reconstructed house to which the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1923, applies, the rent shall not exceed the rent allowable under that Act, but the percentage increase allowable under sub-section (1) (a) of Section 8 of that Act shall be calculated on the amount of expenditure referred to in that sub-section, less the value, to be determined by the Minister, of any assistance granted under this Act in respect of the reconstruction.

• (2) If any person contravenes any of the provisions of the foregoing sub-section he shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

5 Time and manner of making grant.

5.—Every grant made by the Minister under this Act shall be paid at such time or times, in such instalments, and upon production of such evidence (in the case of payment of an instalment) of partial compliance with the conditions imposed by or under this Act, or (in the case of a final payment) of complete compliance with the conditions aforesaid, as shall from time to time be prescribed, and the decision of the Minister as to whether any such condition has or has not been complied with (whether wholly or partially) or as to whether sufficient evidence of such compliance has or has not been given shall be final.

6 Local authorities may make supplemental grants, loans, etc.

6.—(1) Any local authority may with the approval of the Minister, and subject to the prescribed conditions, do any of the matters following, that is to say:—

• (a) make to any person to whom a grant is payable by the Minister under this Act in respect of a house situate within the area of jurisdiction of the local authority, a further grant not exceeding the amount of the grant payable by the Minister in respect of that house;

• (b) make to any person to whom a grant is payable by the Minister under this Act in respect of a house situated within the area of jurisdiction of the local authority, a loan not exceeding twice the amount of the grant payable by the Minister in respect of that house, such loan to be repayable by instalments or otherwise within a period not exceeding fifteen years from the making of the loan, with interest at a rate not more than ten shillings above the rate at which the local authority can at the date of the making of the loan themselves borrow money, and to be secured by a mortgage or charge on the house aforesaid;

• (c) grant or lease any portion of any land then in the possession of the local authority to any person, subject either to a covenant that such person will erect on such land a house or a specified number of houses to which this Act applies, or a covenant that such land will be used solely as additional garden space for a reconstructed house to which this Act applies;

• (d) execute any works necessary or incidental to, or tending to promote the development of, land suitable to the erection or reconstruction of houses to which this Act applies:

Provided that the total value of such assistance, as determined by the Minister, shall not exceed the value of the grant payable by the Minister in respect of that house.

• (2) Any local authority may, with the approval of the Minister, borrow money for the purposes of the foregoing sub-section, and moneys borrowed for those purposes shall not be reckoned as part of the total debt of such local authority for the purpose of any limitation on borrowing imposed by or under any statute.

7 Local authority may remit portion of rates.

7.—(1) Any local authority having power to levy rates may, and when required by the Minister shall, in every of the first nineteen financial years after the valuation for rating purposes of a house in respect of which a grant shall have been made by the Minister under this Act, remit a portion of the rates leviable in respect of that house in that year by the local authority.

• (2) The amount of rates leviable in any such year as aforesaid which may or shall be remitted by a local authority under the foregoing sub-section shall not exceed the proportion of such rates specified in the second column of Part II. of the Schedule to this Act opposite the number of such year in the first column of the said Part II.

8 Power to limit prices of building materials.

8.—(1) The Minister may at any time if he thinks fit, order a local inquiry into the cost (including the wholesale and retail prices, the transport, handling and overhead charges, and the margin of profit) in Saorstát Eireann or any particular part or parts thereof of any materials or appliances used in the building of houses, and if he is satisfied, after the holding of such local inquiry, that the cost of such materials or appliances in that area is excessive and restrictive of output of building work, the Minister may by order prescribe the maximum amount of the wholesale price or of the retail price which may be charged for such materials or appliances in that area or the maximum amount of profit and of transport, handling and overhead charges which may be included in the wholesale or the retail price charged for such materials or appliances in that area, and may at any time and from time to time by order continue, vary or revoke all or any prices or amounts prescribed by him or on appeal from him under this section.

• (2) Any person aggrieved by an order made by the Minister under this section may appeal from such order in the manner provided by this Act.

• (3) If any person charges in any area to which an order under this section applies a price for any material or appliance to which the order applies in excess of the price which may lawfully be charged under the same order, he shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding £50, and where the person guilty of such offence is a company, the chairman, managing director and every other director and manager of the company shall be guilty of the like offence unless he proves that the act constituting the offence took place without his consent or connivance.

• (4) Article 32 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898, shall apply to every local inquiry held under this section.

• (5) Neither this section nor any order made thereunder shall continue in operation after the expiration of eighteen months from the passing of this Act:

Provided that this section shall not apply to the price of any material or appliance which is the subject of a contract bona fide entered into at least one month prior to the date of the local enquiry, of which a copy has been supplied to the Minister within a fortnight from the date of the passing of this Act or within a fortnight from the date upon which such contract has been made.

9 Minister may purchase or manufacture building materials.

9.—(1) It shall be lawful for the Minister, whenever after consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce it appears to him expedient for the purpose of facilitating the building, re-construction or repair of houses (including as well houses to which this Act does not apply as houses to which it does apply) in Saorstát Eireann or any part thereof, to purchase or manufacture, store, transport, and sell any materials or appliances ordinarily used in the building of houses.

• (2) All materials and appliances purchased or manufactured by the Minister under this section shall be sold by the Minister to persons in Saorstát Eireann at a price (in the case of purchased materials or appliances) equal to the total of the price paid by the Minister, all transport and storage charges actually incurred, and five per cent. of the price paid by the Minister, or (in case of manufactured materials or appliances) equal to the total of the net cost of the manufacture (including overhead charges and depreciation) thereof by the Minister, all transport and storage charges actually incurred, and five per cent, of the net cost aforesaid.

• (3) The expenses incurred in the purchase or manufacture, storage, transport, and sale of materials and appliances under this section shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, and the proceeds of the sale of all such materials and appliances shall be paid into the Exchequer.

• (4) An account on the double entry method, showing both a trading account and balance sheet, shall be kept of all transactions under this section; and in such account all services rendered by any Government Department shall be charged at cost.

10 Appeals from Minister to be to standing tribunal of appeal.

10.—(1) Whenever a right of appeal from an order of the Minister is given by this Act, the appeal shall, subject to prescribed rules of procedure, be made to a standing tribunal of appeal consisting of three persons to be appointed by the President of the Executive Council, and such tribunal shall have power to confirm or to annul the order appealed against, or to make such other order in the matter as the Minister could have made under this Act, and the decision of the tribunal of appeal in the matter shall be final and not subject to appeal to or review by any court.

• (2) While any appeal to which this section applies is pending, the operation of the order appealed against shall be suspended.

11 Rules, Conditions, etc., may be prescribed.

11.—(1) The Minister may by order prescribe all such rules, conditions, plans and other matters as are in this Act referred to as being or to be prescribed, and such other regulations as may be required for the carrying into effect of this Act.

• (2) Every order made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat annulling such order, such order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such order.

• (3) In so far as the provisions of any local Act, or of any bye-laws, rules, regulations or scheme under whatever authority made, relating to the construction, laying-out, or drainage of new buildings or new streets are inconsistent with any conditions prescribed by the Minister under this section, those provisions shall not apply to any house to which this Act applies and which complies with the conditions so prescribed.

12 Short title.

12.—This Act may be cited as the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924.

SCHEDULE,—PART I.

Note.—Where the erection or re-construction is not completed within eighteen months from the passing of this Act, and the time for such completion is extended, the grant shall unless the Minister otherwise directs be reduced by one-tenth for every month between the expiration of the said eighteen months and the date of actual completion of the erection or re-construction.

Note.—Where assistance is granted by a local authority under Section 6, the maximum price on sale or maximum fine on lease shall be reduced by an amount equal to half the value of such assistance, and the maximum yearly or weekly rents on letting shall be reduced correspondingly.

Note.—Where the letting is for a period less than a year and greater than a week, the maximum rent will be in proportion to the yearly and weekly rates prescribed by this Schedule.

SCHEDULE—PART II